Research Study
A research study about experiences of early-life loss and the impact of medical imaging on paediatric post-mortem.
This research has considered post-mortem in the broader context of life, loss and memorialisation and - using this holistic approach - has examined professional and parental encounters with death at the very beginning of life.
Project Title
‘End of’ or ‘Start of’ Life? Visual Technology and the Transformation of Traditional Post-Mortem
Funding Body
ESRC
Key Aims
1.
To explore parental and family accounts of early-life loss and to understand in particular, how they feel about and experience the post-mortem process.
2.
To explore professional work related to post-mortem and to examine the impact of new technologies (such as MRI) on post-mortem practices.
3.
To consider how the introduction of new technologies in the field of pathology might be effecting working relationships between professionals from a variety of different fields, including radiology, pathology and chaplaincy services.
About the Research
Doing the research has involved observational work in hospitals and associated sites (e.g. memorial services) and conducting over 45 in-depth interviews with parents, family members and professionals (e.g. pathologists, mortuary technicians and midwives).
This study comes at a critical time. With increasing investment in the UK of private and NHS funds in visual technologies, it offers a much needed contribution to broader debates on the ability of technology to redefine the boundaries between life and death.
The project also addresses practical and emerging questions regarding how visual technologies inform, or advance, the practice of health care professionals, and asks what they can contribute to the parents' experiences of loss, life and memory.
The Research Funder
The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is the UK’s largest funder of research on the social and economic questions facing us today. It has provided funding for the ‘End of’ or ‘Start of’ Life research project and the Remembering Baby exhibition.
The ESRC supports the development and training of the UK’s future social scientists and also funds major studies that provide the infrastructure for research. ESRC-funded research informs policymakers and practitioners and helps make businesses, voluntary bodies and other organisations more effective. The ESRC also works collaboratively with six other UK research councils and Innovate UK to fund cross-disciplinary research and innovation addressing major societal challenges. The ESRC is an independent organisation, established by Royal Charter in 1965, and funded mainly by the Government.
The ESRC runs the Celebrating Impact Prize to recognise and reward ESRC funded researchers who have created or facilitated outstanding impact from social science funded research. in 2019 the research team behind the ‘End of’ or ‘Start of’ Life project were awarded the 2019 ESRC Outstanding Societal Impact Prize.