Medical Thermography - plus - Damage and Harms to Cognition

Edinburgh: October Thursday 29th 2026 Doors open 6.30pm for 7pm start - Come along to The Outhouse, (12A Broughton Street Lane, Edinburgh) for two talks: A talk on 'Medical Thermography as a Health Discovery Tool' by Tommy McMullan... (CLICK HERE FOR INFO) - followed by - a presentation and discussion of 'Damage and Harms to Cognition Through Structural Violence' by Alex Dunedin ... (CLICK HERE FOR INFO)

Medical Thermography as a Health Discovery Tool by Tommy McMullan

Bullet points of the talk:

• What is Medical Thermography
• How it compares to other types of imaging
• Medical Thermography applications as a health discover tool
• Breast Thermography
• Sports Thermography

A few paragraphs on the subject:

Medical Thermography provides a functional view of inflammation, blood flow, and vascular activity that may help identify early changes associated with breast health, thyroid and dental inflammation, vascular dysfunction, musculoskeletal problems, digestive stress, and chronic inflammatory conditions – often before structural changes become apparent.

Medical Thermography uses high resolution thermal cameras to detect the infrared emissions coming from the surface of the body. Thermography is a safe, non-invasive imaging technique that requires no injections, no ionising radiation, and no breast compression. The scan is quick and comfortable, involving only the capture of thermal images.

A few paragraphs about the speaker:

Thomas McMullan is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Owner of Thermography Scotland, bringing 10 years of professional experience as a state-registered Clinical Scientist within Radiotherapy and Medical Physics. Thomas established Thermography Scotland as part of a move into entrepreneurship and to take on a new professional challenge. His ambition is to help bring Medical Thermography services to Scotland, making high-quality thermographic assessments more accessible while developing a modern, professionally led approach to thermography across healthcare, wellbeing and sports.

Ana Azevedo is the Managing Director and Co-Owner of Thermography Scotland, bringing more than 10 years of clinical experience as a Therapeutic Radiographer working in Radiotherapy and Oncology. Her interest in thermography developed from a passion for exploring its potential as a non-invasive screening and assessment tool and from a desire to apply her clinical knowledge in a new and innovative way. Establishing Thermography Scotland has provided Ana with the opportunity to combine her healthcare experience with entrepreneurship, while developing greater professional autonomy and contributing to the growth of medical thermography services in Scotland.

Click here for references and knowledge resources

Then after a short break a second talk is given as a part of the ongoing series by Alex Dunedin exploring aspects of 'Education as Human Development':

Damage and Harms to Cognition Through Structural Violence by Alex Dunedin

Bullet points of the talk:

• The Agency of the Individual and Cognitive Reflex
• The Concept of Learned Helplessness
• Structural Violence and Its Cognitive Consequences
• Adaptive Preference Formation
• Literary References to Degenerative Normalization
• Insights from Studying Animal Behavior
• Nussbaum and Sen on Adaptive Preferences
• The Converse Adaptive Preference of the Privileged

A few paragraphs on the subject:

I plan on doing a presentation around 40 minutes long followed by a discussion with those in the room. Over time I have been studying the importance of an intact sociological habitat in sustaining good mental and physical health. What this means in practice is looking for and acknowledging all the things which are essential for a human being in order to live happy rather than tormented lives, meaningful rather than despairing existences and appropriate rather than dissociated actions.

In this talk I examine a section of my research which shares some of the findings of the associations between toxic stress responses and psychological wellbeing. It turns out that toxic stress and trauma can impact and damage the way which people process their everyday environment and interfere with learning essential new understandings vital for their florishing. For example, following trauma fear responses may fail to dampen down and become recurrent in daily life after a traumatic incident has passed.

One famous phenomenon which has been observed and documented is that of ‘Learned Helplessness’ originally reported on by psychologist Martin Seligman. First published over 50 years ago he noted how when dogs were randomly shocked in cages where they arbitrarily could not escape, they would eventually lie down and take the shocks – the surprise came when they opened the cages to let the dogs free and they did not flee the enclosures to evade the electric shocks but continued to lay in absorbing the shocks. Whilst this experiment would not ethically be reproduced today, it demonstrated a fundamental imact of trauma on the behaviour of cognitive beings. I discuss how Seligman revisited this work 50 years on.

I bring into discussion the concept of ‘structural violence’ and explore how this factors into the existence of people in their everyday environment. When people are put into no-win situations it can produce severe psychological and behavioural damage which leads to mental and physical illness. As well as this people develop what has been named ‘Adaptive Preference Formation’ meaning they get used to abusive and damaging circumstances which under normal conditions individuals aspire to evade and free themselves from. This has specific bearing on abusive relationships but also can tell us something about the effects which abusive employers and institutions can have on people.

There have been various accounts of what can be understood as degenerative normalisation both in academic studies and literary works. In this talk I introduce some work which examines the impacts of structural violence to animal species looking at how learning, mood and behaviours are altered when their habitat is degenerated. I argue this validly informs how we can understand non-tangible aspects of the habitat for us human beings; we are more than simple machines which require food, warmth and shelter which suggests that Maslow’s famous Hierarchy of Needs should be understood less as a hierarchy and more as interconnected requirements.

I finish my presentation by looking at the work of Martha Nussbaum and Amartya Sen, both of which have been highly celebrated for their work developing what is called the ‘Human Capabilities’ approach. Each of these thinkers talk articulately about Adaptive Preference Formation and its problematic role in stunting the lives and wellbeing of individuals. Each of these thinkers bring important critical thinking to examining Utilitarian perspectives which propose ‘the greatest good for the greatest number of people’ but often ends up producing significant negative unintended outcomes.

What follows is a conversation in the room about the ideas shared. For me as the presenter, it is an opportunity to run my research by other people in order to see what makes sense, what doesn’t, and what could be improved.

A few paragraphs about the speaker:

I am an independent researcher who for over 15 years has been interested in the role which learning plays in the lives and wellbeing of people. I have come to understand learning as a fundamental part of life which everyone does throughout their daily existence. Education I don’t see as originating from institutional spaces but more having its origins in the relationships we have and the things we do. I have become very involved in the critical psychiatry movement devoting a lot of study to researching aspects of wellbeing.

My interests are in understanding the causes of health and how we as individuals, groups and societies can build these into our environment so that life is a positive and productive experience. I see doing Ragged University presentations as a part of the exercise that keeps my brain and heart alive and well; it is also a really nice way to meet the world and spend my life.

Click here for references and knowledge resources

The event is informal and relaxed. There will be a little food and everyone is invited to bring an item of food along to put on the table and take it away at the end so that there is no food waste.

People can come and go as they please and everyone is welcome to do a talk. Please visit the website for more information or drop an email in.