Kate Woodthorpe

I am Director of the Centre for Death and Society (CDAS), the UK’s only research centre devoted to the study of social aspects of death, dying and bereavement, and have completed funded research and published widely on the end of life and families, funeral costs and practice, bereavement policy and professional development for staff in the deathcare industry. In 2016 I acted as a Special Advisor to the Work and Pensions Select Committee Inquiry into Bereavement Benefits, after which I commissioned and edited a wide ranging policy review on the implications of devolution for death, dying and bereavement. In 2019 and 2020 I advised the Competition and Markets Authority in their funeral sector investigation.

Over the years my work has been widely disseminated through the media, including numerous appearances on BBC Radio 4 Today programme, BBC Breakfast, and features in The Guardian and The Telegraph. I have undertaken consultancy work with Royal London, Axa SunLife and Volunteer Cornwall.