Open Thanatology Research Group

Description

Open Thanatology is the Open University’s interdisciplinary research group for the study and education of death, dying, loss and grief across the life course. Formally renamed in 2020, the group builds on the long-standing death and dying research group at the university with a renewed energy to promote these fields of research and education.

Death, dying and bereavement has been a major research and teaching theme at the Open University for over 20 years both within the Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies and across other faculties. Open Thanatology's research covers theoretical and practice-related dimensions across end of life care and death, including reproductive and neonatal loss, bereavement and memorialisation. Open Thanatolgy's work is theoretically driven and aims to inform both theory and practice spanning the arts and social sciences, professional practice, caring, and education.

Open Thanatology's research is recognised for its academic excellence and ability to inform health and social care policy and practice. Open Thanatology has links with a range of health and social care partners as well as third sector partners. Members of the research group are regularly consulted on a wide range of policy and practice-related issues as well as public knowledge exchange and for media requests.

Open Thanatology is committed to educating people about dying, death and grief. It has an innovative Death, Dying and Bereavement module, which was the first flexible learning of its kind to address the challenging area of death, dying and bereavement, as well as end of life care. This can be taken as a standalone module or part of a degree. Via OpenLearn, Open Thanatology has a wide range of free videos, articles, interactives and short courses related to its research and public education topics featuredin the Open Thanatology Hub. Through the Open University-BBC collaborations it also consults on a range of prime-time and internet-based video content, including documentaries like A Time to Live, Stacey Dooley: Inside the Undertakers, and short films for BBC Ideas.

Offers funding

No, this infrastructure does not provide funding.

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The Open University
Milton Keynes