Grief: A Study of Human Emotional Experience
Lead Research Organisation:
University of York
Department Name: Philosophy
Abstract
Grief is one of the most distressing, unsettling, and puzzling experiences that we face. During times of profound grief, the world as a whole appears somehow altered - distant, unfamiliar, unwelcoming, unpredictable. Other people may seem to go about their business in another realm, which one surveys from outside. Along with this, the deceased may be experienced as present and absent in a range of interconnected and tension-riddled ways. People often struggle to articulate and to comprehend these and other aspects of grief. Furthermore, lack of comprehension on the part of oneself and / or others can exacerbate painful feelings of being lost and alone.
A number of interesting philosophical questions therefore arise, concerning what experiences of grief consist of and how grief, in its various guises, should be conceived of. However, philosophers have paid surprisingly little attention to the topic. Although grief is more often addressed by other disciplines, what remains lacking is a detailed, wide-ranging, cohesive, and concise account of what grief-experiences actually consist of.
The overall task of this project is to develop such an account, by employing a philosophical method that combines phenomenological research (research concerning the structure of human experience) with work in philosophy of mind. The project will also draw on insights from other disciplines, including psychology, psychiatry, literary theory, religious studies, and cultural anthropology (supported by an interdisciplinary advisory group). Research will be structured around three main thematic areas:
1. Emotion and Perception: By relating the topic of grief to broader research on perception and emotion, we will (a) offer new insights into the nature of temporally extended emotional processes, (b) clarify how 'everything seems somehow different' and how this aspect of grief relates to the more localized recognition of loss, and (c) explore relationships between perception and emotion by analysing experiences of presence and absence.
2. Interpersonal Experience and Understanding: We will bring a substantial body of social cognition research into dialogue with the 'continuing bonds' literature on grief. The latter emphasizes various ways in which relations with the deceased are retained, rather than abandoned. In contrast, social cognition research (in philosophy, cognitive science, and elsewhere) concerns itself exclusively with how we experience, think about, and relate to the living. By showing how relations with the dead need to be accommodated too, we aim to open up a substantial, new, and important area of inquiry. In so doing, we will also investigate ways in which emotion is interpersonally and socially regulated, and clarify the nature of bereavement hallucinations.
3. The Bounds of Grief: We will ask what distinguishes grief from other forms of emotional experience and how healthy grief-experiences might be distinguished from pathological forms of grief and from depression. This latter issue is of particular importance in psychiatry, where there has been considerable debate. By formulating the most detailed and discerning analysis of grief-experiences to date, we will help to resolve the issue.
The principal contributions of the research will be to:
* fill a significant gap in the philosophical literature, by addressing an important but neglected topic in unprecedented depth.
* cast new light on a wider range of topics, including the nature of emotion, perception, and social cognition.
* provide a novel and detailed analysis that will inform future research on grief-experiences in philosophy and other disciplines.
* contribute to current debates in psychiatry, with potentially important implications for psychiatric classification, diagnosis, and treatment.
* make broader contributions to practice and public understanding, by clarifying aspects of grief that people find unsettling, confusing, and hard to describe.
A number of interesting philosophical questions therefore arise, concerning what experiences of grief consist of and how grief, in its various guises, should be conceived of. However, philosophers have paid surprisingly little attention to the topic. Although grief is more often addressed by other disciplines, what remains lacking is a detailed, wide-ranging, cohesive, and concise account of what grief-experiences actually consist of.
The overall task of this project is to develop such an account, by employing a philosophical method that combines phenomenological research (research concerning the structure of human experience) with work in philosophy of mind. The project will also draw on insights from other disciplines, including psychology, psychiatry, literary theory, religious studies, and cultural anthropology (supported by an interdisciplinary advisory group). Research will be structured around three main thematic areas:
1. Emotion and Perception: By relating the topic of grief to broader research on perception and emotion, we will (a) offer new insights into the nature of temporally extended emotional processes, (b) clarify how 'everything seems somehow different' and how this aspect of grief relates to the more localized recognition of loss, and (c) explore relationships between perception and emotion by analysing experiences of presence and absence.
2. Interpersonal Experience and Understanding: We will bring a substantial body of social cognition research into dialogue with the 'continuing bonds' literature on grief. The latter emphasizes various ways in which relations with the deceased are retained, rather than abandoned. In contrast, social cognition research (in philosophy, cognitive science, and elsewhere) concerns itself exclusively with how we experience, think about, and relate to the living. By showing how relations with the dead need to be accommodated too, we aim to open up a substantial, new, and important area of inquiry. In so doing, we will also investigate ways in which emotion is interpersonally and socially regulated, and clarify the nature of bereavement hallucinations.
3. The Bounds of Grief: We will ask what distinguishes grief from other forms of emotional experience and how healthy grief-experiences might be distinguished from pathological forms of grief and from depression. This latter issue is of particular importance in psychiatry, where there has been considerable debate. By formulating the most detailed and discerning analysis of grief-experiences to date, we will help to resolve the issue.
The principal contributions of the research will be to:
* fill a significant gap in the philosophical literature, by addressing an important but neglected topic in unprecedented depth.
* cast new light on a wider range of topics, including the nature of emotion, perception, and social cognition.
* provide a novel and detailed analysis that will inform future research on grief-experiences in philosophy and other disciplines.
* contribute to current debates in psychiatry, with potentially important implications for psychiatric classification, diagnosis, and treatment.
* make broader contributions to practice and public understanding, by clarifying aspects of grief that people find unsettling, confusing, and hard to describe.
Planned Impact
Anticipated impacts of the project fall into three main categories. In the course of developing an novel account of what it is to experience grief, we will:
(a) seek to inform and support the activities of various practitioners whose roles involve responding to grief, by providing them with new insights into what grief-experiences consist of.
(b) make our research findings freely and easily accessible via our website and publicize them widely, so as to enhance public understanding of grief and, with this, the ability to respond to it.
(c) assist in determining whether and how typical grief differs phenomenologically from pathological forms of grief and from depression, thus making a significant contribution to ongoing debates in psychiatry, with potentially important implications for classification, diagnosis, and treatment.
All three impacts will arise from the same set of research findings, and for the same reasons. Although grief is addressed by a range of academic disciplines, a detailed, wide-ranging, and integrated account of grief-experiences remains lacking. Formulating such an account centrally involves addressing a number of philosophically puzzling aspects of grief. For instance, it is unclear how experiences of the deceased as present or absent should be conceived of, how one's experience of the world has changed when 'everything looks somehow different', what the various constituents of grief-experiences are, and how those constituents relate to one another. Our project will do the required philosophical work.
As the proposed research will make clear, how we respond to experiences of grief depends in part on the manner in which we understand them. Furthermore, our responses have potentially important roles to play in shaping how grief-processes unfold. Failures of understanding can exacerbate suffering, magnify a sense of disorientation and confusion, and make the world seem all the more unpredictable and devoid of comfort. Conversely, relations with other people can also play pivotal roles in processes of self-regulation. For instance, the co-construction of narratives that organize and make sense of events can play a role in lending coherence to the world and shaping how one engages with it.
In short, understanding influences practice, which acts upon the relevant experiences in important ways. Hence we will involve a variety of practitioners in the project, in order to share our findings with them, learn more about their own work, and -in so doing- identify, explore, and actualize potential impacts. They will include therapists, bereavement counsellors, nurses, hospital chaplains, and employees of relevant charities.
Given that grief is also of interest to a wider public who are affected by it and often deeply puzzled by it, the project will include broader public engagement, through publications, the website, the Twitter feed, support from the University of York's Media Relations Team, and an affiliation with the university's Death and Culture Network (which is dedicated principally to public engagement, with considerable relevant expertise that we can draw on).
Commitment to investigating a wide range of impacts will be complemented by a more specific focus on clinical impact. There is ongoing debate over whether and how typical or healthy grief can be distinguished from forms of pathological grief, major depression, and other psychiatric diagnoses. Debate has been reliant upon and consequently hampered by accounts of experience that are insufficiently discriminating to decide the issue. Our phenomenological analyses will be more detailed and discerning than anything else that has been offered to date. The project will therefore involve prominent psychiatrists and clinical psychologists from start to finish, with the aim of making a significant contribution to the task of determining which psychiatric classifications, diagnoses, and clinical responses are appropriate, and when.
(a) seek to inform and support the activities of various practitioners whose roles involve responding to grief, by providing them with new insights into what grief-experiences consist of.
(b) make our research findings freely and easily accessible via our website and publicize them widely, so as to enhance public understanding of grief and, with this, the ability to respond to it.
(c) assist in determining whether and how typical grief differs phenomenologically from pathological forms of grief and from depression, thus making a significant contribution to ongoing debates in psychiatry, with potentially important implications for classification, diagnosis, and treatment.
All three impacts will arise from the same set of research findings, and for the same reasons. Although grief is addressed by a range of academic disciplines, a detailed, wide-ranging, and integrated account of grief-experiences remains lacking. Formulating such an account centrally involves addressing a number of philosophically puzzling aspects of grief. For instance, it is unclear how experiences of the deceased as present or absent should be conceived of, how one's experience of the world has changed when 'everything looks somehow different', what the various constituents of grief-experiences are, and how those constituents relate to one another. Our project will do the required philosophical work.
As the proposed research will make clear, how we respond to experiences of grief depends in part on the manner in which we understand them. Furthermore, our responses have potentially important roles to play in shaping how grief-processes unfold. Failures of understanding can exacerbate suffering, magnify a sense of disorientation and confusion, and make the world seem all the more unpredictable and devoid of comfort. Conversely, relations with other people can also play pivotal roles in processes of self-regulation. For instance, the co-construction of narratives that organize and make sense of events can play a role in lending coherence to the world and shaping how one engages with it.
In short, understanding influences practice, which acts upon the relevant experiences in important ways. Hence we will involve a variety of practitioners in the project, in order to share our findings with them, learn more about their own work, and -in so doing- identify, explore, and actualize potential impacts. They will include therapists, bereavement counsellors, nurses, hospital chaplains, and employees of relevant charities.
Given that grief is also of interest to a wider public who are affected by it and often deeply puzzled by it, the project will include broader public engagement, through publications, the website, the Twitter feed, support from the University of York's Media Relations Team, and an affiliation with the university's Death and Culture Network (which is dedicated principally to public engagement, with considerable relevant expertise that we can draw on).
Commitment to investigating a wide range of impacts will be complemented by a more specific focus on clinical impact. There is ongoing debate over whether and how typical or healthy grief can be distinguished from forms of pathological grief, major depression, and other psychiatric diagnoses. Debate has been reliant upon and consequently hampered by accounts of experience that are insufficiently discriminating to decide the issue. Our phenomenological analyses will be more detailed and discerning than anything else that has been offered to date. The project will therefore involve prominent psychiatrists and clinical psychologists from start to finish, with the aim of making a significant contribution to the task of determining which psychiatric classifications, diagnoses, and clinical responses are appropriate, and when.
Publications
Cole J
(2022)
Illness, Injury, and the Phenomenology of Loss: A Dialogue
in Journal of Consciousness Studies
Debus D
(2022)
'Rather than Succour, My Memories Bring Eloquent Stabs of Pain' On the Ambiguous Role of Memory in Grief
in Journal of Consciousness Studies
Dolezal L
(2023)
Emotions of the pandemic: phenomenological perspectives
in Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences
Dorothy J
(2023)
The death of the self in posttraumatic experience
in Philosophical Psychology
Hughes E
(2022)
The Depths of Temporal Desynchronization in Grief.
in Psychopathology
Hughes E
(2023)
Meaninglessness and monotony in pandemic boredom.
in Phenomenology and the cognitive sciences
Hughes E
(2023)
Loss, Loneliness, and the Question of Subjectivity in Old Age
in Topoi
Hughes E
(2022)
Grief, alienation, and the absolute alterity of death
in Philosophical Explorations
Kamp KS
(2020)
Sensory and Quasi-Sensory Experiences of the Deceased in Bereavement: An Interdisciplinary and Integrative Review.
in Schizophrenia bulletin
Millar B
(2021)
Horror Films and Grief
in Emotion Review
Millar B
(2022)
Grief, Continuing Bonds, and Unreciprocated Love
in The Southern Journal of Philosophy
Millar B
(2021)
Grief's impact on sensorimotor expectations: an account of non-veridical bereavement experiences
in Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences
Millar B
(2023)
Grief: A Philosophical Guide
in The Philosophical Quarterly
Millar B
(2023)
Grief, Smell and the Olfactory Air of a Person
in Pacific Philosophical Quarterly
Ratcliffe M
(2022)
Grief, self and narrative
in Philosophical Explorations
Ratcliffe M
(2022)
Introduction: Understanding Grief: Feeling, Intentionality, Regulation, and Interpretation
in Journal of Consciousness Studies
RATCLIFFE M
(2022)
On the Appropriateness of Grief to Its Object
in Journal of the American Philosophical Association
Ratcliffe M
(2022)
Phenomenological reflections on grief during the COVID-19 pandemic
in Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences
Ratcliffe M
(2022)
Emotional sinking in
in Inquiry
Ratcliffe M
(2021)
Cultural, Existential and Phenomenological Dimensions of Grief Experience
Ratcliffe M
(2023)
Lonely Places and Lonely People
in Topoi
Ratcliffe M
(2023)
The Underlying Unity of Hope and Trust
in The Monist
Ratcliffe M
(2020)
Sensed presence without sensory qualities: a phenomenological study of bereavement hallucinations
in Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences
Ratcliffe Matthew
(2023)
Grief Worlds: A Study of Emotional Experience
Richardson L
(2021)
THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND THE BOUNDS OF GRIEF
in Think
Richardson L
(2022)
Absence experience in grief
in European Journal of Philosophy
Richardson L
(2022)
Grief and the non-death losses of Covid-19.
in Phenomenology and the cognitive sciences
Title | Grief and the Pandemic |
Description | This is a short, animated BBC film, exploring the nature of grief and how social restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic will have affected people's experiences of grief. It was funded via the AHRC's "Arts and Humanities in Quarantine" initiative. |
Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Impact | The film was widely publicized and circulated. It has been watched by many academics, practitioners, and members of the general public. Feedback via email and other media indicates that the film has helped people to understand forms of experience that are troubling and difficult to articulate. |
URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08z34fv |
Description | Our project set out to develop a detailed, wide-ranging account of what it is to experience grief, with an emphasis on aspects of grief that people find difficult to understand and describe. The project focused on three central themes: (1) emotional and perceptual experience in grief; (2) the interpersonal dimensions of grief; and (3) whether and how to distinguish between typical and pathological forms of grief. Although the project is still ongoing, we have made significant contributions in all three areas. These contributions have been disseminated via project publications, presentations by project members, the results of a questionnaire study, and a project website. Amongst other things, we have developed novel accounts of presence and absence in grief, how one can know that someone has died and yet find it impossible, the sense in which bereavement involves "losing a part of oneself", how we continue to relate to and experience those who have died, and why any attempt to distinguish typical from pathological grief needs to acknowledge how grief is interpersonally and socially regulated and scaffolded. The most substantial project publication is Matthew Ratcliffe's book *Grief Worlds: A Study of Emotional Experience*, which was published by MIT Press in 2022 (open access). The book develops the most detailed philosophical account to date of what it is like to experience grief. |
Exploitation Route | Our analyses have the potential to inform research on grief in a range of disciplines, as well as the practice of anyone who works with grief on a regular basis. Our work also provides wider-ranging insights into the nature of human emotional experience. In addition, the research is very timely: in emphasizing the various ways in which grief is shaped and regulated by interpersonal and social relations, our work has the potential to cast important light on how and why people's experiences of grief were disrupted by social restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. As well as producing novel philosophical research on grief, we have collected and made publicly available a substantial body of valuable data. The 265 testimonies obtained via our 2020 questionnaire study comprise a rich and quite distinctive resource for anyone seeking to further what it is to experience grief, in all its complexity and diversity. By making these testimonies publicly available and easily accessible, we seek to inform the work of researchers and practitioners, as well as anyone else who seeks to better understand the nature of grief. |
Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education,Healthcare |
URL | https://www.griefyork.com |
Description | Arts and Humanities in Quarantine: Public Engagement Call (small grant to make a BBC film, entitled "Grief and the Pandemic") |
Amount | £20,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 07/2020 |
End | 09/2020 |
Title | Experiences of Grief: A Phenomenological Survey |
Description | in 2020, we developed a phenomenological survey, which invited participants to provide open-ended, free-text responses to 21 questions concerning the experience of grief. We received 265 detailed responses, all of which were anonymized carefully. In December 2022, these responses were made publicly available via the UK Data Service repository ReShare. The material was also presented in a more visually appealing and accessible way via our grief project website, so as to engage a wider public. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2022 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | The data has only been publicly available since December 2022. It is likely that considerably more time will be needed for it to generate significant impact. However, it has already prompted some discussion (e.g., on Twitter), which indicated that this material will not only be of interest to a variety of researchers, practitioners, and a wider public seeking to better understand grief, but also as a resource for professional writers whose works portray experiences of grief. |
URL | https://www.griefyork.com/study-details.html |
Description | Collaboration with the charity Cruse Bereavement Care |
Organisation | Cruse Bereavement Care |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | We have provided the charity Cruse Bereavement Care with first-person accounts of grief, which we collected via a qualitative survey, for them to disseminate via social media. We also invited Cruse researchers to give an on-line lecture as part of our project (November 2021), which served to publicize their work and provide feedback. Matthew Ratcliffe was invited to write an article for the CRUSE blog, entitled "Sensing the Presence of Those who have Died", which appeared in February 2023. |
Collaborator Contribution | Cruse Bereavement Care provided input into the design of a qualitative study of grief experiences that we undertook from 2020 to 2021. They also helped to disseminate the study. |
Impact | We have collected 265 detailed first-person accounts of grief, via a qualitative study that was supported by Cruse. These were made publicly available in December 2022, via the project website and the UK Data Service's on-line repository, ReShare (https://dx.doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-856067). |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | 'At the bounds of grief and trauma', 4th International Conference of the Complex Trauma Institute |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Dr Becky Millar gave a talk titled 'At the bounds of grief and trauma' (with Dr Robert Davies) for the 4th International Conference of the Complex Trauma Institute, on Responding to Crisis, Disasters and Traumatic Events. The conference was held due to the increased need for a crisis response in the mental health sectors in the UK and in Ukraine, and was interpreted into Ukrainian. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | 'Can Animals Grieve?', Thumos Seminar, Geneva |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Becky Millar gave a talk for the 'Thumos Seminar' on emotions, values and norms, organised by the University of Geneva, which was attended by researchers and students across several disciplines. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | 'Can animals grieve?', London Mind Group, University of London |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Dr Becky Millar gave a talk for the London Mind Group at the University of London titled 'Can Animals Grieve?', which was attended by in-person and online audiences. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | 'Can animals grieve?', Northern Phenomenology Network workshop, Manchester |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Dr Becky Millar gave a talk titled 'Can animals grieve?' for the Northern Phenomenology Network annual workshop, held at the University of Manchester. It was attended by academic researchers and students. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | 'Can animals grieve?', The Limits of Grief workshop, University of York |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Dr Becky Millar gave a talk titled 'Can Animals Grieve?' for a workshop on the limits of grief at the University of York. This was attended by academics, students and professional practitioners. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | 'Grief, smell, and the olfactory air of a person', University of Nevada, Reno |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Dr Becky Millar gave an online talk titled 'Grief, smell, and the olfactory air of a person' for a workshop held by the University of Nevada, Reno. It was attended by academic researchers and students. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | 'Loneliness and Continuing Bonds with the Dead', Valente Center of Arts and Sciences, Bentley University |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | Dr Becky Millar gave an online talk titled 'Loneliness and Continuing Bonds with the Dead' for seminar on loneliness organised by the Valente Center of Arts and Sciences at Bentley University, USA. It was attended by participants across a variety of academic disciplines. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | A Discussion of the project with members of the Sixth Form at Queen Elizabeth's Girls' School, Barnet |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | During an on-line meeting with a group of approximately ten sixth form pupils at Queen Elizabeth's Girl's School (Barnet), the Principal Investigator, Matthew Ratcliffe, answered a series of questions about the project. The event took place on the 10th March 2021. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Absence experience in grief |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Talk given as part of the 'Experiences' series of seminars in philosophy of mind organized by the CREPH (Research Center in Phenomenology) group at the University of Liege as part of the project 'The Phenomenology of Mental States.' |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | http://www.pheno.ulg.ac.be/fr/projets.php?lang=en&proid=2017-2021-phenomenology-of-mental-states&p=e... |
Description | Affected time and space |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Dr Emily Hughes gave an online talk titled 'Affected time and space' at the Australian Catholic University conference on 'The Phenomenology of Affect' |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.acu.edu.au/about-acu/faculties-directorates-and-staff/faculty-of-theology-and-philosophy... |
Description | Book Presentation and Dialogue |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | An on-line presentation of Matthew Ratcliffe's book *Grief Worlds* (MIT Press, 2022), followed by a dialogue on grief between Ratcliffe and the philosopher Kathleen Higgins (Austin, Texas). The event was organized by The Philosopher (journal of the Philosophical Society of Eengland). It took place in January 2023 and was subsequently made available on-line. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/@ThePhilosopher1923 |
Description | Boredom, static-time and alienation during lockdown |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Dr Emily Hughes gave an online talk titled 'Boredom, static-time and alienation during lockdown' at the British Society for Phenomenology online conference which referred to the similarities between boredom and grief. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.britishphenomenology.org.uk/bsp-international-conference-2021-online/ |
Description | Coverage of Project Research by "Everyday Health" |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Matthew Ratcliffe answered a series of questions and thus provided input into two articles for "Everyday Health", in which he is quoted. The articles are entitled "How to Cope With Loss: Tips for Healthy Grieving" and "What Is Complicated Grief?" |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.everydayhealth.com/emotional-health/grief/healthy-grieving/ |
Description | Grief Project Lecture Series |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This project incorporates a lecture series, the aims of which are to foster interdisciplinary connections, contribute to practice, and disseminate findings to an audience consisting of researchers in various disciplines, practitioners, students, and the general public. All talks are recorded and made publicly available on-line. We have hosted many events, which have taken place both on-line and in-person: 2nd February Narratives of death, grief and loss during Covid-19: An open thanatology project (Online) Speaker: Dr Erica Borgstrom (Open University); 10th November Affective injustice from anger gaslighting to grief gaslighting (In-person event) Speaker: Dr Shiloh Whitney (Fordham University); 20th October Grief and Hope: Exploring the pastoral nature of Christian funeral rites (In-person event) Speaker: Dr Catherine Reid (University of York Chaplain); 29th September Traumatic Grief (In-person event) Speaker: Dr Linda Finlay (Open University); 9th June Embodiment, enactment and the cultural poetics of grief (Online event) Speaker: Professor Laurence J. Kirmayer (McGill University); 23rd May Psychiatry as a vocation: Moral injury, COVID-19, and the phenomenology of clinical practice (In-person event) Speaker: Professor Matthew Broome (University of Birmingham); 19th May Grief: Wrestling with time and embracing the strange enduring agency of the deceased (Online event) Speaker: Associate Professor Kym Maclaren (Ryerson University, Canada); 12th May 2022 Animated persona and the existence of dead persons (Online event) Speaker: Professor Masahiro Morioka (Waseda University); 28th March 2022 Communing with the Dead Online (In-person event) Speaker: Joel Krueger (University of Exeter); 9th Dec 2021 How C.S. Lewis' theology affected his experience of grief (In-person) Speaker: Dr Tasia Scrutton, University of Leeds 18th Nov 2021Supporting bereaved older people: Evaluation of the Bereavement Supporter project (Online) Speakers: Eve Wilson, Cruse; Prof. Karen West, University of Bristol 28th Oct 2021Introduction to Prolonged Grief Disorder Therapy (Online)Speaker: Prof. Katherine Shear, Columbia University 21st Oct 2021How eco-grief will help us save ourselves (In-person) Speaker: Prof. Rupert Read, University of East Anglia 10th June 2021 Grieving during the COVID-19 pandemic (Online) Speaker: Dr Lucy Selman 20th May 2021Continuing Bonds in Bereavement: Insights from Dennis Klass (Online event) Speaker: Prof. Dennis Klass 13th May 2021 Grief, personhood and belongings: The stuff of death - cleaning and life-clearing (Online event) Speaker: Prof. Douglas Davies, Durham University 6th May 2021Continuing Bonds in Bereavement: Insights from Research and Grief Therapy Practice (Online event) Speaker: Dr Edith Steffen, University of Roehampton 4th March 2021 The disenfranchised grief of involuntary childlessness: A living loss that society dismisses (Online event) Speaker: Jody Day Nov 26th 2020 Book symposium: "The state of disbelief: A story of death, love and forgetting" (Online event) Juliet RosenfeldOct 22nd 2020 Funerals from an expert perspective (Online event) Dr. Julie Rugg, Senior Research Fellow, Cemetery Research Group, University of York25th Feb 2020Grief and neurological impairment' (Face-to-face event)Prof. Jonathan Cole, University of Bournemouth/Clinical Neurophysiology, Poole Hospital, UK. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021,2022,2023 |
URL | https://www.griefyork.com/schedule.html |
Description | Grief and Philosophy (presentation at the "Good Grief" Festival) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | We gave a talk entitled "Grief and Philosophy" (via Zoom) at the Good Grief Festival on Saturday 31st October 2020. The aim of the talk was to introduce the audience to our ongoing philosophical research on grief. In addition, we showed how this work can contribute to the task of understanding how experiences of grief have been affected by social restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://goodgrieffest.com/events/the-philosophy-of-grief/ |
Description | Grief and the Experience of Lost Possibilities |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Matthew Ratcliffe gave an on-line lecture in May 2021 as part of the PhenoLab lecture series (associated with Freiburg Medical Centre, Germany). The lecture was entitled "Grief and the Experience of Lost Possibilities", |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://phenolab.blogspot.com/2021/05/prof-dr-matthew-ratcliffe-university-of.html |
Description | Grief and the Modification of Bodily Experience Talk at the British Society for Phenomenology Annual Conference, University of Exeter, UK, August 2022. |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Talk titled 'Grief and the Modification of Bodily Experience' given at the British Society for Phenomenology Annual Conference, University of Exeter, UK, August 2022. Generated good questions and discussion as well as potential collaborations |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Grief and the Pandemic: Podcast |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The project Co-I, Louise Richardson, recorded a short film about experiences of grief during the pandemic, which was advertised by the Department and the University. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa6gJpfQk0U&t=17s |
Description | Grief, Emotion Regulation, and the Social World |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Matthew Ratcliffe gave an on-line lecture at a Philosophy & Psychiatry Autumn School organized by the University of Constance (October 20210. It was attended by students, researchers, and practitioners spanning a range of disciplines. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.zfp-reichenau.de/fileadmin/Freigabe_ZfP_Reichenau/Bilder/Veranstaltungen/Flyer_DIN_A5_mi... |
Description | Grieving Celebrities Online |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Becky Millar gave an online co-authored talk titled 'Grieving celebrities online' for the workshop 'Philosophy of Fame and Celebrity' at Tilberg University. The talk focused on how people might grieve for celebrities that they do not personally know, and the role of online communities in such experiences. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://cmrobb.wixsite.com/famephilosophy |
Description | Hughes, E. Loss, Loneliness and Reimagining Subjectivity in Old Age Talk at Phenomenology of Chronic Illness and Aging Workshop, Södertörn University, Stockholm, Sweden, November 2022. |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Gave a talk titled 'Loss, Loneliness and Reimagining Subjectivity in Old Age' at the Phenomenology of Chronic Illness and Aging Workshop, Södertörn University, Stockholm, Sweden, November 2022. The talk led to lots of productive discussion with postgraduate students and practitioners as well as potential collaborations. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Interview for 'Radical Philosophy' on 3CR radio, Melbourne, Australia. |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Dr Becky Millar gave an interview about her research for Grief: A Study of Human Emotional Experience for the programme 'Radical Philosophy' on 3CR radio in Melbourne, Australia. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Keynote Lecture at Death and Culture Conference |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | A Keynote Lecture, entitled "Experiences of Grief during the COVID-19 Pandemic'" at the fourth "Death and Culture Conference, (York St John University, UK, September 2022). The audience was made up of researchers, students, and practitioners with an interest in death, dying, and grief. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Loss, Loneliness and Reimagining Subjectivity in Old Age Talk at the Valente Loneliness Seminar Bentley University |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Gave a talk titled Loss, Loneliness and Reimagining Subjectivity in Old Age at the Valente Arts Seminar at Bentley University. This is part of an ongoing inter-disciplinary seminar on loneliness with postgraduate students and academics from a range of fields. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Philosophy of Grief: Lecture Series |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This project incorporates a lecture series, the aims of which are to foster interdisciplinary connections, contribute to practice, and disseminate findings to an audience consisting of researchers in various disciplines, practitioners, students, and the general public. All talks are recorded and made publicly available on-line. We have hosted several events, most of which have taken place on-line: 9th Dec 2021 How C.S. Lewis' theology affected his experience of grief (In-person) Speaker: Dr Tasia Scrutton, University of Leeds 18th Nov 2021 Supporting bereaved older people: Evaluation of the Bereavement Supporter project (Online) Speakers: Eve Wilson, Cruse; Prof. Karen West, University of Bristol 28th Oct 2021 Introduction to Prolonged Grief Disorder Therapy (Online) Speaker: Prof. Katherine Shear, Columbia University 21st Oct 2021 How eco-grief will help us save ourselves (In-person) Speaker: Prof. Rupert Read, University of East Anglia 10th June 2021 Grieving during the COVID-19 pandemic (Online) Speaker: Dr Lucy Selman 20th May 2021 Continuing Bonds in Bereavement: Insights from Dennis Klass (Online event) Speaker: Prof. Dennis Klass 13th May 2021 Grief, personhood and belongings: The stuff of death - cleaning and life-clearing (Online event) Speaker: Prof. Douglas Davies, Durham University 6th May 2021 Continuing Bonds in Bereavement: Insights from Research and Grief Therapy Practice (Online event) Speaker: Dr Edith Steffen, University of Roehampton 4th March 2021 The disenfranchised grief of involuntary childlessness: A living loss that society dismisses (Online event) Speaker: Jody Day Nov 26th 2020 Book symposium: "The state of disbelief: A story of death, love and forgetting" (Online event) Juliet Rosenfeld Oct 22nd 2020 Funerals from an expert perspective (Online event) Dr. Julie Rugg, Senior Research Fellow, Cemetery Research Group, University of York 25th Feb 2020 Grief and neurological impairment' (Face-to-face event) Prof. Jonathan Cole, University of Bournemouth/Clinical Neurophysiology, Poole Hospital, UK. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.griefyork.com/events.html |
Description | Project Website |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Our project website serves to disseminate our ongoing work to researchers, diverse practitioners, students, and the general public. The website includes: (1) details of project members and affiliates; (2) project events; (3) a bibliography we have assembled on philosophy of grief (to assist other researchers); (4) links to writings on grief during the pandemic; (4) details of empirical research undertaken by the project team and invitations to contribute. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.griefyork.com/ |
Description | Summer School presentation and discussion |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Matthew Ratcliffe gave a keynote Lecture on "Emotional Sinking In" at Copenhagen Summer School in Phenomenology and Philosophy of Mind (August 2022). The audience consisted of approximately seventy postgraduate students from several countries. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | The Limits of Grief: A One-Day Workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The Limits of Grief: A One-Day Workshop Speakers investigated the scope and temporal structure of grief. Why does grief change over time in the way that it does? How wide-ranging are the causes and objects of grief? Who and what has the capacity to experience grief? Date: Wednesday the 29th of June 2022 Location: Room SB/A009, Sally Baldwin Buildings, Campus West, University of York Workshop Schedule: 10:30-10:50 Tea and Coffee 10:50-11:00 Introduction: Matthew Ratcliffe (University of York) 11:00-12:00 Can Animals Grieve?: Becky Millar (University of York) 12:00-13:00 Empathy and Psychopaths' Inability to Grieve: Michael Cholbi (University of Edinburgh) 13:00-14:00 Lunch 14:00-15:00 On the Temporality of Grief: Berislav Marušic (University of Edinburgh) 15:00-15:30 Tea/ coffee 15:30-16:30 Grief over Non-death Losses: Louise Richardson and Matthew Ratcliffe (University of York) 16:30-17:00 Concluding Reflections: What Can Philosophers Tell Us About Grief?: Linda Finlay (Integrative Psychotherapist and Academic Consultant) 17:00 Close |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.griefyork.com/schedule.html |
Description | The Manifold Temporalities of Grief |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Dr Emily Hughes gave an online talk titled 'The Manifold Temporalities of Grief' at the Northern Phenomenology Network annual workshop. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/philosophy/news/northern-phenomenology-network-uk-event |
Description | The Manifold Temporalities of Grief |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Dr Emily Hughes gave an online talk titled 'The Manifold Temporalities of Grief' to the PhenoLab research group based at the University of Freiburg in Germany |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | What is Lacking in Loneliness? |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Matthew Ratcliffe gave an on-line lecture entitled "What is Lacking in Loneliness?" at the conference "Loneliness in Philosophy and Psychology" (Bentley University, USA, July 2021). The lecture focused on the nature of loneliness in grief. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.lonelinessphilpsych.org/ |
Description | When a Chapter Ends: The experience of grief and loss, York Festival of Ideas, June 2022 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Panel at the York Festival of Ideas with presentations by project members Louise Richardson, Becky Millar and Emily Hughes |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://yorkfestivalofideas.com/2022/calendar/grief-loss/ |