Coma and Disorders of Consciousness research centre
We are a multi-disciplinary group of researchers based at Cardiff University exploring the cultural, ethical, legal and social dimensions of coma, vegetative and minimally conscious states. We have an extensive research archive of interviews with family members and healthcare professionals and do research into how decision-making, care and support can be improved. We also offer signposting for families with relatives with prolonged disorders of consciousness and have translated the research findings into multi-media online resources to support families and healthcare practitioners, and we’ve worked with legal experts to seek to improve how the law and the courts deal with end-of-life decision-making. We are independent of any campaigning or political organisations and committed to robust research evidence both in the work that we do and in making recommendations for changes to policy and practice. For online training course for healthcare professionals working with patients in Prolonged Disorders of Consciousness see: www.cdoctraining.org.ukTo ‘meet’ the co-directors of the centre and learn about some of the impact of our work see this short film:
The network of staff involved in the centre are interested in a wide range of questions including: how developments in ‘brain science’ influence understandings of (un)consciousness; how ‘personhood’ is perceived in relation to the vegetative state, how the ‘minimally conscious’ diagnosis is constructed, deployed and contested; and how such states are represented in literature, the media, law and everyday practice.
Learn about the background and context to our work from the discussion below.