Centre for Death and Society (CDAS)

Description

The Centre for Death and Society provides a forum for researchers and practitioners to share their expertise in death, dying and bereavement.

The Centre for Death and Society was established in September 2005 and provides an environment for those interested in death studies to learn from each other and share their research and experience.

At a time of growing interest in and concern for issues of mortality, members aim to be at the heart of the national and international debate and networks – achieved through media engagement and a monthly e-newsletter. Seminars and an annual conference engage researchers, practitioners and the public in exploring contemporary issues. They host the editorial office of the inter-disciplinary journal Mortality.

Even in the most affluent society, risks around death remain. A feared, drawn-out dying through stroke, cancer or dementia becomes more likely the more affluent a society becomes. Environmental concerns now render traditional ways to dispose of the dead problematic. Loss and bereavement threaten personal, social and economic wellbeing. Poverty and disadvantage create added risks, including the risk of dying much sooner. All these risks draw heavily on both public and private resources.

Yet research in both rich and poor countries also shows how practices around death can unite groups, develop communities and mobilise social change. For example, caring for a dying person at home requires yet can also build local social networks; collective provision for a decent funeral established the principle of social welfare in Victorian Britain and is doing so in a number of developing countries today; the anger of grief can motivate social movements for political and policy change.

The Centre for Death and Society undertakes academic research as well as research commissioned by the government, charities and businesses with concern for end-of-life issues.

The Centre also gives independent non-partisan policy advice to government and its departments. They promote co-operation between organisations that deal with end-of-life issues and act as a communication gateway to others working in this field.

The Centre’s areas of expertise are:

• the experiences of people facing death and bereavement
• practice and policy concerning the dying, the dead, and the bereaved
• how end-of-life practices require yet can also foster community development
• relationships between the living and the dead
• how all this is influenced by economics, politics, inequality, social networks, technology and culture

The Centre’s membership includes staff from across the University of Bath as well as associates, both internal and external. This enables them to pull together experts from a huge range of subject areas: academics, practitioners, service users and administrators.

The Centre also has an extensive network of associates with expertise in complementary disciplines and professions as well as a community of doctoral students.

The Centre works across many of the research themes of the Department of Social and Policy Sciences and the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, and a number of their projects also involve themes linked to other faculties.

Offers funding

No, this infrastructure does not provide funding.

Founding year

2005

Contact details

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University affiliation(s)

University of Bath
Claverton Down
Bath
BA2 7AY