Dear All

Just a little reminder that if you are thinking about submitting an abstract for our next Sympoisum (details below), the deadline is 5pm Monday 14th September.

Best wishes

Julie, Erica and Kate

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BSA Social Aspects of Death, Dying and Bereavement Annual Symposium 13 November 2015
Methodology: Researching Death, Dying and Bereavement
Drawing on discussions from previous events where people have shared their personal experiences, this year's DDB symposium will focus on conducting research in the field of dying studies. We invite papers that will encourage the audience to learn and reflect on any of the following areas:

*         Using research methods - including innovative methods (e.g. visual and sensory methods); mixed method studies; the use of quantitative approaches to research; and auto-ethnography

*         Boundaries of research - such as what is regarded as a death and dying study (or not), and how these vary according to discipline; role(s) of the researcher and the researched; and the use of the 'd' word

*         Emotion(al) work - for example raising questions about whether researchers can grieve for their participants, and/or memorialise/ remember them; how researchers manage sudden death; the impact of bereavement on the researcher

*         Reflexivity - such as what this actually means in practice; how this can benefit/limit research findings; and issues of credibility

*         Identity - including that of the researcher and research participants

*         Cultural context - including different understandings of death, dying and bereavement and how these might impact on doing cross-cultural/comparative research

*         Research ethics - including gate-keeping; the perceived vulnerability of people in receipt of end of life care services; intrusion; issues of confidentiality; capacity and consent

*         Political context - such as funding (lack of?) for research on end of life care services/ issues

*         The power of medicine - such as the challenges of conducting research on death, dying and bereavement in a medical/clinical environment

Abstracts of up to 250 words are to be submitted by 5pm Monday 14th September 2015 to [log in to unmask] Presentations will be 20 minutes long with additional time for questions.
The symposium will be held on Friday 13th November 2015 at the BSA meeting room at Imperial Wharf, London. More details about the study group can be found here: http://www.britsoc.co.uk/specialisms/DDB.aspx

PLEASE NOTE: We are also organising a special issue for the journal Mortality on the theme of doing research. There will be a separate call for papers for the special issue and we would encourage people interested in the symposium to consider submitting a paper to the special issue. More details to follow in late 2015.