New Horizons Fellows announced for 2026
Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences (MDHS) academics Associate Professor Rebecca Patrick, Dr Stuart Henshall and Dr Fiona Reilly have been appointed as 2026 New Horizons Fellows.
The New Horizons Fellow in Residence program fosters education and research collaboration between the Faculty of Arts and MDHS, to support innovative cross-disciplinary projects that strengthen teaching, research and engagement across both faculties.
Associate Professor Patrick and Dr Henshall’s fellowship project, Teaching Climate Through Story, A Health-Arts Collaboration, explores how storytelling and narrative approaches can be used in the teaching of climate change and health. The interdisciplinary team includes Samantha Eala and Lindsay Scudder from MDHS, alongside Dr Rachel Hennessy, Dr Sonja Molnar and PhD candidate Simon Graham from the Faculty of Arts. They will investigate how creative and reflective storytelling practices can be used to deepen understanding of climate-related health challenges and support new approaches to teaching and learning.
Dr Reilly’s fellowship project, Narrative Medicine and Simulation as Cross-disciplinary Pedagogies, will explore how health professionals’ collaborative practices, storytelling and use of technology can inform workers in the creative, cultural and social sectors. Collaborating with members of the Faculty of Arts, Dr Reilly will co-create a Narrative Medicine teaching toolkit combining Arts methodologies with emergency medicine pedagogical techniques including advanced simulation and train-the-trainer methods.
The Fellowship builds on the success of the inaugural 2025 New Horizons projects led by fellows in the Faculty of Arts. Dr Nicola Redhouse’s Pedagogy of Noticing piloted a series of workshops with MDHS students designed to strengthen their ability to engage with feelings of uncertainty. Drawing on reflective creative writing and psychoanalytic approaches to meaning-making, students participated in workshops at the Potter Museum of Art and Science Gallery Melbourne.
Dr Sonia Jawaid Shaikh’s Human-AI Interaction project resulted in the development of a virtual research platform that tests various facets of human-AI collaboration and teaming in clinical settings. The platform allows researchers to investigate factors such as accuracy, cognitive load and teamwork through customisable experiments.
For further information on the scheme, contact Professor Dani Tomlin, Deputy Dean Education, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, dani.tomlin@unimelb.edu.au or Professor Beth Driscoll, Deputy Dean Academic, Faculty of Arts, driscoll@unimelb.edu.au.