How might we reimagine the future of deathcare?
‘Deathcare’ describes our total system for responding to death, from ageing and the end-of-life, through to body disposal and bereavement.
The acute threat posed by COVID-19 over the last two years has exacerbated deeper challenges to our contemporary models of deathcare, from climate change to an ageing population. Such forces are not simply threats, they also invite innovation and creativity.
Redesigning Deathcare invites contributions from diverse perspectives to collectively imagine and build a holistic system of deathcare. People today are presented with ever-expanding individual choice around the end-of-life, but are also forced to navigate complex, fragmented systems of care that fail to provide equitable and meaningful outcomes. As it stands, deathcare is artificially separated into silos, organised around different stages (dying, death, commemoration, etc.), different professions (medical clinicians, funeral directors, counsellors, etc.), and academic disciplines (medicine, anthropology, law, etc.).
The conference asks delegates to consider:
How do we remake our deathcare system so that it better meets community needs, not just today, but for future generations?
How do we bridge long-standing divides in how we imagine and manage the end-of-life?
How might contested views of the future be productively and equitably debated and resolved?
How are the future of the planet and the future of deathcare intertwined?