Karen West

Karen joined the School for Policy Studies at the University of Bristol in 2018 where she is a professor of Social Policy and Ageing. She is also a Senior Research Fellow of the NIHR School for Social Care Research. Karen is interested in later life wellbeing, social care and the policy and politics of ageing. She currently has two principle research interests. 1) How we think and talk about death, dying and bereavement. She is currently leading an evaluation of a programme of resident peer bereavement support in extra care villages with the ExtraCare Charitable Trust and Cruse Bereavement Care. She also led the bereavement diaries project. 2) Alternative forms of housing for later life. She is currently leading an NIHR SSCR-funded project on collaborative forms of housing and their implications for later life and social care. She has also held visiting positions at the University of Umeå’s Ageing and Living Conditions Centre and the University of Örebro, both of which in Sweden.