Celebrating a Remarkable First Year
As we wrap up EPIC’s inaugural year, our project manager Charlotte Withers reflects on our journey and achievements.
EPIC was established with a range of ambitious goals: fostering collaborations, appointing key personnel, building a vibrant community, and establishing a robust online presence. Thanks to the dedication and creativity of our team, we are proud to say we have accomplished these aims and set the stage for an exciting future.
 |
| Festive version of the EPIC logo |
Fostering Collaborations
Collaboration is at the heart of EPIC’s mission. This year, we’ve developed a strong network of partnerships across institutions and countries. Our investigators at Birmingham, Nottingham, Swansea, and Bristol have made significant strides in building internal and cross-institutional connections.
- Institutional Efforts: the Nottingham team developed a research network, and the Birmingham team launched a reading group and this blog to connect scholars and ideas.
- International Partnerships: the Birmingham team are collaborating with the University of Ferrara on a case study addressing depression and demoralization in cancer patients and with the University of Bologna on dementia research.
Ground-breaking Publications
EPIC’s inaugural year has also been a banner year for publications:
- Bortolotti edited an open-access collection entitled Epistemic Justice in Mental Healthcare (Palgrave), with a preface by Bortolotti and Broome.
- Articles have appeared in leading journals such as Kidd's article in Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology, Degerman's article in Philosophical Psychology, Russell's article in Erkenntnis, and Kidd and Carel's article in Social Epistemology.
- Chapters have been prepared for inclusion in edited collections, such as a chapter co-authored by Broome, McGuinness and Kidd on ‘Epistemic injustice, informed consent, and shared decision-making in mental health care’ and a chapter co-authored by Bortolotti, Murphy-Hollies, and Byrne on 'Epistemic Injustice in Mental Health: new directions'.
Future publications include two anticipated monographs and proceedings from upcoming conferences in Leipzig and Nottingham.
EPIC has also prioritized accessible outputs, publishing in venues such as Psychology Today and The Conversation and producing a number of podcasts and videos for the general public.
Building Community
Creating a thriving community has been central to EPIC’s success.
- Online Engagement: EPIC hosts monthly seminars, featuring renowned speakers such as Miranda Fricker, and offers a ‘Friends of EPIC’ sign-up on our website to keep stakeholders engaged.
- Social Media Presence: Our website, blog, and Facebook page share regular updates, alongside impactful campaigns like ‘Women in Philosophy’ and ‘World Mental Health Day.’
Presentations and Outreach
EPIC members have shared their work globally, presenting at prestigious venues, including International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis (ISPS-US), the Chilean Society for Neurology, Psychiatry and Neurosurgery (SONEPSYN), and seminars and conferences at the universities of Cambridge, Aarhus, Eindhoven, Tokyo, California Irvine, and Prague - to mention just a few.
Our outreach efforts have made epistemic injustice accessible to broader audiences, including the following:
- Workshops with the Voice Collective resulted in co-produced videos and open-access resources.
- Collaboration with the Patients Association and the WHO Behavioural and Cultural Insights Hub are producing impactful briefing papers.
Memorable Events
EPIC launched with an inspiring event in Bristol featuring a commissioned musical piece by Toby Young. We’ve since hosted workshops for early-career women in philosophy and epistemic injustice scholars, with more exciting events planned through 2025/26.
Looking Ahead
EPIC’s first year has been a resounding success. From fostering meaningful collaborations to publishing innovative research and building a vibrant community, we have laid a strong foundation for the future.
Here’s to an even more impactful year ahead!
 |
Happy 2025 to the EPIC blog readers |
