Casebook Editors:
Vikki Entwistle, Arnar Arnason, Paul Kefford, Jennie Riley
Case Writing Team:
Vikki Entwistle, Paul Kefford, Jennie Riley
Care in Funerals Research Team:
Arnar Arnason, Rebecca Crozier, Vikki Entwistle (Principal Investigator), Paul Kefford, Louise Locock, Paolo Maccagno, Abi Pattenden, Laura Pusey, Jennie Riley Ed Thornton
Care in Funerals Guest Commentary Contributors:
Sofia Allana, Ruth Bickerton, Heather L Munro, Nawal Prinja, Halina Suwalowska, Teck Chuan Voo
Additional peer reviewers:
Sofia Allana, Heather Munro, Mohamed Omer, Nawal Prinja
In the sections below, the Care in Funerals Research Team introduce themselves first. Short biographical notes are then provided for Guest Commentary Contributors.
The Care in Funerals Research Team
Abi Pattenden
As a working funeral director, I have seen first-hand the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on funerals themselves; on bereaved people arranging and participating in them; and on colleagues across the funeral service sector. The effects have been wide-ranging and it is very important to me that we learn lessons from this difficult period. I have been delighted to contribute to the Care in Funerals project and the development of this Casebook. I hope that stakeholders in future funerals will find it helpful.
Arnar Árnason
I teach in the anthropology department at the University of Aberdeen. I have been engaged in research on death and grief for a long time and have carried out fieldwork in the North East of England, Japan, Scotland and Iceland. My contributions to this project have included the sharing of insights from the anthropology of death and the anthropology of emotion. It has been a huge privilege to work on this important, timely and truly interdisciplinary project.
Ed Thornton
I worked on the Care in Funerals project until October 2021 while I was a lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen. I brought questions and insights from the history of philosophy, considering how thinkers from previous generations have attempted to work through some of life's big questions and putting their ideas into dialogue with present concerns in order to help us make sense of what's going on around us.
Jennie Riley
I joined the University of Aberdeen as a research fellow on the Care in Funerals project. My background is in Theology and Religious Studies, with particular interests in contemporary British religion, healthcare and deathcare. I hosted many of the interviews and have led analyses particularly of experiences and concerns relating to care of the bodies of people who have died, and different ways of attending or contributing to funerals and death rites, including via the livestreaming and recording of funerals.
Louise Locock
I am a qualitative social science researcher interested in personal experience of health and illness; patient-centred quality improvement and co-design; and patient and family involvement in research and care. A major recent focus of my work has been how we can better use different types of personal experience data to improve care. My interest in the Care in Funerals project was partly prompted following the death of a friend very early in the pandemic. In addition to contributing methodological expertise, I have enjoyed discussing the development of analyses and considering how ideas about 'care' from health service contexts connect to those in funeral provision.
Laura D Pusey
My work involves providing guidance and support for individuals or families navigating end of life stages. I am a funeral arranger and I perform ceremonies as a funeral celebrant. As a clinical hypnotherapist, I also focus on matters pertaining solely to dying, death and grief within group and individual grief coaching and therapy. Alongside my work with Cruse and Mind, I am the author of two death related workbooks: “My Life's Tapestry” and “Tapestries of Grief”. My passion lies with the creation of platforms that showcase fellow Death Care Practitioners and service providers of and for the African and Caribbean communities, in order to address the vast underrepresentation that currently exists within the funeral industry. I have been delighted to contribute to this project to that end, as well as facilitate reflections on the social, emotional, mental, and practical aspects of death and grief that are so often overlooked.
Paolo Maccagno
I am an anthropologist. I was pleased to joined the Care in Funerals team as a research fellow because it fitted well with my academic and personal interests on end-of-life issues. I am a member of Libera Uscita, an Italian association focused on Right to Die with Dignity, and from my home in Scotland I have been promoting open conversations about death for fostering pathways of awareness. I brought to the project a particular interest in the notion of 'limit' and the implications of restrictions and limitations placed on funeral provision at different stages in the pandemic.
Paul Kefford
I am an experienced death practitioner, working as a funeral celebrant and end of life doula, and actively engaged with the Centre for Death and Society at the University of Bath. I also draw from my long experience as a former civil servant in the Cabinet Office (as well as some years as a volunteer Samaritan listener) to take a reflective approach to my own work, as well as through my offering supervision to other celebrants. This casebook offers useful material for practitioners to reflect on their approach with a hope of strengthening emotional resilience in and around dying, death and bereavement. I was delighted to have been able to share my own practitioner experience and perspective with the project.
Rebecca Crozier
As an archaeologist specialising in the study of ancient human remains, my research interests ultimately lie with how communities in the past dealt with death. Essentially, I spend my time trying to reconstruct past mortuary practices from the more tangible remains left behind. From Stone Age Orkney, to the Metal Age of the Philippines, I have found that the way humans choose to conduct their funeral rites is hugely varied and complex. I have brought learning and questions arising from this diversity to the Care in Funerals project. As a lecturer at the University of Aberdeen, I look forward to taking learning from the project back into my research and teaching - including an interdisciplinary undergraduate course that I lead on 'Death!'
Vikki Entwistle
I'm what you might call an 'interdisciplinary' scholar. That means I draw on the approaches and learning of several different academic areas in my work. My research to date has focused largely on questions about quality, ethics and social justice in healthcare and public health provision. Serving as principal investigator for the Care in Funerals project gave me a wonderful opportunity to help develop thinking about how and why funerals matter to people and what makes for good funeral provision. I was privileged to hear the diverse and often extremely difficult experiences of people who were bereaved and people who worked to provide funerals during the pandemic, and it has been a treat to work on the development of the Casebook. I look forward to supporting its use and will welcome suggestions for improving and extending it.
Guest commentary contributors
Sofia Allana
Sofia Allana has been in the bereavement sector for over 20 years where she has experience in various roles including cemetery and crematorium management. She now works for the Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management (ICCM) using her experience to help others within the sector with their enquiries. Sofia is also the editor of The Journal, the ICCM publication which chronicles activity and initiatives throughout the industry.
Ruth Bickerton
Ruth Bickerton is a PhD candidate at the University of Dundee researching inequalities in funerals from different social, geographic and income perspectives. Ruth was previously a research assistant exploring funeral poverty in Dundee. She is a Trustee of the Dundee-based charity Funeral Link, which aims to prevent hardship for people who are organising and paying for a funeral.
Heather L Munro
Dr Heather L Munro is an anthropologist who conducts research with Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) and other Jewish communities. Her recent work includes studies of Hasidic Jewish experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic in London and New York. Heather is currently a lecturer at King's College London.
Nawal K Prinja
Professor Nawal Prinja comes from a traditional Hindu Brahmin family. He was born in Mombasa, Kenya and has studied in Kenya, India and the UK. He is a Technology Director of a leading nuclear engineering company, is an honorary professor in four British universities and sits on several international scientific committees and government advisory boards. Alongside his professional jobs, Nawal has continued with his traditional family role of officiating at Hindu ceremonies and performing religious rites. As a practising Hindu, he is regularly consulted by educational institutions, media, solicitors and other bodies on matters related to Hinduism. He has studied Sanskrit and taught Hindu philosophy and scriptures. Nawal is currently the Education Director of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad UK (World Council of Hindus) charity.
Halina Suwalowska
Dr Halina Suwalowska is a Researcher Fellow at the Ethox Centre, Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities at the University of Oxford. Halina is a sociologist by background and has worked with a number of universities and humanitarian organisations around the world to build research capacity to support preparedness and responses to humanitarian crises and epidemics. Halina's current research focus is on the ethical and social issues emerging in managing dead bodies during natural disasters and epidemics and the challenges experienced by frontline staff and 'last responders' when caring for the dead.
Teck Chuan VOO
Dr Teck Chuan Voo is Assistant Professor at the Centre for Biomedical Ethics, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore. Trained in Philosophy and Medical Jurisprudence, he works on various ethical issues in health policy and research, with focus on epidemic ethics topics.