Until Death Café meetings moved from cafes, libraries, community centres, cemeteries, etc. to the online sphere due to social distancing measures, it had not occurred to me to specify that my PhD thesis is about face to face Death Café meetings. Online Death Cafés were an exception, not the rule when I conducted my fieldwork… Continue reading
Reflections of a Hospice CEO on the emerging COVID-19 crisis Toiling up the knoll on brittle ground frost we clambered over a creaking stile to be rewarded by the sun glistening on Windermere set against a backdrop of distant snowclad fells. Our short walk had brought a welcome opportunity to reflect during our annual board… Continue reading
Coronavirus is changing the way we live in a way that is repeatedly said to be unprecedented. We say we are living through strange times, extraordinary times, difficult times. For some of us lucky enough to be able to work from home time might be stretching out in lockdown into an endless series of Thursday… Continue reading
Even at The Lancet When it comes to assisted dying, even one of the world’s leading medical journals can get caught out. It’s curious in this age of ‘precision medicine’, that leading commentators and thought leaders in the medical field can still struggle with crucial terms and definitions about assisted dying. Whatever your views on… Continue reading
Professor David Clark, Dr Marian Krawzyck, Dr Naomi Richards, Dr Sandy Whitelaw, Anthony Bell – all members of the Glasgow End of Life Studies Group – share some recent insights. ‘Palliative care will assume a central and vital role in the care for patients in an influenza pandemic’ (Rosoff 2006) [1] The importance of delivering… Continue reading
When in February 2014, I heard the news that my application for a Wellcome Trust Investigator Award had been successful, I could scarcely have imagined what would follow over the next six years. The Trust is perhaps unique among funders in the incredible extent to which it gives grantees the scope and encouragement to think… Continue reading
Autumn 2019 saw a team of us in the Glasgow End of Life Studies Group set out into unknown educational waters. Over a three-week period, we delivered a free online course called End of Life Care – Challenges and Innovation. We possibly didn’t anticipate how long our preparations and course building would take. We probably… Continue reading
On 22 January 2020, Dr Elizabeth Reeder, Amy Shea and Dr Naomi Richards ran their second ‘Death Writes’ symposium, this time with a focus on images. The symposium – open to the public – was held at the stunning Glasgow Women’s Library and supported by the University of Glasgow’s Arts Lab funding and the Glasgow End… Continue reading
