About the Cemetery Research Group

The CRG explores cemetery history and policy from around 1740 to the present in the UK and internationally, and benefits from strong links with the cemetery management profession.

The Cemetery Research Group (CRG) was established at the University of York in 1990, when a consortium of interdisciplinary academics successfully applied for Economic and Social Research Funding for research on local authorities and cemetery conservation.

Since that time, research on cemeteries has continued at the University principally by Julie Rugg, Senior Research Fellow in the Social Policy and Social Work Department. Funding for cemetery research has been raised from the Economic and Social Research Council and local authorities throughout the UK including the Greater London Authority.

Julie Rugg was one of the two principal advisors to the House of Commons inquiry into cemeteries (2000-2001) and sits on the Ministry of Justice Burial and Cremation Advisory Group. In 2008 she was elected to the position of Honorary Vice President of the Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management.

Dr Rugg has published widely on the subject of cemeteries, across a range of disciplines.