Papers & Speakers

The Medical Examiner system will become a legal requirement for all non-coronial deaths. This presentation will explore the Medical Examiner system and the upcoming reforms in the death certification system. It will describe the function and components of the Medical Examiner system and the rationale for introduction and its place in the wider death certification process.

Huw is a dual trained Intensive Care and Anaesthetic Consultant based at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. His former roles include Regional Clinical Lead for Organ Donation, Clinical Director for Intensive Care, Trust Mortality lead and Associate Divisional Medical Director for Medicine.

He is currently a tutor for the LLM in Coronial law at the University of Bolton and a doctoral student for the Centre of Contemporary Coronial Law at The University of Bolton, looking at the impact of the Medical Examiner system on the Coronial Jurisdiction.

The presentation will discuss how Bishop’s Stortford Cemetery and Highgate Cemetery have unlocked thousands of new burial space within existing cemeteries by enabling burial space re-use through promoting new Acts of Parliament. The power to re-use burial spaces is currently confined to London Local Authorities, but it is open to private cemeteries and non-London local authorities through the promotion of a Private Bill. The presentation will cover the steps to go through that process, as well as highlighting common issues and requirements.

This presentation will explain the funeral process in Belgium, discussing in detail the importance of cremation. The government plays an important role in the development and management of crematoria, as evidenced by the limited number of core tasks of a crematorium and the changes recently made to legislation. The presentation concludes with numerous technological and environmental challenges crematoria are confronted with. Crematorium management is facing possibly the greatest evolution in its history.

He originally started his career at the bar and worked for 14 years as city manager in a municipality and for the local police. Tom is also Chairman of the Flemish Association of Public Crematoria, is actively involved in the ICF (International Cremation Federation) and ECN (European Cremation Network), is member of the board of a Dutch crematorium, and finally is also a judge in the Court of Labour.

Everyone’s last resting place has been dutifully recorded since the Middle Ages. Sadly, this is no longer the case. Since the 1970s people have chosen to scatter the ashes of a loved one in a river or a hillside or perhaps the garden. This final act is now rarely documented.

In fact, it is estimated that since 1970 over 7 million people have been scattered and unrecorded, and this figure could be over 10 million by the end of the decade.

Does this matter? The talk will look at why this has come to happen, factors influencing the phenomena, what it means and what, if anything, can be done.

Richard’s background is in the environment with over 25 years at the Environment Agency and the Department for Farming and Rural Affairs. He has a passion for all things history and is interested in the change from news to history, particularly where it relates to memorialisation.

Bereavement education in society – the final push.

John has led a national drive to see bereavement education incorporated into the national curriculum. The impact of this can result in a societal and cultural shift in how we perceive death, dying, bereavement and the requirement of why we need connection when someone dies. John has led, but all causes on this scale cannot be achieved alone and we have seen a collective force get behind this national movement. From the NAFD, to the sponsors of his podcast, Westerleigh Group, Flexmort and Life Ledger to many more individuals and groups who have worked together to create this much needed national change.

John Adams is a distinguished Funeral Director and Past President of the National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD). He serves as a Funeral Industry Advisor for Child Bereavement UK, is an author, and an ambassador for The Good Grief Trust. As an NAFD-approved Tutor and host of the podcast "Death: A Changing Industry," John is a passionate campaigner for bereavement awareness to be taught in schools, with his petition soon to be debated in parliament. His overarching goal is to foster a kinder, more compassionate society with a deeper understanding of the emotions involved when someone dies.

This presentation introduces findings from two related research projects. In these projects, my colleagues and I interviewed parents and carers who had experienced baby or child death, with a particular focus on the care and communication they received from various professional groups following the death of their child. The aim of both projects was to reach a better understanding of the nature of this experience, and to consider ways in which professional groups who offer support following such a bereavement may best care for and communicate with the bereaved. In this session, I will be sharing some of the experiences that participants talked about, and discussing how these experiences may shape what constitutes effective, sensitive care and communication following baby or child death. As part of the session, you will be invited to reflect on your experience of working with families who have lost a baby or child, and to consider your role in supporting bereaved parents and carers in their grief.

The aim of this workshop is to provide a clearer understanding of:

• How the death of a baby or child is experienced by parents and carers, and how this may shape and inform effective, sensitive care and communication;
• The important role of those working in the funeral industry in supporting grieving parents and carers;
• What constitutes empathetic and supportive communication following the death of a baby or child, reflecting the unique challenges presented by this type of loss.

Dr Sarah Turner is Assistant Professor of Cognitive Linguistics at Coventry University. Her research focuses on how linguistic analysis can provide insights into physical, psychological and social experiences, with a focus on the experience of grief and bereavement. She is particularly interested in how individuals draw on metaphor and figurative language, often in highly creative ways, to help them to understand, conceptualise and communicate their experiences, and how an analysis of such language can be used to inform better care.

The Covid-19 pandemic was a devastating and enduring mass-bereavement event, characterised by profound disruption to experiences of dying, death and bereavement. It also shone a light on many pre-existing inadequacies with how people are supported at these difficult times, prompting the launch of the UK Commission on Bereavement in June 2021. This presentation will cover research findings on the long term impacts of the pandemic on grief experiences and outcomes, cross-sector progress against the recommendations of the UK Commission on Bereavement and a related piece of work developing an evidence-based bereavement support resource, the Grief Support Guide, which is now hosted on the National Bereavement Alliance website.

Dr Emily Harrop is a Marie Curie Research Fellow at Cardiff University. Her research interests are: grief and bereavement; the support needs of family carers and patient and family experiences of living with advanced illnesses. Emily recently co-led a large UK wide study investigating bereavement experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic. She is Editor in Chief of Bereavement: Journal of Grief and Responses to Death and was a steering group member for the UK Commission on Bereavement.

René Jansen takes you through the 150-year history of the Royal Facultatieve. This association, founded in 1874, played a pioneering role in making cremation legally possible in the Netherlands. The Royal Facultatieve also built the first crematorium in the Netherlands (Westerveld, close to Amsterdam) and was one of the founders of the International Cremation Federation in 1937.

In the decades that René Jansen has been working in the funeral industry in the Netherlands at managerial level, he has built up broad experience at (monumental) cemeteries and crematoria with high-quality service always being the common thread. Based on this specific experience and the desire to provide optimum advice and assistance to the bereaved at all times, he has been a board member of the Royal Facultatieve (founded in 1874) for many years.

In his presentation, Thies will give a comprehensive outline of 150 years of modern cremation in Germany, record and assess the present and venture a look into the future. The first cremation in Germany in a closed fire took place in 1874 and we will learn what the British aristocracy had to do with it as well as the reasons why cremation has developed from 12% in the 1960s to 78% in the 2020s. Are there regional differences in Germany, where burial laws are federalised? Thies will ask himself whether there are key technologies that are indispensable for the crematorium of the future.

Thies, who literally grew up in one of the first private crematoria in Germany, is now the managing director of 3 crematoria in northern Germany and also runs CremTec, a planning and consultancy company specialising in all aspects of the funeral industry. He is co-author of the textbook for the funeral profession in Germany and teaches at the vocational school for funeral directors and cremation technicians. He is interested in the topic of cremation not only from a technical and legal perspective, but also from a historical and ethical point of view.

In an honorary capacity, he is the first chairman of the RAL Quality Association for Cremation Facilities. In this position, he is committed to improving the quality of crematoria in Germany.

The Catholic Church continues to develop her understanding of how cremation is part of the burial liturgy. While it is accompanied by prayers and ritual at the crematorium there is a serious questioning as to what is its place and meaning in the Christian approach to death and how we honour the bodies of the dead. For us the burial of ashes is the act of committal. How we reach that moment is open for some more careful thought.

He has worked extensively in the fields of education and liturgy, here and abroad. His work has also involved ecumenical projects as Chair of both the Joint Liturgical Group of Great Britain and the International English Language Liturgical Consultation. His work in the area of death and dying led him to be past Vice Chair of the Churches’ Group on Funerals as well as involvement in several other projects and initiatives. He currently serves on the Catholic Bishop’s Committee for Spirituality and is Chair of those responsible for clergy ongoing formation in the dioceses of England and Wales.

Energy-intensive industries, including crematoriums, need to decarbonise to meet their own net zero goals and reduce emissions.

Cadent is the largest gas distribution company in the UK with more than 40,000 industrial customers in its network area. Providing support and a clear pathway to help decarbonise industry is vital to deliver comfort and resilience to hard-to-abate industries.

Nicole has more than 17 years’ experience in stakeholder engagement and communications roles in a variety of sectors including electricity distribution and education in the North West.

Drawing on a decade of CANA research documenting cremation's growth and consumer preferences, this presentation will present the changing consumer attitudes toward cremation, preferences for memorialization and business opportunities.

There have long been misconceptions around the supposed ‘newness’ of humanism as a non-religious worldview, and so too about the tradition of humanist ceremonies. This paper will introduce the significant history of non-religious people’s requests around their deaths, funerals, and legacies – from the famous to the ordinary – and explore how an awareness of this might inform the understanding of humanist funerals today. The talk will illustrate the evolution of humanist funerals, as well as highlight connections and parallels with the history of cremation, examining the importance – past and present – of the person who has died having a ceremony which reflects, and a celebrant who shares, the beliefs they held in life.

This paper draws on research conducted since 2019 into the history of humanists and humanism in the UK.