By Lucy Selman, Professor of Palliative and End of Life Care, Centre for Academic Primary Care, University of Bristol

Last week (9 December 2025) saw the launch of the Bristol Centre of Grief Research and Engagement at the House of Commons in London. Generously hosted by Christine Jardine MP, the event brought together around 60 people, including grief experts from the UK, Ireland and USA, MPs, charity leaders, doctors, academics, artists and campaigners. All are working, in different ways, to change how grief is understood, supported and talked about in the UK. Being in the room together was a powerful reminder that this work really is stronger when we do it collectively.

The launch event

We were honoured to hear from a brilliant line-up of speakers. Prof. Guy Poppy CB FMedSci, Pro-Vice Chancellor at the University of Bristol, spoke about the value of interdisciplinary research and civic engagement, and the University’s support for the Centre. Leading psychotherapist Julia Samuel MBE reflected on why society needs to rethink its response to grief, while Dr Alison Penny MBE, Director of the Childhood Bereavement Network and Coordinator of the National Bereavement Alliance, highlighted the vital role of policy and policymakers in improving bereavement support.

The launch was framed by two moving poetry readings. Hannah Jardine Youell opened the event with Carol Ann Duffy’s ‘Wintering’, and Prof. Patrick Vernon OBE closed with Birago Diop’s ‘Breaths’, giving us space to pause and reflect.

Photo credits: Carmen Valino

Why do we need a Grief Centre?

While the launch celebrated what has already been achieved, it also underlined why this work matters so much, and why we need to keep pushing for a more compassionate, connected and grief-aware society. Across the afternoon, a clear message emerged. Grief lives in our bodies, minds and imaginations, but it is also shaped by policy, economics and culture.

Around three million people are bereaved each year in the UK. National surveys indicate that 32% of adults do not know how to begin a conversation with someone who has been bereaved, and that over 40% of bereaved people who want formal support don’t receive it. The Grief Centre aims to tackle these problems, bringing together people from across disciplines and sectors to spark new ideas, carry out rigorous interdisciplinary research, develop social and creative interventions, engage the public and policymakers, and share knowledge in ways that genuinely improve support for bereaved people.

Based at the University of Bristol, the Grief Centre is led by Good Grief Festival Co-Directors Prof. Lucy Selman, Professor of Palliative and End of Life Care, and Dr Lesel Dawson, Associate Professor in Literature and Culture. Researchers at the Grief Centre work across a range of areas, including understanding and tackling inequities in end-of-life care and bereavement; grief education; disenfranchised grief; and the therapeutic role of creativity in grief. Alongside this, the team is highly committed to public health approaches to death and grief and the co-production of community-centred research and engagement initiatives. The Centre has been generously seed-funded by the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire ICB, and builds on the University of Bristol’s wider programmes of research and civic engagement, including the ground-breaking Good Grief Festival.

A new course for primary care

Bereavement can profoundly affect short- and long-term mental and physical health, and primary care teams are often a crucial – and sometimes the only – point of contact for grieving patients and families. At the launch, the team announced a new Good Grief Festival course, Grief and Bereavement in Primary Care, designed for GPs and other primary care staff who want to enhance their knowledge and skills in supporting bereaved patients and navigating conversations about grief, death, and the end of life. The course starts on the 28 January 2026 – please spread the word.

Future plans

The Grief Centre runs a free online seminar series, featuring leading voices in grief research. Our next seminar is on 15 January, when Dr Lesel Dawson will be speaking on The Art of Grief: Creativity, Loss and the Imagination. Plans for 2026 include the launch of a lived experience advisory panel and a stakeholder event to inform the Centre’s future research.

For more about the Grief Centre, please visit the website.