Written by Annemarie Samuels and David Clark The contribution of the social sciences to the field of palliative and end of life care has been steadily growing in recent decades. With that we see emerging centres of interest: conducting research and teaching students in areas such as sociology, anthropology, psychology or health and social policy. New… Continue reading →
Today (13th May 2025), the 129 members of the Scottish Parliament vote on whether the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) bill passes to stage 2 and makes its way towards becoming an Act of Parliament. It is 10 years since Scottish politicians voted on the issue and the international picture has changed considerably… Continue reading →
How are the stories we tell about assisted dying used in policymaking and legal decisions? I currently work as part of the Assisted Lab project at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, which tries to understand how and why certain stories about assisted dying are mentioned or used as evidence during the law-making process. Funded… Continue reading →
A blog by Michael Hannah and Stella McCulloch Each year in May, Good Life Good Death Good Grief co-ordinates activities across Scotland as part of Demystifying Death Week. It’s all about giving people knowledge, skills and opportunities to plan and support each other through death, dying, loss and care. As such it represents a significant… Continue reading →
End-of-life doulas offer non-medical supports, guidance, and comfort for people with advancing serious illness, including those close to them. They have been gaining a lot of attention from the public, media, and health care systems as our previous ideas and traditions of care for dying, death, and bereavement continue to shift within the 21st century.… Continue reading →
This blog was written by Gina Tarditi, one of the first graduates from our MSc in End of Life Studies. On October 25th 2023, the Center for Palliative Care of Mexico organized the first “Café con Catrina” in Mexico City, which 28 people attended. The meeting was inspired by Death Café and Death Over Dinner. Both these movements,… Continue reading →
The first half of this blog was written by Simon Dewhurst, who works in the facilities team at the School of Social and Environmental Sustainability. The second half is written by Dr Marian Krawczyk, Lecturer and programme lead for the End of Life Studies PGCert/PGDip/MSc. The genesis of the blog was a serendipitous conversation between… Continue reading →
To coincide with the display of the ‘Cost of Dying’ exhibition at the Scottish Parliament (14th – 16th November 2023), we present our final digital story; “Frank’s Story”. Key themes in Frank’s story are the physical inaccessibility of the home affecting care provision, financial struggles in caring for a terminally ill family member, and the… Continue reading →
