To Know Dying: Open Thanatology Webinar

Title: To know dying: establishing social science and humanities research areas for palliative and end of life care

This event was held online on March 11th 2025.

Event information: What should be researched in palliative and end of life care in the future? This event will share the recent findings from the ‘To Know Dying’ report, which focuses on establishing social science and humanities research areas for palliative and end of life care (PEOLC).

Over the past year, Marie Curie has led a ‘refresh’ in identifying research priorities for PEOLC. This project used the initial survey data from this work, and involved researchers across a range of social science and humanities disciplines to analyse and categorise issues into five areas for research. This was a collaborative, innovative process for secondary analysis. This webinar will feature a panel discussion to share insights about the process of the project, experiences of being involved in it, and how people are using the report’s findings to inform future research design and collaborations.

If you’re keen to do or fund research in this field within the next ten years, this webinar is for you! It is also useful for those who want to use or adapt the methodology for other James Lind Alliance priority-setting partnerships.

Information about the speakers:

Project Team and panellists:

Erica Borgstrom, Professor of Medical Anthropology, The Open University (and co-chair of Open Thanatology)

John I MacArtney, Marie Curie Associate Professor of Sociology of Dying and Palliative Care, University of Warwick

Briony Hudson, Associate Director, Internal Research Development, Marie Curie,

Mari Greenfield, Research Fellow, The Open University

Guest panellists: Andrew Tibbles, PhD student, University of Liverpool and Dr Brooke Swash, Senior Lecturer in Pscyhology, University of Chester.

Hosts: Dr Joanne Jordan and Prof Erica Borgstrom (Co-Chairs of Open Thanatology)

This is an Open Thanatology hosted event. Funding for the event comes from The Open University and Marie Curie (MCSGS-23-202). Thanks to Katie Gunn for editing the webinar recording.

All participants were made aware during event registration and at the start of the session that the full webinar recording is published on ORDO.

The webinar relates to the following report:

Greenfield M, Borgstrom E, Hudson B and MacArtney JI. "To Know Dying" Identifying research areas in palliative and end of life care for the social sciences and humanities [version 1; not peer reviewed]. Health Open Res 2025, 7:1 (document) (https://doi.org/10.21955/healthopenres.1115017.1)