Staff profile

• Wellbeing and Community Wellbeing
• Critical Medical Humanities
• Spaces and practices of care of the body
• Arts, health and wellbeing

• Geographies of Life

• Arts, health and wellbeing ESRC seminar series
• Centre for Medical Humanities, Durham University
• Pioneer Projects (Celebratory Arts) Ltd, Bentham, North Yorks
• Politics of Wellbeing ESRC seminar series
• The What Works Centre for Wellbeing
• Wellcome Trust

• 2021: Extension Grant for the Institute for Medical Humanities, Durham(£12070.46 from Wellcome Trust)
• 2020: Understanding and modelling the relationship between individual and place-based community wellbeing(£2760.57 from )
• 2015: Bringing wellbeing to community(£87250.40 from ESRC)

• 2019: Key-note speaker 19th International Medical Geography Symposium, Queenstown, New Zealand:
• 2019: Key-note speaker, Conference on Existential Medical Humanities, Södertörn University, Stockholm, Sweden Swedish Network for Medical Humanities:
• 2016: Key-note speaker, ISRF funding workshop on 'Financialisation, Social Investment and Wellbeing' Roskilde, Denmark:
• 2015: Invited key-note speaker at the International Workshop: Medical humanities: Exploring advantages and disadvantages in an emerging interdisciplinary field, University of Lund, Sweden. :
• 2014: Invited speaker: The rise of well-being in public health, WHO Copenhagen.:
• 2014: Invited member: WHO international steering group, the cultural determinants of wellbeing, WHO Copenhagen:
• 2014: Invited speaker, seminar series on Politics of Wellbeing:
• 2014: Invited speaker: History, humanities and global health, WHO Geneva.:
• 2014: Key-note speaker: Annual Conference of the Nordic Network for Health Research within Social Sciences (NNHSH), Helsinki, Finland:

Chapter in book

• Atkinson, S. (2021). Art Spaces. In COVID-19 and Similar Futures: Pandemic Geographies. Andrews, G., Crooks, V., Pearce, J. & Messina. J. Springer.
• Atkinson, S. (2021). Reanimating the radical possibilities of wellbeing: commentary on Part 1 approaching wellbeing. In The Modern Guide to Wellbeing Research. Searle, B., Pykett, J. & Alfaro-Simmonds, M.J. Edward Elgar. 23-28.
• Atkinson, S. (2021). Resilience. In Future Theory: A Bloomsbury Handbook to Critical Concepts. Botha, M. & Waugh, P. London: Bloomsbury.
• Hunt, R. & Atkinson, S. (2019). GeoHumanities and Health. In GeoHumanities and Health. Atkinson, S. & Hunt, R. Springer. 1-19.
• Tan, M.K.B. & Atkinson, S. (2019). Multiplicity and Encounters of Cultures of Care in Advanced Ageing. In Geohumanities and Health. Atkinson, S. & Hunt, R. Cham: Springer. 241-259.
• Atkinson, S. (2019). Wellbeing and the Wild, Blue 21st-Century Citizen. In Blue Space, Health and Wellbeing: Hydrophilia Unbounded. Foley, R., Kearns, R., Kistemann, T. & Wheeler, B. Abingdon, Oxon: Taylor & Francis. 190-204.
• Atkinson, S. (2017). Mixing and fixing: managing and imagining the body in a global world. In Global health and Geographical Imaginaries. Herrick, C. & Reubi, D. London: Routledge. 54-71.
• Atkinson, S. (2016). Care, kidneys and clones: the distance of space, time and imagination. In The Edinburgh Companion to the Critical Medical Humanities. Whitehead, A., Woods, A., Atkinson, S., Macnaughton, J. & Richards, J. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 611-626.
• Atkinson, S. (2016). Health and Wellbeing. In The International Encyclopedia of Geography: People, the Earth, Environment, and Technology. Richardson, D., Castree, N., Goodchild, M., Weidong, L., Kobayashi, A. & Marston, R. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell/AAG.
• Atkinson, S & Vaguet, A. (2011). La Mondialisation à la Loupe des Géographes de la Santé. In Santé et Géographie: Nouveaux Regards. Fleuret, S. & Hoyez, A. Economica, Paris. 15-37.
• Atkinson, S. (2007). Health and Disease. In Companion Encyclopaedia of Geography: from local to global. Douglas, I., Huggett, R. & Perkins, C. London: Routledge. 157-168.
• Atkinson, S. (2006). Approaches to studying decentralisation. In Decentralization in health care: strategies and outcomes. Saltman, R., Bankauskaite, V. & Vrangbaek, K. Milton Keynes: OUP.
• Atkinson, S. (2002). Local management and the quality of urban health services: prenatal care in Northwest Brazil. In Urban Health in the Third World. Akhtar, R. New Delhi: APH Publishing Corporation.

Edited book

• Atkinson, S. & Hunt, R. (2019). Geohumanities and Health. Global Perspectives on Health Geography. Switzerland: Springer.
• Whitehead, A., Woods, A., Atkinson, S., Macnaughton, J. & Richards, J. (2016). The Edinburgh Companion to the Critical Medical Humanities. Edinburgh Companions to Literature. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
• Atkinson, S., Fuller, S. & Painter, J. (2012). Wellbeing and place. Farnham: Ashgate.

Journal Article

• Atkinson, S, Bradby, H, Gadebusch Bondio, M, Macnaughton, J, Hallberg, A & Söderfeldt, Y (2021). Seeing the value of experiential knowledge through COVID-19. History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences
• Atkinson, Sarah (2021). The Toxic Effects of Subjective Wellbeing and Potential Tonics. Social Science & Medicine 288: 113098.
• Atkinson, S (2021). Adolescent anxiety through the wrong end of the telescope. Lancet Child and Adolescent Health
• Curtis, Sarah, Cunningham, Niall, Pearce, Jamie, Congdon, Peter, Cherrie, Mark & Atkinson, Sarah (2021). Trajectories in mental health and socio-spatial conditions in a time of economic recovery and austerity: a longitudinal study in England, 2011-2017. Social Science and Medicine 270: 113654.
• Atkinson, Sarah (2020). Commentary: Wellbeing, Space and Society. Wellbeing, Space and Society 1: 100015.
• Curtis, Sarah, Congdon, Peter, Atkinson, Sarah, Corcoran, Rhiannon, Peasgood, Tessa & MaGuire, Rosie (2020). Adverse conditions for wellbeing at the neighbourhood scale in England: potential and challenges for operationalising indicators relevant to wellbeing in and of places. Wellbeing, Space and Society 100009.
• Tupper, E, Atkinson, S & Pollard, TM (2020). Doing more with movement: constituting healthy publics in a movement volunteering programme. Palgrave Communications 6: 94.
• Atkinson, S., Bagnall, A-M., Corcoran, R., South, J. & Curtis, S. (2020). Being well together: individual subjective and community wellbeing. Journal of Happiness Studies 21(5): 1903-1921.
• Coyle, L.A. & Atkinson, S. (2019). Vulnerability as practice in diagnosing multiple conditions. Medical Humanities 45(3): 278-287.
• de Leeuw, Sarah, Donovan, Courtney, Schafenacker, Nicole, Kearns, Robin, Neuwelt, Pat, Squier, Susan Merill, McGeachan, Cheryl, Parr, Hester, Frank, Arthur W., Coyle, Lindsay-Ann, Atkinson, Sarah, El-Hadi, Nehal, Shklanka, Karen, Shooner, Caroline, Beljaars, Diana & Anderson, Jon (2018). Geographies of Medical and Health Humanities: A Cross-Disciplinary Conversation. GeoHumanities 4(2): 285-334.
• Coyle, L.A. & Atkinson, S. (2018). Imagined Futures in Living with Multiple Conditions: Positivity, Relationality and Hopelessness. Social Science and Medicine 198: 53-60.
• Stickley, T., Parr, H., Atkinson, S., Daykin, N., Clift, S., de Nora, T., Hacking, S., Camic, P.M., Joss, T., White, M. & Hogan, S.J. (2017). Arts, health & wellbeing: reflections on a national seminar series and building a UK research network. Arts & Health 9(1): 14-25.
• Atkinson, S., Foley, R. & Parr, H. (2015). Introduction: Spatial Perspectives and Medical Humanities. Journal of Medical Humanities 36(1): 1-4.
• Atkinson, S., Evans, B., Woods, A. & Kearns, R. (2015). ‘The Medical’ and ‘health’ in a critical medical humanities. Journal of Medical Humanities 36(1): 71-81.
• Schwanen, T. & Atkinson, S. (2015). Geographies of wellbeing: an introduction. Geographical Journal 181(2): 98-101.
• Atkinson, S.J. & Scott, K.E. (2015). Stable and destabilised states of subjective wellbeing: dance and movement as catalysts of transition. Social and Cultural Geography 16(1): 75-94.
• Atkinson, S. & White, M. (2013). Beyond the Local Agenda: International Perspectives in Community-based Arts and Health (Editorial for Special Issue of six papers). Arts & Health 5(3): 175-176.
• Atkinson, S. & Rubidge, T. (2013). Managing the spatialities of arts-based practices with school children: an inter-disciplinary exploration of engagement, movement and well-being. Arts & Health 5(1): 39-50.
• White, M. Atkinson, S. & Meagher, M. Eds. (2013). International perspectives on the development of research-guided practice in community-based arts in health. Special Issue of eleven papers and an overview. UNESCO observatory e-journal 3(3 November).
• Atkinson, S. (2013). Beyond components of wellbeing: the effects of relational and situated assemblage. Topoi 32(2): 137-144.
• Medeiros, R.L.M. & Atkinson, S. (2013). Performance of the local health system and contingent influences in Northeast-Brazil: breaking vicious and virtuous circles. Ciência e Saúde Coletiva 18(11): 3431-3442.
• Swan, P.J. & Atkinson, S. (2012). Managing evaluation: a community arts organisation's perspective. Arts & Health 4(3): 217-229.
• Atkinson, S. & Rubinelli, S. (2012). Narrative in cancer research and policy: voice, knowledge and context. Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology 84(Supplement 2): S11-S16.
• Atkinson, S. & Robson, M. (2012). Arts and health as a practice of liminality: managing the spaces of transformation for social and emotional wellbeing with primary school children. Health & Place 18(6): 1348-1355.
• Atkinson, S. (2011). Scales of Care and Responsibility: debating the surgically globalised body. Social and Cultural Geography 12(6): 623-637.
• Atkinson, S. & Joyce, K.E. (2011). The place and practices of wellbeing in local governance. Environment and Planning C 29(1): 133-148.
• Atkinson, S., Lawson, V. & Wiles, J. (2011). Care of the body: spaces of practice. Social and Cultural Geography 12(6): 563-572.
• Atkinson, S. (2011). Moves to measure wellbeing must support a social model of health. British Medical Journal 343(7832): d7323
• Atkinson, S, Macnaughton, J, Saunders, C & Evans, M (2010). Cool Intimacies of Care for Contemporary Clinical Practice. The Lancet 376(9754): 1732-1733.
• Atkinson, S. & Ayers, A. (2010). The Potential of the Internet for Alternative Caring Practices for Health. Anthropology and Medicine 17(1): 75-86.
• Medeiros, R.L.M. & Atkinson, S. (2009). Health reform in Ceará the process of decentralization in the 1990s. [A Reforma de Saúde no Ceará o processo de descentralização na década de 1990]. O Público e o Privado 13: 11-27.
• Atkinson, S. & Medeiros, R. (2009). Explanatory models of influences on the construction and expression of user satisfaction. Social Science and Medicine 68(11): 2089-2096.
• Atkinson, S.J., Cohn, A., Ducci, M.E., Fernandes, L. & Smyth, F. (2008). Promotion and prevention within a decentralized framework: changing health care in Brazil and Chile. International Journal of Health Planning and Management 23(2): 153-171.
• Atkinson, S. (2007). Telling talking: discourse and practice in context. Critical Policy Analysis 1(2): 184-199.
• Milligan, C., Atkinson, S., Conradson, D., Skinner, M. & Wiles, J. (2007). Geographies of care - a commentary. NZ Geographer 63: 135-140.
• Fleuret, S. & Atkinson, S. (2007). Wellbeing, health and geography: a critical review and research agenda. New Zealand Geographer 63(2): 106-118.
• Danichevski, K., Balabanova, D., McKee, D. & Atkinson, S. (2006). The fragmentary federation: experiences with the decentralised health system in Russia. Health Policy and Planning 21(3): 183-194.
• Atkinson, S.J. & Haran, D. (2005). Individual and district scale determinants of users' satisfaction with primary health care in developing countries. Social Science & Medicine 60(3): 501-513.
• Atkinson, S.J., Cohn, A., Ducci, M.E. & Gideon, J. (2005). Implementation of promotion and prevention activities in decentralized health systems: comparative case studies from Chile and Brazil. Health Promotion International 20(2): 167-175.
• Atkinson, S., Fernandes, L., Caprara, A. & Gideon, J. (2005). Prevention and promotion in decentralised rural health systems: a comparative study from Northeast Brazil. Health Policy and Planning 20(2): 69-79.
• Atkinson, S.J. & Haran, D. (2004). Back to basics: does decentralization improve health system performance? Evidence from Ceará in north-east Brazil. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 82(11): 822-827.
• Few, R., Harpham, T. & Atkinson, S. (2003). Urban primary health care in Africa: a comparative analysis of city-wide public sector projects in Lusaka and Dar es Salaam. Health and Place 9(1): 45-53.
• Atkinson, S.J. (2002). Political cultures, health systems and health policy. Social Science & Medicine 55(1): 113-124.
• Atkinson, S. Medeiros, R.L.R. Oliveira, P.H.L. & Almeida, R.D.de (2000). Going down to the local: incorporating social organisation and political culture into assessments of decentralised health care. Social Science and Medicine 51(4): 619-636.

Newspaper/Magazine Article

• Coyle, L.A. & Atkinson, S. (2017). “I sometimes refer to myself as having OCD and sometimes refer to myself as having an eating disorder.”. thebmjopinion

Report

• Curtis, Sarah, Congdon, Peter, Atkinson, Sarah, Corcoran, Rhiannon, MaGuire, Rosie & Peasgood, Tessa (2019). Individual and local area factors associated with self-reported wellbeing, perceived social cohesion and sense of attachment to one’s community: analysis of the Understanding Society Survey. What Works Centre for Wellbeing.
• Atkinson, S., Bagnall, A.M., Corcoran, R. & South, J. (2017). What is Community Wellbeing? Conceptual Review. London, What Works Centre for Wellbeing.