What's the episode about?

In this episode, hear Lucy Willow discuss death and fine art, performance art and visual culture, photographing the dead, mourning, loss, grief and artistic practice, as well as research and being a celebrant.

Who is Lucy?

Born in Whitstable, Kent Lucy Willow graduated with first class BA in Fine Art from Falmouth College of Art in 2003.

Willow lives and works in Cornwall and has exhibited widely both nationally and internationally.

Her work first received acclaim with a series of Dust carpets made on location and for specific environments, Smithfield abattoir (2005), Old Romney Church (2005), Make it Real, Whitstable, Kent (2006), Art Now Cornwall, Tate St.Ives commission (2007). In 2001 Willow won the BAMS (British Art Medal Society) award for contemporary medal making.

Willow’s photographic work was presented for the first time with a solo show at Millennium Gallery St.Ives (2009). Willow was selected in 2009, with seven artists representing Cornwall, to show in London in a project called Gloria Zoo Art 2009. In 2014 she had a solo exhibition Fallen at Kestle Barton, Centre for Contemporary art, Cornwall (April – June 2014), where she developed a body of work over a two-year period with two artist residencies. In December 2015 she was artist in residence at HERE factory in Iceland where her work was strongly influenced by the dark winter months and bleak landscape.

In March 2016 she became artists in residence in Guangzhou China as part of an arts international program and had a solo show in Redtory arts district, Guangzhou (April – May 2016). Willow presented a paper at the Malady and Mortality conference, Falmouth University 2013 Paper: The last Portrait, a microscopic view of transience, mourning and loss. Published in Malady and Mortality: Illness, Disease and Death in Literary and Visual Culture (2016) Chapter: The last Portrait, a microscopic view of transience, mourning and loss.

In 2020 she set up an organisation DUST The Art of Grief from an old shop in Penzance as a space to bring together artists, artefacts, members of the community and professionals working in end of life and funeral industries.

Lucy Willow is currently part time senior lecturer in Fine Art at Falmouth University, an end of life photographer, a freelance practitioner using creative practice to tell community stories of grief and a recently trained funeral celebrant hoping to bring artworks into funeral settings.

Find out more at:

www.lucywillow.art

www.art-of-grief.co.uk

https://www.instagram.com/art_of_grief/

https://www.instagram.com/artist_lucy_willow/

Read the chapter we discuss: http://repository.falmouth.ac.uk/1894/

How do I cite the episode in my research and reading lists?

To cite this episode, you can use the following citation:

Willow, L. (2022) Interview on The Death Studies Podcast hosted by Michael-Fox, B. and Visser, R. Published 1 April 2022. Available at: www.thedeathstudiespodcast.com, DOI:10.6084/m9.figshare.19493975

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What's the episode about?

In this episode, hear Dr Panagiotis Pentaris discuss thanatology, hospice social work, bereavement therapy, end-of-life strategy, religious literacy in hospice care and death in a transhumanist and posthumanist society.

Who is Panagiotis?

Panagiotis Pentaris is Director of Research and Research Studies Senior Lecturer of Social Work & Thanatology at Goldsmiths, London.

He was formerly an Associate Professor of Social Work and Thanatology in the School of Human Sciences at the University of Greenwich, England, UK, where he was also a member of the Institute for Lifecourse Development.

Panagiotis is a council member for the Association for the Study of Death and Society, the Chair of the ASDS Ambassadors Scheme, a Research Fellow for the Faiths & Civil Society Unit at Goldsmiths, and over the last ten years he has researched and published on death, dying, bereavement, culture and religion, social work, social policy and LGBTQIA+ issues.

Panagiotis is licensed in Social Work. He has practised social work in the field of thanatology, notably with dying children and adults, and bereaved individuals; he has practised both internationally and nationally. Positions held include hospice social worker, independent bereavement therapist, and social policy consultant regarding end of life strategies and palliative and hospice care guidance, as well as disaster social work.

How do I cite the episode in my research and reading lists?

To cite this episode, you can use the following citation:

Pentaris, P. (2022) Interview on The Death Studies Podcast hosted by Michael-Fox, B. and Visser, R. Published 1 March 2022. Available at: www.thedeathstudiespodcast.com, DOI:10.6084/m9.figshare.19267499

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What's the episode about?

In this episode, hear Dr Kate Woodthorpe discuss funeral practice and policy, state funeral support, death and loss as relational, public dying and working in academia.

Who is Kate? 

Kate Woodthorpe became CDAS (the Centre for Death and Society at the University of Bath, UK) Co-Director in 2021, having joined CDAS in January 2010, and acting as Programme Leader for the Foundation Degree in Funeral Services until 2012.

Kate has had articles and book chapters published on funeral costs, state support for funerals, mortuary practice, professional development, cemetery usage, the experience of researching in this area, and public dying.

She is on the editorial board for Death Studies, Bereavement Care, Sociology, and Mortality, which she co-edited until 2019.

She has advised the UK Government on funeral policy over many years, including in 2016 as a Special Adviser to the Government's Work and Pensions Select Committee Inquiry on Bereavement Benefits, and provided evidence in 2019 to the Competition and Market's Authority Funeral Sector Investigation.

She is keen to support the next generation of academics and has published a book for PhD students and early career colleagues entitled 'Survive and Thrive in Academia: the new academic's pocket mentor' (2018, Routledge).

How do I cite the episode in my research and reading lists?

To cite this episode, you can use the following citation:

Woodthorpe, K. (2022) Interview on The Death Studies Podcast hosted by Michael-Fox, B. and Visser, R. Published 1 February 2022. Available at: www.thedeathstudiespodcast.com, DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.19102700

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What's the episode about?

Who is Kami?

Dr. Kami Fletcher is an Associate Professor of American & African American History and Co-Coordinator of Women’s and Gender Studies at Albright College. She teaches courses that explore the African experience in America and unpacks social and cultural U.S. history all at the intersection of race, gender,

Her research centers on African American burial grounds, late 19th/early 20th century Black female and male undertakers, and contemporary Black grief and mourning. She is the co-editor of Till Death Do Us Part: American Ethnic Cemeteries as Borders Uncrossed which examines the internal and/or external drives among ethnic, religious, and racial groups to separate their dead (University Press of Mississippi, April 2020) She is currently working on Grave History: Death, Race & Gender in Southern Cemeteries from Antebellum to the Post-Civil Rights Era investigates the southern places where cemeteries take root as well as

Currently, Dr. Fletcher is working on a manuscript that historicizes Mount Auburn Cemetery in Baltimore, the first Black owned and operated cemetery in Maryland. The book positions African American cemeteries as the point where life and death meet arguing that this meeting point is a symbol of Black freedom from White control.

At the end of the show, Beth asks about one of the paintings on the wall behind Kami. Kami’s lifemate, sociologist and artist Dr. Myron T. Strong, painted it. It is entitled "Guardian". If you are interested in seeing it or purchasing a print, you can do so at his website.

For more on Dr. Fletcher visit her website: www.kamifletcher.weebly.com and/or contact her on Twitter using @kamifletcher36

How do I cite the episode in my research and reading lists?

To cite this episode, you can use the following citation:

What next?

Check out more ⁠episodes⁠ or find out more about the ⁠hosts! ⁠Got a question? ⁠Get in touch⁠.

In this episode, hear Gina Bond discuss a career as an anatomy technician, body donation, dissection, anatomy, death education, digitalising donor registers, annual memorials for donors and the support available in this field of work.

Who is Gina? 

Georgina Bond is an anatomy technician in the Medical Teaching Unit at the University of Sheffield. She deals with people who chose to donate their body upon their death, including their embalming, their dissection and their eventual funeral. She has a BSc in Biology from Sheffield Hallam University and an MSc in Human Osteology and Funerary Archaeology from the University of Sheffield and has previously worked in Outreach. Georgina also volunteers her time at Bart's Pathology Museum and has now taken on an Ethics Reviewer role for the Medical School at the University of Sheffield. You can follow Georgina on twitter @georginab2610 and her lab @SheffAnatomy She also has a few blog posts about body donation which you can view at thedonationdiaries.wordpress.com

How do I cite the episode in my research and reading lists?

To cite this episode, you can use the following citation:

Bond, G. (2021) Interview on The Death Studies Podcast hosted by Michael-Fox, B. and Visser, R. Published 16 December 2021. Available at: www.thedeathstudiespodcast.com, DOI:  https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.17212505.v1

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In this episode, hear Deb Rawlings and Emma Clare on Death Doulas, death education, the language we use around death and dying, and doing death differently!

Who is Deb? 

Deb Rawlings is a Senior Lecturer in postgraduate palliative care at Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia. With a background in palliative care nursing, Deb is an academic/researcher with an interest in the Death Doula role. She was an author and moderator on the successful Dying2Learn MOOC. Deb is Co-Lead Investigator on the End-of-Life Essentials project funded by the Australian Department of health which aims to support health professional working in acute hospitals. The End-of-life essentials website can be accessed here.

You can follow Deb on Twitter @deb_rawlings

The Conversation article we mention in the podcast is titled ‘Passed away, kicked the bucket, pushing up daisies – the many ways we don’t talk about death’ and can be accessed here. You can download the corresponding journal article here.

Some of her death doula articles as discussed on the podcast are:

Rawlings, Litster, Miller-Lewis, Tieman, Swetenham. End-of-Life Doulas: A qualitative analysis of interviews with Australian and International death doulas on their role. Health Soc Care Community. 2020;00:1–14. https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.13120

Rawlings, Litster, Miller-Lewis, Tieman, Swetenham. The voices of death doulas about their role in end of life care. Health SocCare Community. 2020;28(1):12‐21. doi:10.1111/hsc.12833

Rawlings D, Tieman J, Miller‐Lewis L, Swetenham K. (2018) What role do Death Doulas play in end‐of‐life care? A systematic review. Health Soc Care

Who is Emma?  

Emma Clare is a Health Psychology PhD researcher and Director of End of Life Doula UK. Based in Yorkshire, she describes herself as an activist and nature lover with a passion for bringing death and dying out of hospitals and back into compassionate communities wherever possible. Emma's current research is focused on supporting individuals (both professionals and the public) to develop death competency – our skills and capabilities in dealing with death and dying.

You can follow Emma on Twitter @emmacclare

How do I cite the episode in my research and reading lists?

To cite Emma in this episode, you can use the following citation:

Clare, E. (2021) Interview on The Death Studies Podcast hosted by Michael-Fox, B. and Visser, R. Published 15 November 2021. Available at:

To cite Deb in this episode, you can use the following citation:

Rawlings, D. (2021) Interview on The Death Studies Podcast hosted by Michael-Fox, B. and Visser, R. Published 15

What next?

Check out more episodes or find out more about the hosts! Got a question? Get in touch.

In this episode, hear Dr. Khyati Tripathi on the psychology of death, death anxiety research, Covid-19 in India, qualitative and autoethnographic work, Psychosocial Studies and her own experiences of studying for a PhD whilst living with Rheumatoid Arthritis. 

Who is Khyati? 

Khyati Tripathi is a Visiting Research Fellow at Harvard University. was formerly an Assistant Professor at UPES, the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies in Dehradun, India. She is a death researcher with a focus in psychosocial, cultural and religious studies and is the Ambassador for India for the Association for the Study of Death and Society.

Khyati Tripathi is a psychologist and anthropologist from India and, through her work, she tries to bring together events, emotions and practises related to death to explore the psychosocial significance and intricate connections between them. She is interested in exploring the ‘sacred’ in death and the pure and impure aspects of it. Her work is based at the intersection of social anthropology, psychology, and psychoanalysis.

She completed her PhD from the Department of Psychology, University of Delhi, India and was awarded the Commonwealth Split-Site scholarship (2016-17) to spend a year of her PhD in the Department of Psychosocial Studies at Birkbeck, University of London. After completing her B.A (H) and M.A in Psychology from the University of Delhi, she completed an M.Phil. in Social Anthropology and then went on to pursue her PhD with an interdisciplinary focus. She was awarded the Junior Research Fellowship by the University Grants Commission in India. She was contemporaneously selected for another Junior Research Fellowship by

She has been a death scholar for twelve years and is also the ASDS (Association for the Study of Death and Societies, UK) Ambassador for India. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor in the School of Liberal Studies at UPES University, Dehradun, India. She is also the Book Review Editor for H-Death, a part of H-NET (Humanities and Social Sciences Online, which is an independent, non-profit scholarly association) and on the Editorial Board for the Taylor and Francis journal Mortality. 

In 2020, she was invited as an expert on a BBC World Service special on ‘Digital Death’ to present her perspective on the changing death rituals in pandemic

You can follow Khyati on Twitter @khyati_tripathi

Khyati’s chapter on managing a PhD with a Health Condition, discussed in the podcast, is as follows:

Tripathi, K., Johnstone, A.& Johnson, M. (2019). Managing PhD with a Health Condition. In PsyPAG Guide (2nd Edition). British Psychological Society: London.

How do I cite the episode in my research and reading lists?

To cite this episode, you can use the following citation:

Tripathi, K. (2021) Interview on The Death Studies Podcast hosted by Michael-Fox, B. and Visser, R. Published 21 October 2021. Available at: www.thedeathstudiespodcast.com, DOI: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16843690

What next?

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In this episode, hear Dr. Erica Borgstrom discuss End-of-Life Care, anthropology, palliative care, ethnography, thanatology and death studies, as well as ‘imposter syndrome’ in academia.

Who is Erica?

Erica is a medical anthropologist and lecturer at the Open University, where she is the Qualifications Lead for Health and Social Care and the lead for Open Thanatology. She is a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Erica is one of the two editors for the academic journal Mortality.

Her specialist area in research and teaching is death and dying, with an emphasis on end-of-life care. She uses her anthropological skills to disrupt the normative concepts in end-of-life care by foregrounding people’s everyday experiences and the structural and discursive elements that shape how care is provided. She is involved in several projects about palliative and end-of-life care.

You can follow Erica on Twitter @EricaBorsgstrom

Watch ‘Should everyone have an ‘end-of-life’ plan?’ here.

Watch ‘Life or Death Decisions’ here.

Experience the ‘Life or Death Decisions’ interactive here.

How do I cite the episode in my research and reading lists?

To cite this episode, you can use the following citation:

Borgstrom, E. (2021) Interview on The Death Studies Podcast hosted by Michael-Fox, B. and Visser, R. Published 17 September 2021. Available

Check out more episodes or find out more about the hosts!

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