Workplace wellbeing – Reading Bodies

Reading Bodies Invited Talks in 2026

We are looking forward to presenting our research for the Reading Bodies project to a wider audience in Spring 2026, with the following invited talks:

Katharine Murphy, ‘Stories of Burnout: The Reading Bodies Project,’ Staff Wellbeing Network, University of Exeter (online), 20 January 2026.
Olivia Glaze, visiting speaker on impact, public engagement and policy at School of Arts, English and Languages, Queen’s University Belfast, 23 January 2026.
Katharine Murphy and Olivia Glaze, ‘Introduction to The Burnout Booklet,’ for the Royal College of General Practitioners (online), 10 February 2026.
Katharine Murphy, guest speaker for COIL: Ramapo College of New Jersey, USA and University of Deusto, Spain (online), 25 February 2026.
Katharine Murphy and Olivia Glaze, visiting speakers for Global Medical Humanities Network, University of Leeds, 18 March 2026.
Katharine Murphy, project presentation for Arts and Culture Community of Practice, University of Exeter (online), 23 March 2026.

For more information about project activities, please visit our Events and Publications pages.

Workplace Wellbeing: From ‘Quiet Quitting’ to ‘Anchors’

By Dr Daniele Carrieri, Lecturer in Public Health, University of Exeter, and Project Partner for Reading Bodies

In preparation for our creative workshop on burnout and resilience, Dr Daniele Carrieri explores research perspectives on related workplace issues. For more information about this research theme, please visit our Resources page.

Introduction

I have come across, but never investigated, the term ‘quiet quitting’. This creative writing workshop on burnout, overload and resilience offers an excellent opportunity to start filling this gap in my research on mental ill-health and wellbeing in a high-stress work context: healthcare.[1] Quiet quitting is newer and possibly less known than ‘burnout’, ‘stress’ or’ resilience’. It also has some evocative potential – which I hope will inspire creating thinking and writing. I believe there is a poetic flare in ‘quiet quitting’ (perhaps also due to its alliteration?), as well as echoes of cultural references such as Thoreau’s ‘quiet desperation’ (Thoreau, ed. 2006), or, more recently, the introversion highlighted by Cain in her book ‘Quiet’ (Cain, 2013).