Storytelling as Pharmakon in Premodernity and Beyond: Training the New Generation of Researchers and Professionals in Health Humanities (StoryPharm)
Storytelling as Pharmakon in Premodernity and Beyond: Training the New Generation of Researchers and Professionals in Health Humanities (StoryPharm) delivers an international, interdisciplinary, and intersectoral programme of doctoral training recruiting 19 fellows, who are trained to become highly skilled cultural historians specialising in premodern intellectual and healthcare worlds (Greco-Roman, Sasanian, Byzantine, Western Medieval, and Islamic). Acquiring interdisciplinary knowledge in Classics, Medieval Studies, Narrative Medicine, Health Humanities, and Medievalism, along with transferable skills, the fellows are trained to use, develop, and deploy cutting-edge approaches to storytelling and its ethical ramifications for scientific, professional, business, healthcare, and social purposes.
StoryPharm Consortium
University of Cyprus (Coordinator) | University of Bamberg | Lund University | University of Salerno | Cardiff University
StoryPharm has received funding from Horizon Europe Programme for Research and Innovation under the action Horizon MSCA Doctoral Networks, Grant Agreement No. 101169114 and the UK Research and Innovation with Grant Ref: EP/Z534523/1
Latest Blogs, News & Announcements
![[i]Treatise on Herbs[/i] ([i]Tractatus de herbis[/i], 13th/14th c. Italy) Egerton 747 (f. 12r), British Library, London](https://www.ucy.ac.cy/storypharm/wp-content/uploads/sites/316/2025/07/blog2.jpg)
StoryPharm Blog 2 (July 2025)
Is a pharmakon a cure or a poison, or both? In this post, StoryPharm doctoral fellows unpack the layered meanings of the term across history, medicine, and storytelling. From medieval herbals and healing rituals to Derrida’s reflections on language and trust, they explore the pharmakon as remedy, narrative, and cultural force.
StoryPharm Blog 1 (June 2025)
How was suffering understood in the Middle Ages, and why does it matter today? In this first collective blog post by StoryPharm doctoral fellows, it is explored how pain, illness, and healing were conceptualised across time, cultures, and media. Drawing on texts, images, and rituals, they investigate how language gives shape to suffering, and how stories can heal.
