A two-day symposium at the University of Edinburgh
6-7th May 2025
Suicide Cultures: Re-imagining Suicide Research (2020-2026) is a Wellcome funded project
that has drawn on multiple-qualitative methods and sociologically driven inquiry to study
suicide in Scotland. In May 2025 the project is hosting a symposium which aims to bring
together sociologists working on suicide to reflect, discuss and debate the sociology of
suicide in the 21st Century.
The symposium is free to attend. Spaces are limited and will be allocated to scholars
working on sociological approaches to suicide. Non-academic attendees who draw on
sociological approaches in their work, scholarship and/or activism are welcome. A small
number of UK travel bursaries are available for PhD, ECR and unwaged attendees.
The symposium will include plenary presentations and small group discussions.
We are delighted that Anna Mueller (Indiana University Bloomington) and Seth Abrutyn
(University of British Columbia) will join us as keynote speakers. Mueller and Abrutyn’s work
comprises innovative and pathbreaking sociological interventions into understanding and
responding to suicide. Their work draws on cultural sociology, symbolic interaction and
structural approaches, across qualitative and quantitative methodologies, seeking to
overcome some of the limitations and silos of earlier sociological work.
Suicide Cultures PI Amy Chandler (University of Edinburgh) and other members of the
Suicide Cultures team will also present findings from the project.
A small number of additional paper presentations are invited. All speakers will have
accommodation and UK travel expenses covered.
To apply to attend, or to submit an abstract to present, please follow this link –
https://forms.office.com/e/WzUKJEm9PA.
Any queries or questions, email suicidecultures@ed.ac.uk.
Abstracts and expressions of interest in attending will be reviewed by members of the
Suicide Cultures research team using the following criteria:
1. Contribution to sociological understandings/responses to suicide
2. Innovation and novelty (empirical and/or theoretical)
3. Engagement with sociological theory and/or research