Interdisciplinary project 'Diversity in Death and Dying' shortlisted for Vice-Chancellor’s Awards
The Faculty of Theology and Religion is pleased to announce that Diversity in Death and Dying: medical student museum experience has been shortlisted for a 2025 Vice-Chancellor’s Award. The project has been nominated in the category of Teaching and Learning.
This innovative teaching session invites medical students to engage with themes of death and dying outside the clinical setting. Through close engagement with objects and images in the Ashmolean Museum, students are encouraged to reflect on the cultural, emotional, and ethical challenges of end-of-life care in a diverse society. This project is a collaborative effort between the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, the Faculty of History, the Ashmolean Museum, and the Faculty of Theology and Religion. Expert patient tutors have played an essential role in the development and teaching of this curriculum. It has been led by neurologist Dr. Gina Hadley, museum teaching curator Dr. Jim Harris, Christian ethicist Prof Joshua Hordern, and Dr. Ariel Dempsey, an MD and DPhil candidate in the Faculty of Theology and Religion.
Dr. Dempsey contributed to the design and delivery of this strand of the Medical Humanities curriculum at Oxford Medical School. She reflected:
Dr Ariel Dempsey
'It’s been a beautiful project to be a part of. We take the medical students out of the clinical environment they are used to and ask them to use their imaginations to think about experiences with death and dying that may be unfamiliar, and to imagine these experiences through the lens of others with different cultural and religious backgrounds. In a clinical environment, they are used to being asked questions with answers and, in the museum, we give them questions without clear answers. It’s a day away from the hospital but it is a day of important work spent reflecting on a part of life that society tends to push aside, reclaiming forgotten wisdom about death from past times, and recognizing that death isn’t something medical but something human.'
The programme builds on the report Advancing Medical Professionalism, co-authored by Professor Joshua Hordern, which was published by the Royal College of Physicians and helped shape the development of this distinctive curriculum. Prof Hordern commented:
Prof Joshua Hordern
'I am so thankful for how this professionalism curriculum has been developed over the years by a number of colleagues, with this particular teaching session serving a real need and desire that our medical students have for compassionate wisdom across plural, complexly religious societies. The session draws on the wonderful resources of the Ashmolean and wisdom from across the university, with theological expertise bridging across a range of disciplines, to help our future doctors prepare for their vital pubic service.'
The winners and highly commended nominees will be announced at a ceremony at the Sheldonian Theatre in May. A Vice-Chancellor’s Awards showcase will also take place in May to celebrate the success of shortlisted colleagues. Registration for the showcase will open in April.
Find out more on the awards webpage.
