Audrey Roulston

Audrey qualified as a social worker in 1996 and worked in children's and adults services within local Health and Social Care Trusts prior to being employed in Marie Curie Hospice Belfast in 2005-2010. Alongside working with individuals, families and groups, she completed several small-scale research projects, audits and service evaluations. After completing her Masters in Research Methods, she conducted her PhD in End of life care decision-making with people diagnosed with advanced lung cancer.
Audrey moved to work in Queen's University in 2010, where she has been the Director of Practice Learning, Chair of the Admissions Committee for Social Work training in Northern Ireland, and lead for widening participation into social work. She is currently the Programme Director for a new Postgraduate Diploma in Palliative Care for Social Workers, which is taught online.
She is co-chair of the European Association of Palliative Care Task Force for Social Workers.

Audrey's research interests in palliative care have included the role of palliative care social workers, bereavement needs assessment, complicated grief, music therapy, psychological distress of people living with a life-limiting illness, palliative care for people in prisons, deaths in prison custody and interventions for people with Parkinson's. She is also involved in research involving social work students in relation to the admissions process (Social Work Match), practice placements (failing students), well-being and resilience in newly qualified social workers and mindfulness based interventions to alleviate stress and anxiety.