How do we talk about grief? Leeds International Festival of Ideas 2023

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Notes

1. Panellist biographies, as produced by Leeds International Festival of Ideas: Dame Prue Leith: Restaurateur, Broadcaster and Writer. Dame Prue Leith is a well-known cook, novelist and TV presenter. She has won Businesswoman of the Year, owned a Michelin starred restaurant, founded Leith’s School of Food and Wine, made and TV documentaries including one on Assisted Dying. Dr Jamilla Hussain: Consultant in Palliative Medicine and Senior Research Fellow. Dr Jamilla Hussain is a Consultant in Palliative and End of life Care working at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. Yorkshire born and bred and a second-generation child of immigrants, Jamilla is also an academic with an interest in addressing inequalities (related to race, ethnicity, gender and class) at the end of life. Silvan Luley: Team Member at Dignitas. Silvan is a team member at the Swiss human rights, not-for-profit association “Dignitas – To live with dignity – To die with dignity”. Dignitas continually works to implement and secure the freedom of choice in life and at life’s end. Their work ranges from engaging in advance health care planning, suicide attempt prevention, palliative care, and assisted dying. Lucy Turner: Founder of Still Parents. Motivated by her personal experience in 2019, Lucy launched ‘Still Parents’, a programme using art to support parents who’ve also experienced the loss of a baby in pregnancy or just after birth. Lucy advocates for using creativity as a tool to open up conversations and actively address what matters most in people’s lives. Will Young: Actor, Singer, Presenter. Will Young is an award-winning performer, author and presenter, best known for bursting onto the music scene after winning the first series of Pop Idol in 2002. Will hosts a mental health podcast ‘The Wellbeing Lab’, and in 2022 created a documentary following the loss of his brother – ‘Losing My Twin Rupert’ – sharing both moving and painful stories surrounding grief and loved one’s addiction.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Georgina M. Robinson

Georgina M. Robinson is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Durham, UK. Her research has principally examined alkaline hydrolysis as a funerary option but she has also worked on projects surrounding the impact of Covid-19 on crematorium managament, funeral poverty, and the phenomenon of digital death.