Care in Comics

Care in the UK is changing, with major reforms such as the proposed National Care Service on the horizon. At a moment like this, research cannot remain only in academic journals, it needs to be shared with the people who shape, deliver, and live with care every day.

Led by Ankita Mishra, PJ Annand, Lauren White and Fay Benskin funded by CIRCLE and Centre for Care (ESRC, NIHR), the Care in Comics project brings together expertise in creative and participatory research, social care and critical disability studies, knowledge exchange, and impact. Along with comics editor and producer, Gabi Putnoki, we are experimenting with new ways of sharing research: working with illustrators to transform studies into comics, and hosting community events where people can read and discuss them collectively. In doing so, we aim to make complex ideas easier to access, and more meaningful to a wider public.

So far, this work has led to four comics:

• Choice & Compassion: Dementia Care Stories Explores how care-home staff uphold dignity, independence, and rights by supporting people living with dementia to make and communicate their own choices in everyday care.
• What Is Queer Home? (And why should practitioners care?) Shares five LGBTQ+ people’s experiences of home, showing how social care, housing, and health practitioners can work together to create spaces of safety, belonging, and affirmation.
• Degrees of Support:  Follows care-experienced graduates as they navigate housing, employment, and study after university, highlighting where coordinated social care, education, and policy support can improve life after care.
• Care Matters: When Work and Care Collide Tells the story of Beth, an unpaid carer juggling employment and caregiving, revealing how workplace flexibility, understanding, and supportive care policies can transform carers’ wellbeing.

Together, these comics show how research can be shared in ways that are accessible, emotionally resonant, and relevant to the realities of people’s lives. 

All the comics are in the process of being converted into audio voice-over versions so that they can be enjoyed by an even wider range of people. Watch this space...

We value your feedback!

Please take a moment to fill out our short feedback form.

Care in Comics events

• Graphic Novel Reading Room
  • 15th October: 3:30-5:30
  • Book FREE: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1688536651579
  • Showroom Cinema
• Care in Comics at the Festival of Social Sciences
  • 31st October - 2nd November
  • Drop in (no booking necessary)
  • Cadman Room, Millenium Gallery, Surrey Street Sheffield S1 2LH