Discovering Liveability still feels like a ‘new’ research project, but it builds on several years of research that different members of the team have been involved in. One of these is the Suicide Cultures: Reimagining Suicide Research project (https://blogs.ed.ac.uk/suicide-cultures/suicide-cultures-seminars/). Since 2021, the Suicide Cultures project has hosted regular online seminars which have featured a wide range of scholars (academics, practitioners and activists) sharing their work on (or relating to) suicide. These seminars have provided a valuable space to talk, reflect and share different perspectives on suicide, informed by diverse disciplines and positions.
Between 2021 and 2024 the seminars were mainly organised by Suicide Cultures PhD student Emily Yue (who is now a postdoctoral researcher on Discovering Liveability – link). Emily worked with Asia Podgorska (admin assistant on both Suicide Cultures and Discovering Liveability) to schedule speakers, book times and dates, set up recordings and host Q&As. You can see a full list of the Suicide Cultures seminars here, including (in most cases) recordings of the seminars.
It’s hard to pick a favourite, as each seminar brings different perspectives and insights. However, some highlights for me include hearing Priti Sridhar and Saisha Manan from Mariwala Health Initiative, India, sharing about the different projects that they support, each of which challenges dominant narratives about suicide and who is ‘suicidal’. Another from 2022, was hearing Zoreh BayatRizi’s sociologically informed work on the history of knowledge about suicide.
Several of our seminars were given by colleagues who are now part of our project advisory board for Discovering Liveability, including Scott Fitzpatrick, and China Mills. One of our most popular seminars featured Jennifer White (Victoria University, and advisory group member on Discovering Liveability) and Discovering Liveability Co-Investigator Fiona Malpass in conversation, focusing on the issue of ethics in suicide research, drawing on the Critical Suicide Studies statement of ethics. This conversation was opened up to bring in other attendees, in a carefully held space. The seminar was a lovely example of what it is possible to achieve when the more usual presentation format is shifted to a more discursive and interactive one.
We are planning to launch a new seminar series that will be hosted by the Discovering Liveability project, building on some of the work we achieved through the Suicide Cultures seminars, but hosting perhaps different conversations about ‘liveability’ and ‘lived/living experiences’. In this, we will aim to experiment further with the online seminar format, and see what other kinds of conversations and engagements we might be able to make space for in the coming years.
In the meantime the Suicide Cultures seminars continue in 2025. On March 24th we are hosting Kamesha Spates, who is pioneering sociological, qualitatively driven work with Black women on suicide – a group who continue to be neglected and overlooked in much suicide research. April 30th will feature Lynn Tang sharing her work on protest suicides in Hong Kong – addressing important intersections between experiences of suicide and political contexts. Finally, our May seminar will be with Caroline Lenette, who is leading and nurturing a range of decolonial, creative approaches to working with and researching suicide – particularly with marginalised migrant groups and Indigenous communities in Australia (sign up for this seminar will be available soon, you can see a special issue of Social Sciences that Caroline is guest editing here).
