A team of AHRC-funded academics at the University of Hull hit the headlines earlier this week when their research was featured in the Guardian newspaper.

Margaret Holloway and her team have been investigating the changing shape and face of modern funerals. Considering issues such as contemporary religious belief, lifestyles, modern tastes, music, and even the introduction of humour to funeral ceremonies, the research investigates how people search for meaning when faced with death.

The research team has attended 18 funerals since October 2008, and is planning to attend a further 30 before the end of this year.  Working with local undertakers and funeral parlours to co-operate, the researchers have found willing collaborators amongst local industry professionals. "They're central to the project's aims,” says Margaret Holloway, “to increase public understanding of funerals, and to help the professionals who work around death to be more sensitive to mourners' needs."

The research is unique in that it is one of the first academic studies of funerals ever to take place.

You can read the story in full by clicking on the following link: www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/mar/24/modern-funerals

ENDS

Notes to the editor
Arts & Humanities Research Council: Each year the AHRC provides approximately £100 million from the Government to support research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities, from languages and law, archaeology and English literature to design and creative and performing arts. In any one year, the AHRC makes approximately 700 research awards and around 1,000 postgraduate awards. Awards are made after a rigorous peer review process, to ensure that only applications of the highest quality are funded. Arts and humanities researchers constitute nearly a quarter of all research-active staff in the higher education sector. The quality and range of research supported by this investment of public funds not only provides social and cultural benefits but also contributes to the economic success of the UK.