The Revd Dr Peter Jupp has been given a lifetime achievement award by the Association for the Study of Death in Society (ASDS). Image The Revd Dr Peter Jupp receiving his Lifetime Achievement award from Professor Hilary J. Grainger Internationally recognised in his field, Dr Jupp has been an Honorary Fellow in our School since 2012. With Dr Susan Buckham (Stirling University) he has organised and hosted three conferences on ‘Death in Scotland’ at New College. His award for ‘Outstanding Career Contributions to the Social Sciences in the Field of Death Studies’ was conferred during the 14th international conference on The Social Context of Death, Dying and Disposal (the DDD conference), 4-7 September 2019, University of Bath. “Minister, theologian, sociologist of religion and historian of death” During the citation given at the award ceremony, Professor Hilary J. Grainger OBE, President of the ASDS, told assembled delegates: “Dr Peter Jupp is something of a polymath, a United Reformed Church Minister, theologian, sociologist of religion and a historian of death. He is recognised globally, not only as a scholar, but also for his work on the sociology of religion, funeral reform and for his wider work across the funeral industry. “Peter is indefatigable: he was Director of the National Funerals College and has served on the ecumenical Churches Funeral Group, the committee of the Memorial Advisory Bureau; been a consultant to the Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors (SAIF) and a member of the Ministry of Justice’s Burial and Cremation Advisory Group (BCAG). He is a Council member of the Cremation Society of Great Britain and its chairman from 2001-2009; and is a non-executive director of the London Cremation Company PLC.” Pioneering publications Professor Grainger also outlined Dr Jupp’s contribution to a number of pioneering publications including: co-editing with Hilary J. Grainger: ‘Death in Scotland: Chapters from the Twelfth Century to the Twenty-First, (Oxford and Bern: Peter Lang, 2019) co-authoring with Douglas J. Davies, Hilary J. Grainger, Gordon D. Raeburn and Stephen R. G. White: ‘Our Ashes glow with Social Fires’: Cremation in modern Scotland: history, architecture and law,’ (Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2017) co-editing with Susan Buckham and Julie Rugg: ‘Death in Modern Scotland, 1855 – 1955: beliefs, attitudes and practices,’ (Oxford and Geneva: Peter Lang, 2016) ‘From Dust to Ashes: Cremation and the British Way of Death’ (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006) co-editing with Clare Gittings: ‘Death in England: an illustrated history’ (Manchester University Press, 1999) Of relevance for ministerial candidates: co-editing with Tony Rogers, ‘Interpreting Death: Christian Theology and Pastoral Practice’ (London: Cassell, 1997). editing ‘Death Our Future: Christian Theology and Pastoral Practice’ (Peterborough: Epworth, 2008). Not least, Professor Grainger acknowledged the key role Dr Jupp played both in establishing the ASDS’s international journal 'Mortality' and the DDD conference with Professor Glennys Howarth of Bath, Sydney, and Plymouth Universities. Dr Jupp told us: “Among my 30 years in death studies, my co-founding of the DDD conference in 1993 and the co-founding of the (now quarterly) journal 'Mortality' in 1996 are among the achievements which have given me most pleasure. All along, my wife Elisabeth has given me her full support, without which none of this could have been done.” “Outstanding university teaching, research, publication and professional service” It is not the first time that Dr Jupp’s contributions have been recognised. In 2010 he received the Dr Robert Fulton Founder’s Award for Outstanding University Teaching, Research, Publication and Professional Service in the Field of Dying and Bereavement from the Center for Death Education and Bioethics (CDEB), University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Peter is indefatigable… a generous scholar, an academic catalyst, the most humane of men Professor Hilary J. Grainger OBE, President of the ASDS Links Association for the Study of Death in Society (ASDS) Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors (SAIF) Ministry of Justice’s Burial and Cremation Advisory Group (BCAG) Cremation Society of Great Britain London Cremation Company PLC This article was published on 2024-03-19
