Susie Kilshaw

Susie's work focuses on pregnancy endings and miscarriage. Her research into the anthropology of miscarriage began with an exploration in how cultural contexts impact the way miscarriage is framed, articulated, and experienced in Qatar and the UK. This research led to the book Pregnancy and Miscarriage in Qatar: Women, reproduction and the state (Bloomsbury, 2020) and Navigating Miscarriage: Social, Medical and Conceptual Perspectives (Berghahn, 2020). She was then awarded funding from the Wellcome Trust to continue her research into pregnancy endings, investigating what is left behind after a pregnancy ending. This project explored how the materials of pregnancy endings are perceived and handled in different contexts (clinics, homes, burial sites, crematoria) and by different people (women, their families, doctors, nurses, and funeral staff). For this work she was based at an NHS Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit and its associated gynaecology wards. Susie has previously worked for the NHS as a clinically applied medical anthropologist and is the co-lead of the AHRC funded The Feminist Miscarriage Project.