COCO: reference point for Compassionate Communities
COCO wants to create a more compassionate society in which communities have the capacity and know-how to provide care for their members during times of serious illness, death, dying and loss and to take on the social challenges associated with it. This shift in practice will require an even broader cultural shift and relevant expertise is currently lacking on many fronts.
While the medical-professional sector treats the physical and psychopathological symptoms of serious illness, it is the community that cares for the often-neglected human and social issues that surround serious illness, death, dying and loss: social companionship, quality of life, mental and existential well-being, financial pressure, etc.
We are all, at different and various points in our life, confronted with experiences of serious illness, death, dying and loss. It is a fact of life.
Aims
The specific aims of COCO are:
- Build expertise: Develop knowledge and expertise through conducting, stimulating, coordinating and collecting interdisciplinary research into Compassionate Communities;
- Provide expertise: Disseminate and implement knowledge and expertise through knowledge exchange and scientific, societal and educational valorisation for various target audiences;
- Build a network: Bring people together and collaborate with researchers, communities, societal actors, policymakers and other stakeholders to build an effective external network and grow into a center of expertise that is anchored in research and practice.
Structures of and roles within COCO
The Compassionate Communities centre of expertise (COCO) is an interdisciplinary research consortium of 11 research groups across 5 VUB faculties. It is led by a supervising committee consisting of the three leading partners – the End-of-Life Care research group (EoLC), the Society and Ageing Research Lab (SARLAB) and the Data Analytics Laboratory.
| •Stakeholders: Consultation with stakeholders from all levels of society (e.g., government, health, civil society, local communities) on the impact, need, and relevance of COCO's work. Still to be developed. | •Steering group: representatives from each COCO research group provide input on strategic direction and budgetary decisions. |
•Consortium: Collaboration among COCO members. The consortium consists of professors, postdoctoral researchers, PhD researchers and community development practitioners. Discussions focus on ongoing research, new project proposals, community development and social valorization. | •Daily operations team: Coordinate research, valorization and day-to-day management. |
Participating teams in COCO
Faculty of Medicine & Pharmacy
Faculty of Social Sciences & Solvay Business School
Faculty of Science & Bio-engineering Sciences
- Cosmopolis Centre for Urban Research (Cosmopolis)
- Analytical, environmental and Geo-chemistry (AMGC)
Faculty of Psychology & Educational Sciences
- Society and Ageing Research Lab (SARLab)
- Research group PArticipation and Learning in Detention (PALD)
- Work & Organisational Psychology (WOPS)
- Brussels Innovation and Learning Diversity (BILD)
Faculty of Languages and Humanities
- Centre for Literary and Intermedial Crossings (CLIC)
- Analytical, environmental and Geo-chemistry (AMGC)
Visit Our Team to see the full list of researchers affiliated with COCO.
Supervising Committee of COCO
The Compassionate Communities centre of expertise is led by a supervising committee consisting of the three leading partners – the End-of-Life Care research group (EoLC), Society and Ageing Research Lab (SARLab) and Data Analytics Lab.
