Grief affects everyone but is still very much a taboo subject in the UK. A new Centre – the first of its kind in the UK – hopes to shift public attitudes towards grief and create communities that are compassionate and connected in their support of people who are bereaved. The Centre for Grief Research and Community Engagement (Grief Centre) at the University of Bristol is launched today [24 April].
The Grief Centre will focus on interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research into grief, death and loss, aiming to increase understanding of these fundamental aspects of being human and provide the space for new thinking, ideas and approaches.
It will bring researchers together with people from diverse communities, artists and creatives, voluntary and community sector organisations, health and social care services, policy makers and funders to develop social and creative interventions and knowledge exchange initiatives to change the way grief and death are seen, supported and discussed.
The Grief Centre, funded by Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board, will be co-directed by Lucy Selman, Professor of Palliative and End of Life Care at the Palliative and End of Life Care Research Group and Centre for Academic Primary Care, and Dr Lesel Dawson, Associate Professor in Literature and Culture in the Department of English.
Professor Selman and Dr Dawson are co-founders of Good Grief Festival, an award-winning public engagement and grief literacy initiative, and collaborators on a £2.4 million Arts and Humanities Research Council funded national partnership to tackle coastal health inequalities.
Research will focus on issues such as:
- equity, diversity and widening access to bereavement support;
- support for bereaved children and young people;
- ‘disenfranchised grief’ (grief or sorrow that is hidden or not acknowledged by society);
- the therapeutic role of creativity in grief;
- community-based approaches to bereavement support;
- co-production and community-led research.
Through the Good Grief Festival platform, the Centre will also offer public courses on grief and bereavement to build grief literacy, and develop training for both professionals and academics to grow their skills in supporting and doing research with people who are bereaved.
Professor Selman said: “Our vision is to develop a pioneering Grief Centre, which brings together research, education, policy, advocacy, enterprise and innovation. The Centre will establish the University of Bristol as a centre for excellence in grief research.”
Dr Dawson added: “Equity and inclusion will run through all our work. While loss and grief affect us all, bereaved people in the UK face substantial inequities, with people from minoritised ethnic communities, sexual minority groups and more deprived backgrounds known to experience barriers to accessing bereavement support.”
Welcoming the launch of the Centre, Professor Evelyn Welch, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bristol, said: “The new Grief Centre will strengthen the University of Bristol’s commitment to civic involvement through collaborations with local charities, communities, faith groups and artists. It will be further enriched by the wealth of University of Bristol academics who work on topics related to grief, loss, death and the end of life.”
The Grief Centre will deliver its first in-person public engagement event during Dying Matters Awareness Week (5-11 May): Dying for Beginners: An interview with Kathryn Mannix, on Friday 9 May 2025 from 12-1pm at 11 Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1TB. Register to attend.
To find out more about the Grief Centre, visit the Centre website.