GRACE-Epi Monthly Methods: Professor Daisy Fancourt

Join the first event in our new series “GRACE-Epi Monthly Methods”. In this session, we’ll be hearing from Professor Daisy Fancourt, Principal Investigator of GRACE-Epi, who will share an introduction to this major new programme of work on arts and health funded through a Wellcome Discovery Award and the innovative methods the research team will be using over the coming years.

About GRACE-Epi

Global Research on Arts and Cultural Engagement – Advancing Epidemiological Methods (GRACE-Epi) is a major new 7-year programme of work on arts and health funded through a £3.5m Wellcome Discovery Award.

Arts and cultural engagement is increasingly recognised as having tangible effects on health outcomes. The advent of epidemiological research on arts and cultural engagement has advanced our understanding of the long-term health benefits of day-to-day engagement. However, we now face major roadblocks relating to the breadth, depth and fundamental assumptions of epidemiological research on arts and cultural engagement. Through this Discovery Award, a consortium of global north and south researchers will unite expertise from arts, humanities, social science, epidemiology, data science and molecular biology to radically advance epidemiological research on arts and cultural engagement.

Learn more about GRACE-Epi on our website.

The Monthly Methods series

Throughout the GRACE-Epi programme we are engaging in open and collaborative science. As part of this we will be co-hosting monthly free training webinars considering novel methodologies, theoretical approaches, and lenses, partnering with universities globally. Following this first event, we are planning the schedule of webinars for the remainder of 2026 and are inviting proposals for speakers – to find out more please contact: rachel.marshall@ucl.ac.uk.

To be notified of future Monthly Methods webinars, subscribe to the Social Biobehavioural Research Group newsletter.

Professor Daisy Fancourt

Daisy Fancourt is Professor of Psychobiology and Epidemiology and Head of the Social Biobehavioural Research Group at UCL (www.sbbresearch.org). Daisy’s research focuses on the effects of social connections and behaviours on health, including social deficits (e.g. loneliness and social isolation) and social assets (e.g. community engagement, arts & cultural activities, and social prescribing).

Daisy is Director of the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre on Arts and Health and of the National Centre for Social Prescribing Data and Analysis. She has published over 300 peer-reviewed papers, 3 books, over a dozen book chapters and has given more than 40 keynotes around the world. Her latest book Art Cure is published by Penguin (UK) and Macmillan (US). She is listed by Clarivate as one of the most highly cited scientists in the world.