Dr Naomi Richards

Postdoctoral Research Fellow
BA (Hons), MA in Visual Anthropology, PhD in Social Anthropology

Academic Profile

I joined Sheffield University in 2009 to work on the New Dynamics of Ageing programme’s Representing-Self; Representing-Ageing project (www.representing-ageing.com). The project looked at visual representations of older women and used participatory visual methods to create new imagery which was showcased at exhibition venues around Sheffield. My background is in Social Anthropology, and previously I completed my PhD at Edinburgh University on ways in which different groups of people in the UK anticipate dying. In 2011, I moved to the Department of Nursing & Midwifery to work on a Department of Health funded project about palliative care for older people in acute hospitals (www.transitionstopalliativecare.co.uk).

Research Interests

My research interests are: social and cultural aspects of death and dying; the right-to-die debate; end-of-life care and older people; ageing and gender; visual representations of ageing; visual representations of dying.

Teaching Interests

I convene the Social and Cultural Aspects of Death and Dying module in the Department of Sociological Studies.

Current Projects

I am currently working towards an ESRC postdoctoral fellowship entitled: “The readiness is all: ways people anticipate dying in the U.K.” The fellowship primarily involves disseminating findings from my PhD research.

Key Publications

Richards N. (2012) The fight-to-die: Older people and death activism. Journal of Aging and Later Life (in press).

Richards N, Warren L, Gott M. (2012) The challenge of creating ‘alternative’ images of ageing: Lessons from a project with older women. Journal of Aging Studies 26(1): 65-78.

Warren L, Richards N (2012) “I don’t see many images of myself coming back at myself”: Representations of women and ageing. In: V Ylanne (ed) Representing Ageing: Images and Identities. Palgrave Macmillan.

Richards, N (2011) Promoting the self through the arts: the transformation of private testimony into public witnessing. In: S.Conway (ed) Governing Death and Loss: Empowerment, Involvement, and Participation. Oxford University Press.