A Look Back at the Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) Medical Humanities 2025

Summary : From June 16 to 20, 2025, Clermont-Ferrand hosted the in-person component of the Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) “Medical Humanities 2025”, an interdisciplinary and intercultural project that brought together around thirty students and faculty members from the University of Clermont Auvergne (France), Ovidius University of Constanța (Romania), University of Ioannina (Greece), and University of Perugia (Italy) — all members of the European University ARTEMIS (Alliance for Regional Transition, Equality, Mobility, Inclusion and Sustainability).

Combining Medicine and the Humanities: A Societal Challenge

Medical humanities are emerging today as a response to the contemporary challenges of medicine: increasing technologization of care, ethical tensions, the rise of psychosocial issues, and the complexity of healthcare pathways.

This field seeks to train professionals capable of combining biomedical knowledge with critical reflection, technical skills with a sense of humanity. It also aims to encourage people from different disciplines to reflect collectively on health issues in order to propose responses that are more comprehensive than those developed solely within the medical field. In Clermont-Ferrand, the Humanities in Health group, represented by Associate Professor Mélina BEGOU—who initiated this BIP—fully embodies this dynamic.

An Intensive Programme Rooted in Reality and Open to Europe through the ARTEMIS Consortium

The “Medical Humanities 2025” BIP is part of the second pillar of the European University ARTEMIS (Alliance for Regional Transition, Equality, Mobility, Inclusion and Sustainability), titled “Health and Environment.”

It was structured in two phases:

• An online phase held on June 3–6 and June 24–25, featuring interactive sessions and preparatory work;
• An immersive in-person week in Clermont-Ferrand from June 16 to 20.

Throughout this week, in a warm and intercultural atmosphere marked by curiosity, sharing, and reflection, participants engaged in a wide range of activities:

• Thematic workshops on topics such as representations of illness, gender transition, mental health, access to care, non-pharmaceutical practices, spirituality, beliefs and medicine, ethics of artificial intelligence, and more;
• Interactive lectures led by experts from the humanities, medical, and social sciences;
• Cultural visits (La Jetée, the city of Vichy, ex-votos from the healing spring sanctuary at the Bargoin Museum, the Puy-de-Dôme and its Temple of Mercury), sparking discussions on the history of care, thermalism, barriers to treatment access, and the risks of over-medicalization;
• Collaborative creations including presentations on intercultural differences in thermalism, posters on the relationship between art and health, travel journals, and critical discussions.

Meaningful Contributions for Both Students and Faculty

This BIP enabled participants to:

• Strengthen their intercultural competencies;
• Foster dialogue between disciplines and experiences, bridging medicine, philosophy, psychology, geography, history, art, and communication;
• Reflect on professional posture, the role of listening, storytelling, and sensitivity in medical practice;
• Promote active and critical pedagogy, grounded in real-life situations and peer-to-peer exchanges, driven by a commitment to continuously improving the quality of education.

On the student side, this experience was perceived as both academically enriching and profoundly human. It enabled them to move beyond a strictly theoretical approach to learning, to address health-related issues through other perspectives – notably cultural, narrative, and emotional – and to build strong connections in a spirit of discovery and sharing.For the teaching staff, the BIP was a valuable opportunity for exchange, pedagogical co-construction, and interdisciplinary dialogue. It also strengthened collaborations between partner universities and highlighted the importance of training rooted in listening, exchange, and critical reflection.

The “Medical Humanities 2025” BIP showcased the richness of a hybrid, intensive, and European learning format, capable of opening new and innovative training spaces in the field of health. It confirmed the relevance of crossing knowledge, building bridges between disciplines, and placing the human dimension back at the heart of university education. Partners are already considering continuing this cooperation within the framework of the European University ARTEMIS, with new projects and the long-term integration of medical humanities into curricula.