Wolfson Palliative Care Research Centre

The Wolfson Palliative Care Research Centre brings together researchers, health and social care professionals from a range of disciplines, patients, families and members of the public to find and help deliver the best palliative care services and treatments.

Creating Connections Palliative Care Conference 2023

Tuesday 20 June 2023

To be held simultaneously in-person and online at:

- 8.30am to 1pm (UK time) and

- 5.30pm to 10pm (Sydney time)

We are delighted to jointly host the Creating Connections Palliative Care Conference, organised by the Wolfson Palliative Care Research Centre at the University of Hull, and the Centre for Improving Palliative, Aged and Chronic Care through Clinical Research and Translation (IMPACCT) at the University Of Technology Sydney.

This free-to-attend event is open to all with an interest in palliative care for people with advanced and chronic illnesses.

Find out more and book

About us

We conduct palliative care research, and provide education and information relevant to the needs of people living with and dying from serious illness, their families and communities. We aim to improve quality of life and reduce inequalities in care, especially those driven by socio-economic status and diagnosis.

We are committed to involving patients, carers, families and local communities as active partners in shaping our research. We want to make sure that people with many different perspectives and experiences have the chance to influence what we do and how we do it. This helps us to focus on what really matters to people.

We aim to acknowledge all who have contributed to our work; University of Hull is signed up to the Science Council’s Technical Commitment initiative – and we implement this approach.

What is palliative care?

Palliative care is the active total care of people with progressive, life-limiting illness to help them to live well through control of symptoms, support for psychological, social and spiritual concerns and care for their families and friends.

Palliative care can be applied as an extra layer of care alongside treatment of medical conditions which aims to cure or prolong life. It should be available according to need, and not restricted by diagnosis or prognosis.

Annual report

Download our Annual Report: 2021 to 2022 (PDF)

Discover more about our Centre and our research

The work of the Centre is making a real difference to patient’s lives – and their families too.

Discover more about our inspirational people and our impactful research through our pages below.

If you are inspired by our research and you would like to collaborate, visit or study with us, please do get in touch: WolfsonPallCare@hyms.ac.uk

Latest Wolfson news

Wolfson Palliative Care Research Centre hosts Statistical Masterclass by visiting researcher

Professor Miriam Johnson, Dr Christina Ramsenthaler, and Professor Fliss Murtagh

(Pictured: Professor Miriam Johnson, Dr Christina Ramsenthaler, and Professor Fliss Murtagh)

We were delighted to welcome Dr Christina Ramsenthaler to the Wolfson Palliative Care Research Centre on 11 and 12 May 2023, for a Statistical Masterclass and project-based statistical workshops.

Christina is a Senior Lecturer from ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland, who has specific expertise in psychometrics, as well as in statistics and methods, as related to palliative care. This was a great two days, and everyone valued the Masterclass and workshops very much.

Sapporo Conference for Palliative and Supportive Care in Cancer (SCPSC), Japan

Dr Joseph Clark at the final Speakers Dinner with Dr Kunihiko Ishitani, conference organizer and President of The International Research Society of the SCPSC

(Pictured: Joseph at the final Speakers Dinner with Dr Kunihiko Ishitani, conference organiser and President of The International Research Society of the SCPSC)

We were delighted to have representation at the recent Sapporo Conference for Palliative and Supportive Care in Cancer, Japan. Dr Joseph Clark attended to give his invited lecture titled ‘Global palliative care development: Promoting access to services and essential medicines, through understanding of international policy and processes’.

Joseph said, “This was a unique conference and a great experience to visit Japan and share a stage with many leading figures in palliative care internationally. I am grateful to the organisers for the opportunity and generous hospitality.”

SSIP best poster prize

Dr Dane Vishnubala (Phase II Lead), Hannah Watson, and Arabella Lloyd (winner of best oral prize)

(Pictured left to right: Dr Dane Vishnubala (Phase II Lead), Hannah Watson, and Arabella Lloyd (winner of best oral prize))

We are delighted that Medicine student Hannah Watson – who worked with Professor Fliss Murtagh for her Scholarship and Special Interest programme (SSIP) this year – was winner of the poster prize at the 2023 Hull York Medical School - Year 4 SSIP conference on 28 April 2023.

Hannah’s project was on ‘Understanding the relationship between breathlessness and anxiety: a secondary analysis of outcomes data reported by patients receiving palliative care’.

Hannah said, ““I was delighted to win the SSIP poster award, particularly since there were so many excellent projects at the conference! My SSIP was a great learning experience. I hope that other students enjoyed their projects and are inspired to do further research.”

ppi-button — Patient and public involvement and engagement

yhpcrn — Yorkshire and Humber Palliative Care Research Network

undergraduate-cropped — Undergraduate study

postgraduate-students-cropped — Postgraduate study

collaborations-cropped — Partners and collaborators

Allam_Medical_Building — Be a visiting researcher

Bringing Breathlessness into View exhibition

In collaboration with artists and local people living with breathlessness, we have created the Bringing Breathlessness into View exhibition, which aims to raise awareness of what it is like to live with breathlessness, and enable people to access support to manage breathlessness well.

We hope visitors will find the exhibition thought provoking and develop a greater understanding of the difficulties it causes.

Visit our blog to explore the exhibition and find resources to help manage breathlessness. You can also subscribe to our blog to receive notifications of new posts by email.

Find out more Visit our blog

Piece from the Bringing Breathlessness into View exhibition

International Investment Initiative (I3) Fund

We are delighted to be one of only 8 UKRI fund grant recipients in England in partnership with the IMPACCT research group at the University of Technology Sydney (Australia) for our bid, "Building Critical Mass for Palliative Care Research through Collaborative Support, Exchange and Challenge".

This UKRI fund aims to support the scaling up of existing strategically significant, internationally collaborative research relationships between English universities and research organisations outside the UK.

The award funds a programme of joint "Creating Connections" conferences, workshops and masterclasses, and an academic exchange programme (professions, senior lecturers, post-doctoral researchers, PhD students) to foster collaborative links and joint working.

Our aims

We aim to generate new knowledge in these areas:

Addressing under-researched symptoms and problems
Reducing inequalities in palliative care outcomes, improving access and optimising delivery
Informing and improving palliative care services and outcomes in low and middle-income countries
Measuring individual and service-level palliative care outcomes
Researching the social and psychological aspects of palliative care
Advancing education and research on implementation of palliative care evidence into policy and practice

Thank you to our funders

Our research is currently or has been previously funded by the following organisations. We are very grateful for their support so we can make a real difference to palliative care.