Dr Naomi Richards

  • Senior Lecturer (School of Social & Environmental Sustainability)
  • Associate (School of Health & Wellbeing)

Biography

Dr Naomi Richards is Director of the End of Life Studies Group at the University of Glasgow. She is a Senior Lecturer in Social Science and is a social anthropologist by training. She specialises in dying and death, ageing and old age, and visual and ethnographic methods.

Dr Richards has published over 30 peer-reviewed articles in a variety of social science and clinical journals, in addition to 6 book chapters. Over the last decade she has been funded to undertake empirical and theoretical investigations into: visual representations of ageing/older women; the UK’s assisted dying debate; the phenomenon of old age rational suicide; the relationship between assisted dying and palliative care internationally; and the international Death Café movement.

Between 2019-23, she led the Dying in the Margins study - a qualitative visual methods study which aimed to uncover the reasons for unequal access to home dying for people experiencing poverty and deprivation. The project led to the exhibition The Cost of Dying which has been shown in multiple venues in Glasgow (2023), and at the Scottish Parliament (2023). Naomi continues to work on experiences of financial hardship at end of life, specifically in rural Scotland, through the Marie Curie-funded Unreached study (2024-25).

Naomi co-leads the DeathWrites research network with Dr Elizabeth Reeder in Creative Writing and former PhD student Dr Amy Shea. The network, funded by the RSE and the University of Glasgow, supports 30 writers all based in Scotland and working across different genres, to write and publish powerful, accessible work on the subject of dying, death, grief and loss. Our first DeathWrites newspaper was produced  to celebrate our public symposium in June 2024. 

Naomi teaches multiple courses on the University of Glasgow’s End of Life Studies Programme (PGCert/PGDip/MSc) and pioneered a partnership with the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh to produce a unique microcredential on End of Life Challenges and Palliative Care, introducing social science theories and ways of thinking to doctors around the world.

 

STV - Drawing to a Close

 

 

Research interests

  • Assisted dying
  • Cultural representations of dying, death and loss
  • Dementia and end-of-life decision-making
  • Ethnographic methods
  • Equity in end-of-life care
  • Participatory methods
  • Socio-economic deprivation and poverty at the end of life 
  • Testimony, witnessing and narrative at the end of life
  • Visual methods
  • Visual representations of older people
  • Visual representations of death and dying

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2009
Number of items: 52.

2025

Quinn, Sam ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6266-0819 and Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2025) Dying in the margins: a longitudinal visual methods study to uncover the reasons for unequal access to home dying for people experiencing financial hardship and deprivation in Scotland, UK – a case study. In: Clark, David and Samuels, Annemarie (eds.) Research Handbook on End of Life Care and Society. Edward Elgar. (Accepted for Publication)

2024

Bradshaw, Andy, Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Hussain, Jamilla A. and Davies, Joanna M. (2024) We need to talk about social class: Why theories of social class matter for understanding inequities in palliative and end-of-life care. Palliative Medicine, 38(10), pp. 1076-1078. (doi: 10.1177/02692163241296478) (PMID:39474865) (PMCID:PMC11613530)

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2024) Dying is more painful when society won’t listen – stories of financial hardship that show how end-of-life care needs to change. Conversation, 1 Nov.

Quinn, Sam ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6266-0819 and Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2024) The cost of dying exhibition: public, professional and political reactions to a visual exhibition depicting experiences of poverty at the end of life. Medical Humanities, (doi: 10.1136/medhum-2024-012950) (Early Online Publication)

Shea, A. et al. (2024) DeathWrites. Other. DeathWrites. (doi: 10.36399/gla.pubs.325834).

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Quinn, Sam ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6266-0819, Carduff, Emma and Gott, Merryn (2024) Dying in the margins: Experiences of dying at home for people living with financial hardship and deprivation. SSM - Qualitative Research in Health, 5, 100414. (doi: 10.1016/j.ssmqr.2024.100414)

Quinn, Sam ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6266-0819, Ferguson, Libby, Read, Derek and Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2024) “The Great Escape”: how an incident of elopement gave rise to trauma informed palliative care for a patient experiencing multiple disadvantage. BMC Palliative Care, 23(1), 61. (doi: 10.1186/s12904-024-01374-x) (PMID:38419002) (PMCID:PMC10900545)

2023

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 and Quinn, Samuel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6266-0819 (2023) Money Matters at the End of Life: Having Open Conversations About Financial Hardship at the End of Life. Other. University of Glasgow. (doi: 10.36399/gla.pubs.331620).

Koksvik, Gitte H. and Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2023) Death Café, Bauman and striving for human connection in ‘liquid times’. Mortality, 28(3), pp. 349-366. (doi: 10.1080/13576275.2021.1918655)

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Quinn, Sam ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6266-0819, Mitchell, Margaret, Carduff, Emma and Gott, Merryn (2023) The viability and appropriateness of using visual methods in end of life research to foreground the experiences of people affected by financial hardship and deprivation. Palliative Medicine, 37(4), pp. 627-637. (doi: 10.1177/02692163221146590) (PMID:36609208)

Quinn, Sam ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6266-0819, Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 and Gott, Merryn (2023) Dying at home for people experiencing financial hardship and deprivation: how health and social care professionals recognise and reflect on patients’ circumstances. Palliative Care and Social Practice, 17, p. 26323524231164162. (doi: 10.1177/26323524231164162) (PMID:37025502) (PMCID:PMC10071150)

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Quinn, Sam ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6266-0819, Gott, Merryn, Carduff, Emma, Mitchell, Margaret and Dooley, Oona (2023) The Cost of Dying. [Exhibitions]

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Quinn, Samuel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6266-0819, Carduff, Emma, Mitchell, Margaret and Gott, Merryn (2023) Dying in the Margins Exhibition Postcards Full Set. [Artefact]

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Quinn, Samuel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6266-0819, Gott, Merryn, Carduff, Emma, Mitchell, Margaret and Dooley, Oona (2023) Dying in the Margins: The Cost of Dying Exhibition Guide. (doi: 10.36399/gla.pubs.331617) [Exhibitions]

2022

Hanssen Koksvik, Gitte, Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Gerson, Sheri Mila, Materstvedt, Lars Johan and Clark, David ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5700-4916 (2022) Medicalisation, suffering and control at the end of life: the interplay of deep continuous palliative sedation and assisted dying. Health, 26(4), pp. 512-531. (doi: 10.1177/1363459320976746) (PMID:33307828) (PMCID:PMC9163770)

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2022) The equity turn in palliative and end of life care research: lessons from the poverty literature. Sociology Compass, 16(5), e12969. (doi: 10.1111/soc4.12969)

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 and Krawczyk, Marian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8830-6236 (2022) Classic anthropological theories to help understand caregiving and dying during the COVID-19 pandemic. Anthropology Now, 14(1-2), pp. 102-111. (doi: 10.1080/19428200.2022.2119753)

2021

Gerson, Sheri Mila, Koksvik, Gitte H., Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Materstvedt, Lars Johan and Clark, David ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5700-4916 (2021) Assisted dying and palliative care in three jurisdictions: Flanders, Oregon, and Quebec. Annals of Palliative Medicine, 10(3), pp. 3528-3539. (doi: 10.21037/apm-20-632) (PMID:33302637)

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 and Krawczyk, Marian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8830-6236 (2021) What is the cultural value of dying in an era of assisted dying? Medical Humanities, 47(1), pp. 61-67. (doi: 10.1136/medhum-2018-011621) (PMID:31350304)

Rowley, Jane and Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2021) Can dying at home during COVID-19 still be an indicator of 'quality of death'? Discussion Paper. Policy Scotland, Glasgow.

Krawczyk, Marian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8830-6236 and Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2021) A critical rejoinder to "Life’s end: Ethnographic Perspectives". Death Studies, 45(5), pp. 405-412. (doi: 10.1080/07481187.2019.1639903)

Rowley, Jane, Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Carduff, Emma and Gott, Merryn (2021) The impact of poverty and deprivation at the end of life: a critical review. Palliative Care and Social Practice, 15, p. 26323524211033873. (doi: 10.1177/26323524211033873)

2020

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Koksvik, Gitte H., Gerson, Sheri Mila and Clark, David ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5700-4916 (2020) The global spread of death café: a cultural intervention relevant to policy? Social Policy and Society, 19(4), pp. 553-572. (doi: 10.1017/S1474746420000081)

Gerson, Sheri Mila, Koksvik, Gitte, Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Materstvedt, Lars Johan and Clark, David ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5700-4916 (2020) The relationship of palliative care with assisted dying where assisted dying is lawful: A systematic scoping review of the literature. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 59(6), 1287-1303.e1. (doi: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2019.12.361) (PMID:31881289)

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 and Rowley, Jane (2020) Structural inequalities and dying at home during COVID-19. Discussion Paper. Policy Scotland, Glasgow.

2018

Krawczyk, Marian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8830-6236 and Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2018) The relevance of ‘total pain’ in palliative care practice and policy. European Journal of Palliative Care, 25(3), pp. 128-130.

Zaman, Shahaduz, Whitelaw, Alexander ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2486-2508, Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Inbadas, Hamilton ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6149-9306 and Clark, David ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5700-4916 (2018) A moment for compassion: emerging rhetorics in end-of-life care. Medical Humanities, 44(2), pp. 140-143. (doi: 10.1136/medhum-2017-011329) (PMID:29440385) (PMCID:PMC6031266)

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2018) What does a good death look like when you’re really old and ready to go? Conversation, 25 May.

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2018) Ageing and dying are a continuum. Discover Society, 53(6 Feb),

2017

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2017) Old age rational suicide. Sociology Compass, 11(3), e12456. (doi: 10.1111/soc4.12456)

Clark, David ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5700-4916, Inbadas, Hamilton ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6149-9306, Colburn, Ben ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1416-1844, Forrest, Catriona ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3010-9088, Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Whitelaw, Sandy ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2486-2508 and Zaman, Shahaduz (2017) Interventions at the end of life – a taxonomy for ‘overlapping consensus’. Wellcome Open Research, 2, 7. (doi: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.10722.1) (PMID:28261674) (PMCID:PMC5336190)

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2017) Assisted suicide as a remedy for suffering? The end-of-life preferences of British "suicide tourists". Medical Anthropology, 36(4), pp. 348-362. (doi: 10.1080/01459740.2016.1255610) (PMID:27845576)

2016

Richards, N. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2016) Euthanasia and policy: choosing when to die. In: Woodthorpe, K. and Foster, L. (eds.) Death and Social Policy in Challenging Times. Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke, pp. 53-70. ISBN 9781137484895 (doi: 10.1057/9781137484901_4)

2015

Richards, N. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2015) Dying to go to court: demanding a legal remedy to end-of-life uncertainty. In: Kelly, T., Harper, I. and Khanna, A. (eds.) The Clinic and the Court: Law, Medicine and Anthropology. Series: Cambridge studies in law and society. Cambridge University Press: New York. ISBN 9781107076242

Tolson, D., Watchman, K., Richards, N. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Brown, M., Jackson, G., Dalrymple, A. and Henderson, J. (2015) Enhanced sensory day care: developing a new model of day care for people in the advanced stage of dementia: a pilot study. Project Report. Alzheimer Scotland Centre for Policy and Practice, Hamilton.

2014

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2014) The death of the right-to-die campaigners. Anthropology Today, 30(3), pp. 14-17. (doi: 10.1111/1467-8322.12110)

Richards, Naomi M. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Gardiner, Clare, Ingleton, Christine and Gott, Merryn (2014) How do patients respond to end-of-life status? Nursing Times, 110(11), pp. 21-23.

2013

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Ingleton, Christine, Gardiner, Clare and Gott, Merryn (2013) Awareness contexts revisited: indeterminacy in initiating discussions at the end-of-life. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 69(12), pp. 2654-2664. (doi: 10.1111/jan.12151) (PMID:23600793)

Gardiner, Clare, Gott, Merryn, Ingleton, Christine and Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2013) Palliative care for frail older people: a cross-sectional survey of patients at two hospitals in England. Progress in Palliative Care, 21(5), pp. 272-277. (doi: 10.1179/1743291X12Y.0000000043)

Gott, M. et al. (2013) Transitions to palliative care for older people in acute hospitals: a mixed-methods study. Health Services and Delivery Research, 1(11), pp. 1-138. (doi: 10.3310/hsdr01110)

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 and Rotter, Rebecca (2013) Desperately seeking certainty? The case of asylum applicants and people planning an assisted suicide in Switzerland. Sociological Research Online, 18(4), (doi: 10.5153/sro.3234)

Gott, M., Frey, R., Robinson, J., Boyd, M., O'Callaghan, A., Richards, N. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 and Snow, B. (2013) The nature of, and reasons for, 'inappropriate' hospitalisations among patients with palliative care needs: a qualitative exploration of the views of generalist palliative care providers. Palliative Medicine, 27(8), pp. 747-756. (doi: 10.1177/0269216312469263) (PMID:23295813)

Ingleton, C., Gardiner, C., Seymour, J.E., Richards, N. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 and Gott, M. (2013) Exploring education and training needs among the palliative care workforce. BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care, 3(2), pp. 207-212. (doi: 10.1136/bmjspcare-2012-000233) (PMID:24644570)

Richards, N. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2013) Rosetta life: using film to create ‘bearable fictions’ of people’s experiences of life-limiting illness. In: Aaron, M. (ed.) Envisaging Death: Visual Culture and Dying. Cambridge Scholars Publishing: Newcastle, pp. 190-205. ISBN 9781443849265

2012

Ward, S., Gott, M., Gardiner, C., Cobb, M., Richards, N. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 and Ingleton, C. (2012) Economic analysis of potentially avoidable hospital admissions in patients with palliative care needs. Progress in Palliative Care, 20(3), pp. 147-153. (doi: 10.1179/1743291X12Y.0000000018)

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Warren, Lorna and Gott, Merryn (2012) The challenge of creating ‘alternative’ images of ageing: lessons from a project with older women. Journal of Aging Studies, 26(1), pp. 65-78. (doi: 10.1016/j.jaging.2011.08.001)

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2012) The fight-to-die: older people and death activism. International Journal of Ageing and Later Life, 7(1), pp. 7-32. (doi: 10.3384/ijal.1652-8670.11153)

Warren, L., Gott, M., Hogan, S. and Richards, N. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2012) Representing Self-Representing Ageing: Look at Me! Images of Women and Ageing. Project Report. New Dynamics of Ageing, Sheffield.

Warren, L. and Richards, N. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2012) 'I don’t see many images of myself coming back at myself': representations of women and ageing. In: Ylänne, V. (ed.) Representing Ageing: Images and Identities. Palgrave Macmillan: New York, pp. 149-169. ISBN 9780230272590

2011

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2011) Using Participatory Visual Methods. Other. University of Manchester.

Richards, N. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2011) Promoting the self through the arts: the transformation of private testimony into public witnessing. In: Conway, S. (ed.) Governing Death and Loss. Oxford University Press: New York, pp. 45-53. ISBN 9780199586172

2009

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2009) Second Consultation on Scotland’s Climate Change Adaptation Framework: Analysis of Responses. Project Report. Scottish Government, Edinburgh.

This list was generated on Thu Oct 30 17:52:02 2025 GMT.
Jump to: Articles | Book Sections | Research Reports or Papers | Artefact | Exhibitions | Key Findings
Number of items: 53.

Articles

Bradshaw, Andy, Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Hussain, Jamilla A. and Davies, Joanna M. (2024) We need to talk about social class: Why theories of social class matter for understanding inequities in palliative and end-of-life care. Palliative Medicine, 38(10), pp. 1076-1078. (doi: 10.1177/02692163241296478) (PMID:39474865) (PMCID:PMC11613530)

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2024) Dying is more painful when society won’t listen – stories of financial hardship that show how end-of-life care needs to change. Conversation, 1 Nov.

Quinn, Sam ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6266-0819 and Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2024) The cost of dying exhibition: public, professional and political reactions to a visual exhibition depicting experiences of poverty at the end of life. Medical Humanities, (doi: 10.1136/medhum-2024-012950) (Early Online Publication)

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Quinn, Sam ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6266-0819, Carduff, Emma and Gott, Merryn (2024) Dying in the margins: Experiences of dying at home for people living with financial hardship and deprivation. SSM - Qualitative Research in Health, 5, 100414. (doi: 10.1016/j.ssmqr.2024.100414)

Quinn, Sam ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6266-0819, Ferguson, Libby, Read, Derek and Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2024) “The Great Escape”: how an incident of elopement gave rise to trauma informed palliative care for a patient experiencing multiple disadvantage. BMC Palliative Care, 23(1), 61. (doi: 10.1186/s12904-024-01374-x) (PMID:38419002) (PMCID:PMC10900545)

Koksvik, Gitte H. and Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2023) Death Café, Bauman and striving for human connection in ‘liquid times’. Mortality, 28(3), pp. 349-366. (doi: 10.1080/13576275.2021.1918655)

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Quinn, Sam ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6266-0819, Mitchell, Margaret, Carduff, Emma and Gott, Merryn (2023) The viability and appropriateness of using visual methods in end of life research to foreground the experiences of people affected by financial hardship and deprivation. Palliative Medicine, 37(4), pp. 627-637. (doi: 10.1177/02692163221146590) (PMID:36609208)

Quinn, Sam ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6266-0819, Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 and Gott, Merryn (2023) Dying at home for people experiencing financial hardship and deprivation: how health and social care professionals recognise and reflect on patients’ circumstances. Palliative Care and Social Practice, 17, p. 26323524231164162. (doi: 10.1177/26323524231164162) (PMID:37025502) (PMCID:PMC10071150)

Hanssen Koksvik, Gitte, Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Gerson, Sheri Mila, Materstvedt, Lars Johan and Clark, David ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5700-4916 (2022) Medicalisation, suffering and control at the end of life: the interplay of deep continuous palliative sedation and assisted dying. Health, 26(4), pp. 512-531. (doi: 10.1177/1363459320976746) (PMID:33307828) (PMCID:PMC9163770)

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2022) The equity turn in palliative and end of life care research: lessons from the poverty literature. Sociology Compass, 16(5), e12969. (doi: 10.1111/soc4.12969)

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 and Krawczyk, Marian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8830-6236 (2022) Classic anthropological theories to help understand caregiving and dying during the COVID-19 pandemic. Anthropology Now, 14(1-2), pp. 102-111. (doi: 10.1080/19428200.2022.2119753)

Gerson, Sheri Mila, Koksvik, Gitte H., Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Materstvedt, Lars Johan and Clark, David ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5700-4916 (2021) Assisted dying and palliative care in three jurisdictions: Flanders, Oregon, and Quebec. Annals of Palliative Medicine, 10(3), pp. 3528-3539. (doi: 10.21037/apm-20-632) (PMID:33302637)

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 and Krawczyk, Marian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8830-6236 (2021) What is the cultural value of dying in an era of assisted dying? Medical Humanities, 47(1), pp. 61-67. (doi: 10.1136/medhum-2018-011621) (PMID:31350304)

Krawczyk, Marian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8830-6236 and Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2021) A critical rejoinder to "Life’s end: Ethnographic Perspectives". Death Studies, 45(5), pp. 405-412. (doi: 10.1080/07481187.2019.1639903)

Rowley, Jane, Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Carduff, Emma and Gott, Merryn (2021) The impact of poverty and deprivation at the end of life: a critical review. Palliative Care and Social Practice, 15, p. 26323524211033873. (doi: 10.1177/26323524211033873)

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Koksvik, Gitte H., Gerson, Sheri Mila and Clark, David ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5700-4916 (2020) The global spread of death café: a cultural intervention relevant to policy? Social Policy and Society, 19(4), pp. 553-572. (doi: 10.1017/S1474746420000081)

Gerson, Sheri Mila, Koksvik, Gitte, Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Materstvedt, Lars Johan and Clark, David ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5700-4916 (2020) The relationship of palliative care with assisted dying where assisted dying is lawful: A systematic scoping review of the literature. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 59(6), 1287-1303.e1. (doi: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2019.12.361) (PMID:31881289)

Krawczyk, Marian ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8830-6236 and Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2018) The relevance of ‘total pain’ in palliative care practice and policy. European Journal of Palliative Care, 25(3), pp. 128-130.

Zaman, Shahaduz, Whitelaw, Alexander ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2486-2508, Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Inbadas, Hamilton ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6149-9306 and Clark, David ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5700-4916 (2018) A moment for compassion: emerging rhetorics in end-of-life care. Medical Humanities, 44(2), pp. 140-143. (doi: 10.1136/medhum-2017-011329) (PMID:29440385) (PMCID:PMC6031266)

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2018) What does a good death look like when you’re really old and ready to go? Conversation, 25 May.

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2018) Ageing and dying are a continuum. Discover Society, 53(6 Feb),

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2017) Old age rational suicide. Sociology Compass, 11(3), e12456. (doi: 10.1111/soc4.12456)

Clark, David ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5700-4916, Inbadas, Hamilton ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6149-9306, Colburn, Ben ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1416-1844, Forrest, Catriona ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3010-9088, Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Whitelaw, Sandy ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2486-2508 and Zaman, Shahaduz (2017) Interventions at the end of life – a taxonomy for ‘overlapping consensus’. Wellcome Open Research, 2, 7. (doi: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.10722.1) (PMID:28261674) (PMCID:PMC5336190)

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2017) Assisted suicide as a remedy for suffering? The end-of-life preferences of British "suicide tourists". Medical Anthropology, 36(4), pp. 348-362. (doi: 10.1080/01459740.2016.1255610) (PMID:27845576)

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2014) The death of the right-to-die campaigners. Anthropology Today, 30(3), pp. 14-17. (doi: 10.1111/1467-8322.12110)

Richards, Naomi M. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Gardiner, Clare, Ingleton, Christine and Gott, Merryn (2014) How do patients respond to end-of-life status? Nursing Times, 110(11), pp. 21-23.

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Ingleton, Christine, Gardiner, Clare and Gott, Merryn (2013) Awareness contexts revisited: indeterminacy in initiating discussions at the end-of-life. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 69(12), pp. 2654-2664. (doi: 10.1111/jan.12151) (PMID:23600793)

Gardiner, Clare, Gott, Merryn, Ingleton, Christine and Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2013) Palliative care for frail older people: a cross-sectional survey of patients at two hospitals in England. Progress in Palliative Care, 21(5), pp. 272-277. (doi: 10.1179/1743291X12Y.0000000043)

Gott, M. et al. (2013) Transitions to palliative care for older people in acute hospitals: a mixed-methods study. Health Services and Delivery Research, 1(11), pp. 1-138. (doi: 10.3310/hsdr01110)

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 and Rotter, Rebecca (2013) Desperately seeking certainty? The case of asylum applicants and people planning an assisted suicide in Switzerland. Sociological Research Online, 18(4), (doi: 10.5153/sro.3234)

Gott, M., Frey, R., Robinson, J., Boyd, M., O'Callaghan, A., Richards, N. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 and Snow, B. (2013) The nature of, and reasons for, 'inappropriate' hospitalisations among patients with palliative care needs: a qualitative exploration of the views of generalist palliative care providers. Palliative Medicine, 27(8), pp. 747-756. (doi: 10.1177/0269216312469263) (PMID:23295813)

Ingleton, C., Gardiner, C., Seymour, J.E., Richards, N. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 and Gott, M. (2013) Exploring education and training needs among the palliative care workforce. BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care, 3(2), pp. 207-212. (doi: 10.1136/bmjspcare-2012-000233) (PMID:24644570)

Ward, S., Gott, M., Gardiner, C., Cobb, M., Richards, N. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 and Ingleton, C. (2012) Economic analysis of potentially avoidable hospital admissions in patients with palliative care needs. Progress in Palliative Care, 20(3), pp. 147-153. (doi: 10.1179/1743291X12Y.0000000018)

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Warren, Lorna and Gott, Merryn (2012) The challenge of creating ‘alternative’ images of ageing: lessons from a project with older women. Journal of Aging Studies, 26(1), pp. 65-78. (doi: 10.1016/j.jaging.2011.08.001)

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2012) The fight-to-die: older people and death activism. International Journal of Ageing and Later Life, 7(1), pp. 7-32. (doi: 10.3384/ijal.1652-8670.11153)

Book Sections

Quinn, Sam ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6266-0819 and Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2025) Dying in the margins: a longitudinal visual methods study to uncover the reasons for unequal access to home dying for people experiencing financial hardship and deprivation in Scotland, UK – a case study. In: Clark, David and Samuels, Annemarie (eds.) Research Handbook on End of Life Care and Society. Edward Elgar. (Accepted for Publication)

Richards, N. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2016) Euthanasia and policy: choosing when to die. In: Woodthorpe, K. and Foster, L. (eds.) Death and Social Policy in Challenging Times. Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke, pp. 53-70. ISBN 9781137484895 (doi: 10.1057/9781137484901_4)

Richards, N. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2015) Dying to go to court: demanding a legal remedy to end-of-life uncertainty. In: Kelly, T., Harper, I. and Khanna, A. (eds.) The Clinic and the Court: Law, Medicine and Anthropology. Series: Cambridge studies in law and society. Cambridge University Press: New York. ISBN 9781107076242

Richards, N. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2013) Rosetta life: using film to create ‘bearable fictions’ of people’s experiences of life-limiting illness. In: Aaron, M. (ed.) Envisaging Death: Visual Culture and Dying. Cambridge Scholars Publishing: Newcastle, pp. 190-205. ISBN 9781443849265

Warren, L. and Richards, N. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2012) 'I don’t see many images of myself coming back at myself': representations of women and ageing. In: Ylänne, V. (ed.) Representing Ageing: Images and Identities. Palgrave Macmillan: New York, pp. 149-169. ISBN 9780230272590

Richards, N. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2011) Promoting the self through the arts: the transformation of private testimony into public witnessing. In: Conway, S. (ed.) Governing Death and Loss. Oxford University Press: New York, pp. 45-53. ISBN 9780199586172

Research Reports or Papers

Shea, A. et al. (2024) DeathWrites. Other. DeathWrites. (doi: 10.36399/gla.pubs.325834).

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 and Quinn, Samuel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6266-0819 (2023) Money Matters at the End of Life: Having Open Conversations About Financial Hardship at the End of Life. Other. University of Glasgow. (doi: 10.36399/gla.pubs.331620).

Rowley, Jane and Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2021) Can dying at home during COVID-19 still be an indicator of 'quality of death'? Discussion Paper. Policy Scotland, Glasgow.

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 and Rowley, Jane (2020) Structural inequalities and dying at home during COVID-19. Discussion Paper. Policy Scotland, Glasgow.

Tolson, D., Watchman, K., Richards, N. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Brown, M., Jackson, G., Dalrymple, A. and Henderson, J. (2015) Enhanced sensory day care: developing a new model of day care for people in the advanced stage of dementia: a pilot study. Project Report. Alzheimer Scotland Centre for Policy and Practice, Hamilton.

Warren, L., Gott, M., Hogan, S. and Richards, N. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2012) Representing Self-Representing Ageing: Look at Me! Images of Women and Ageing. Project Report. New Dynamics of Ageing, Sheffield.

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2011) Using Participatory Visual Methods. Other. University of Manchester.

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132 (2009) Second Consultation on Scotland’s Climate Change Adaptation Framework: Analysis of Responses. Project Report. Scottish Government, Edinburgh.

Artefact

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Quinn, Samuel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6266-0819, Carduff, Emma, Mitchell, Margaret and Gott, Merryn (2023) Dying in the Margins Exhibition Postcards Full Set. [Artefact]

Exhibitions

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Quinn, Sam ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6266-0819, Gott, Merryn, Carduff, Emma, Mitchell, Margaret and Dooley, Oona (2023) The Cost of Dying. [Exhibitions]

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Quinn, Samuel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6266-0819, Gott, Merryn, Carduff, Emma, Mitchell, Margaret and Dooley, Oona (2023) Dying in the Margins: The Cost of Dying Exhibition Guide. (doi: 10.36399/gla.pubs.331617) [Exhibitions]

Key Findings

Richards, Naomi ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-5132, Quinn, Samuel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6266-0819, Carduff, Emma and Gott, Merryn Dying in the Margins Digital Stories Accompanying Toolkits Complete Collection. [Key Findings]

This list was generated on Thu Oct 30 17:52:02 2025 GMT.

Grants

Marie Curie Research Grant: Unreached - the impact of financial insecurity and socioeconomic deprivation in rural and urban areas (2024-5)

Royal Society of Edinburgh, Research Network Grant: COVID-19 as Catalyst for Writing and Discussing Death, Dying and Grief through Objects, Diaries and Collective Archives (2022-2024)

ESRC Large Grant: Dying in the Margins: Uncovering the Reasons for Unequal Access to Home Dying for the Socio-Economically Deprived (2019-2023)( ES/S014373/1)

ESRC-Impact Acceleration Award: Exploring the language of poverty and inequality at the end of life, with a frontline engagement network (2021-2022)

ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship Award (2012-14)

ESRC (3+1) PhD Scholarship (Quota Award)

Supervision

I welcome enquiries about supervision relating to my research interests in:

  • anthropology of dying, death, grief, and loss
  • assisted dying
  • community models of end of life care
  • socio-economic inequities at the end of life
  • dying in old age; the 'oldest old'
  • old age rational suicide
  • concepts of suffering and 'total pain' at the end of life
  • visual or literary representations of ageing or dying
  • participatory research methods
  • visual research methods

I am currently supervising 4 PhD studies:

  • Foulkes, Carrie (DFA in Creative Writing)
    • Renunciation Exercises: An interdisciplinary research project exploring narratives of illness and bereavement
  • Tarditi Ruiz, Gina (PhD in Health and Social Policy)
    • Grief Care: Integrating Grief Literacy into an Interdisciplinary Grief Syllabus in Spanish
  • Walden, Ian (PhD in Design, University of Falmouth)
    • A good death: Creating discursivity around old age rational suicide through design
  • Willis, Hollie (PhD in English Literature)
    • Representations of Funerary Rites in Post-1990 Fantasy Literature
  • Foulkes, Carrie
    Renunciation Exercises: An interdisciplinary research project exploring narratives of illness and bereavement
  • Completed Supervision

Dr Julie Lang: Representing death: how contemporary memoirists depict dying, death, suicide and bereavement. 

Dr Amy Shea: Not all deaths are created equal: essays on the intersection of death, homelessness, and inequality

Dr Solveiga Zibaite: Talking about talking about death: an ethnographically informed study of Death Cafés in the UK using neo-tribal theory.

Teaching

I convene three courses on the End of Life Studies Programme:

I also convene the following microcredential joint with the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh which runs twice a year in September and April:

Additional information

 

  • I review grant applications for various funding bodies: Economic and Social Research Council; European Research Council; European Science Foundation; National Science Foundation (USA); Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada; Swiss National Scient Foundation; Israel Science Foundation.
  • I am a member of the ESRC Peer Review College
  • I am on the Editorial Board for journal Palliative Medicine
  • I sit on the Steering Group for the Marie Curie funded MAIN Network (Mental Health & Wellbeing in Advanced Illness)
  • I sit on the  

Naomi Richards face

Dr Naomi Richards on Twitter