The founding director of Good Grief Festival, whose University of Bristol research has supported thousands of people through serious illness and bereavement, will attend one of the first Garden Parties of King Charles III and The Queen Consort’s reign in recognition of her work.
Dr Lucy Selman, Associate Professor from Bristol's Centre for Academic Primary Care and Palliative and End of Life Care Research Group, said: “The invitation was a complete surprise. I am thrilled to be part of such a historic moment and for our work in end-of-life care and bereavement support to be recognised.
“Through collaborations with many different people and groups, I’m honoured to help improve experiences of serious illness and end-of-life care, and to offer opportunities for people to talk, think and learn about grief – a universal experience but one which is often isolating.”
Lucy’s interest in grief and bereavement arose out of her professional interests and personal experience: her father died of cancer when she was 15, and she went on to become a researcher specialising in palliative and end-of-life care. Her second daughter, Ada, was stillborn in 2018.
Her research over the past 18 years has focused on psychosocial and spiritual aspects of the illness experience; treatment decision-making and communication; family caregiving and bereavement; and widening access to services. Together with Dr Emily Harrop at Cardiff University, Lucy led a national study of bereavement during the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact on bereavement services.
Lucy’s work has achieved wide-reaching impact both locally and nationally. In 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, Lucy became the Founding Director of Good Grief Festival, which was inspired by her past loss, and her belief that through widening access to research and knowledge and providing a platform to share experiences people can find solace and support. A year later, Lucy and Emily helped launch the UK Commission on Bereavement (UKCB), which has advocated the UK Government to fund robust strategies to deal with bereavement.
Lucy Selman is also leading Good Grief Connects, a two-year project funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)-funded OSCAR study (Optimising Staff-Patient Communication in Advanced Renal Disease).
This month [1-8 May] Good Grief held its first in-person festival, Good Grief Weston, in Lucy’s hometown, Weston-Super-Mare. The festival was produced by Culture Weston with the Weston-super-Mare Community Network, established to tackle local health inequities via community engagement and cross-sector collaboration.