Christina Olszewski

Principal supervisor

Prof Clare Delaney (Department of Medical Education)

Associate supervisors

Prof Robyn Woodward-Kron (Department of Medical Education)

Dr Heather Gaunt (University Museums and Collections)

Project title

Gallery as Gateway to Portals of Being: Evaluating Aesthetic Encounters within the Medical Humanities

Abstract / overview of project

This project explores how visual arts can support the development of soft skills, such as empathy, communication, cultural sensitivity and resilience, among medical practitioners. Drawing on medical humanities and hermeneutic traditions, it investigates how the gallery space can be leveraged foster reflection, emotional awareness, and relational sensitivity in clinical practice. Using qualitative methods, including close reading of artworks and interviews with medical educators and clinicians, the research examines how aesthetic experiences can create safe spaces for confronting uncertainty, vulnerability, and moral complexity. The thesis aims to propose a model for integrating arts-based approaches into medical education to strengthen humanistic care.