Getting in Touch with Touch – Festival of Social Science 2025

This participatory workshop brings together nursing students, staff, and practitioners as well migrant and refugee nurses/carers to explore the role of touch in care. Through keynote talks, discussions, and hands-on activities, the event will consider how touch is practiced across cultures and how it intersects with issues of consent, race, class, and gender in clinical settings.
Participants will engage in:
Healing touch – practical sessions on traditional techniques such as anmo tuina and reiki.
Challenging touch – conversations on barriers and difficulties surrounding touch in healthcare.
Trans-cultural touch – sharing stories and reflecting on how cultural norms shape touch in nursing.

This is a collaborative project between the University of Salford and the University of Oxford led by Dr Josephine Biglin and Prof Elisabeth Hsu.

Host or Publisher Events Team, University of Salford