Professor Lucy Selman

Professor Lucy Selman is the Founding Director of Good Grief Festival.

The vision for the festival 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 was stillborn in 2018. Good Grief Festival was inspired by this loss, and her belief that through sharing experiences and knowledge we can find solace and support.

Lucy is a Professor in the School of Population Health Sciences, University of Bristol. Her research and publications over the past 20 years have mainly focused on psychosocial and spiritual aspects of the illness experience; decision-making and communication; family care-giving 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. To learn more about the study and access its research papers, visit the Covid Bereavement website. Lucy and Emily were finalists for an ESRC policy impact award (2023).

Image (c) Artur Tixiliski