This year, we will be running two events for the Festival of Social Science 2026! One is a closed movement snack with Hope 4 the Community and the other is a closed discussion with UCLH Pain Management Centre. Please read below for more information:
Hope for the Community
Online (closed session), 20th October 2026, 5:30-6:30pm
A movement snack is a short session of movement, designed to be easily accessible and encourage even small amounts of gentle movement during the day.
Our theme will be ‘Moving with the imagination’. In this session, we will explore images including from nature / the elements as inspiration for moving. Images allow people to adjust or adapt the movement to their own capacity. You can even just do the movement in your own imagination, depending on your capacity. This session is led by Emma Meehan, Eline Kieft and Elena Catalano from the Somatic Practice and Chronic Pain Network with support from the Festival of Social Science and Coventry University and in Collaboration with Hope for the Community CIC.
UCLH Pain Management Centre
In-person (closed session), 5th November 2026, 2:00-2:50pm
A 50-minute interactive session exploring movement and embodied awareness as ways to support people living with persistent pain. It will share ideas from a collaboration between the Physiotherapy Team and the Somatic Practice and Chronic Pain Network, with insights from observation and discussion of the Activate movement-based pain management programme. It considers the scope of professional practice and language used in supporting movement with chronic pain.
This event explores the significance of embodied and movement-based approaches in pain management, especially for people with multiple comorbidities and complexities. Participants will learn about emerging research and contribute to conversations about future pain services and research.
The event is for the Physiotherapy Team working at the UCLH Pain Management Centre, but also open to other team members at the service interested in pain, movement, or innovative approaches to supporting people with chronic pain. Leading this event are:
- Dr Emma Meehan and board members from the Centre for Dance Research /Somatic Practice and Chronic Pain Network
- Andrea Wright, Laura Whitten, Maeve Larkin, and Dr. Jackie Walumbe from University College London NHS Trust Pain Centre Physiotherapy Team.
