Observatory Groups

The IOELC Network

The Observatory is proud of its links with individuals and organisations beyond the campus. One such inclusive link is through membership of IOELC Network.

The network membership continues to increase and encompasses all disciplines with many levels of experience.The network particularly welcomes members local to Lancaster but extends its membership to areas as far away as New Zealand! With our member list currently standing at 161, we are always happy to encourage others to join. Click the link on the right if you would like more information and an opportunity to join our swelling ranks!.

• We hold bi-monthly Research Seminars, usually on the third Thursday of the month and between 09:30am and 11:30am. We invite people from different backgrounds to speak about their research and/or experiences in the field of end of life care in the form of a 40 minute presentation. All members of the network are invited to attend these seminars, (whether in person or via a live webcast), and are particularly invited to actively join in the discussion that follows the presentation. Dates for forthcoming seminars can be found via the Future Research Seminars link on the right-hand side of this page.
• Following each Research Seminar and where the relevant permissions from the speakers have been granted, the month's topic of discussion/presentation is posted on this site as either a PDF document, a link to our "Virtual Meeting Area" or both. Members will be notified when the previous seminar's presentation is available to view through the e-list and from the Previous Seminar Presentations link on the right of this page.
• The email addresses of all members are added to an E-List and this is used as a form of two-way communication. Not only are we able to keep you abreast of research developments, events of interest, recent news pertaining to end-of-life issues and news of forthcoming seminars but we hope that members would feel they could post information of their own.

You can apply for IOELC Network Group membership by clicking here.

CECo Research Partners Forum

Staff working in the International Observatory on End of Life Care are involved in developing user involvement through engagement with research partners (members of the public and service users). This is part of their work as members of the Cancer Experiences Collaborative (CECo), a NCRI-funded Supportive and Palliative Care Research Collaborative working across five English universities. Established in October 2007 the research partner forum has two aims:

• To support individuals to become involved in the development of CECo initiated projects
• To develop new research proposal, seek funding and undertake user-led studies

The forum currently has 10 members with a range of backgrounds, personal experiences of life-threatening illnesses and caring responsibilities. Members of the Forum have attended, and presented posters about our work at the last NCRI annual conferences and submitted three grant applications. One small grant has been awarded from North Lancs PCT to develop peer education for end of life issues within the Lancaster area.