Stephanie is an existing PhD student, who is providing part-time research assistance working alongside Dr Ashleen Crowe and Dr Lisa Graham-Wisener to create a position paper focused on compassionate communities. The position paper will be informed by a compassionate community conference (Compassionate Communities in Palliative and End of Life Care Conference) held by the All-Ireland Institute of Hospice and Palliative Care (AIIHPC). Stephanie will work with the AIIHPC, Foyle Hospice and the Irish Hospice foundation on this project.

Stephanie is currently completing her mixed methods PhD on death literacy within the School of Psychology at Queens University Belfast. Before coming to Queen’s, Stephanie completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology and a Master’s degree in Applied Psychology (mental health and psychological therapies) at Ulster University Coleraine (UUC). It was when Stephanie was at UUC where she became interested in the research topics of death, dying and loss after completing a research placement with Dr Kelly Norwood assisting on a PhD project investigating family conflict in caring for someone with dementia. Stephanie is also an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and is an activity officer for the AIIHPC Early Career Research Forum.