Dr. Graham Matthews joined NTU in 2016 and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2020. He serves as the Associate Chair (Academic) for the School of Humanities (2021 to present). He was the Head of English from 2020 to 2022 and Assistant Chair (C&O) from 2017 to 2022. His research lies in the interdisciplinary field of the Medical Humanities and he led the research cluster from 2017 to 2022. He is currently the PI of two major projects: (i) a Social Science Research Council (SSRC) funded interdisciplinary and cross-sector project on culture and mental health stigma in Singapore; (ii) a Ministry of Education funded book-length project on medicine in mid-century British literature. He has led multiple projects in the Digital Humanities that utilise quantitative research methods such as literary data mining to provide fresh insight into topics such as literary tradition and influence and the cultural representation of China. He has published widely on topics such as the literary representation of AI, expertise, science, and digital technologies.

Mental Health Stigma and Culture in Singapore
This project provides an interdisciplinary Medical Humanities approach to the problem of mental health stigma. Our diverse and multi-disciplinary team analyse how cultural texts (films, television dramas, novels, and plays) present mental health. We are developing a resource pack that we hope will help inform and inspire writers, directors, and producers, which will result in more positive and accurate representations of mental health and help to challenge preconceptions and stereotypes that lead to the stigmatisation of vulnerable members of society. This is an interdisciplinary, collaborative project with participants from the Institute of Mental Health and other hospitals and arts organisations in Singapore. The three methodologies include: (i) detailed close reading and analysis of pathographies (illness narratives); (ii) Focus Group Discussions (FGD) with people with mental health conditions; (iii) Multi-disciplinary and Cross-sector Roundtables (MCR) with experts from a range of sectors and disciplines to tackle the complex issue of mental health stigma.

Medicine in Mid-Century British Literature
This project explores a pivotal moment in the history of medicine—the triumph of scientific and technological responses to disease—that influenced a diverse range of mid-century British writers. The twentieth century witnessed impressive advances in medicine’s ability to cure that were led by dramatic developments in the fields of pharmacology, vaccination, genomics, molecular biology, evidence-based practice, and medical technology. The development of techno-scientific medicine also resulted in a significant shift in medical practice and reconfigured relations between doctors and patients in the following areas: (i) the emergence of a professionalised doctor-patient relation predicated on the clinical ethic of ‘detached concern’; (ii) the birth of the National Health Service and the development of the Welfare State; (iii) the transformation of the hospital into a ‘temple of science’ and concomitant depersonalisation of the patient; (iv) the de-institutionalisation of psychotherapy and growth in community care; and (v) the entangled relationship between anti-colonial critique and nascent forms of patient-centred care. Each of these themes are reflected in the literary and cultural production of the period in ways that are instructive for present-day debates.