Dr 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 was inspired by this loss, and her belief that through sharing experiences and knowledge we can find solace and support.
Lucy is a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Population Health Sciences, University of Bristol. Her research and publications over the past 15 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 is currently leading a national study of bereavement during the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact on bereavement services. To learn more about the study, visit covidbereavement.com. Lucy’s recent research papers on bereavement during the pandemic are listed below (all are open access).