This project’s overall scientific goal is to discover how the way living organisms die has shaped life from its origins all the way to the present-day biosphere. It aims to catalyze a new, transdisciplinary community to study the science of microbial death and its implications in the widest range of disciplines outside the hard sciences, with a view to rolling out these implications into wider societal and religious conversations about “death systems.” A central aim is to reframe death as an integral part of life rather than its enemy, opening dialogue between science and religion about hope in the company of death.

The project team, led by Wilson Poon and Cait MacPhee at the University of Edinburgh will study how bacteria – some of the simplest organisms alive today – “prepare to die,” and probe the functions of the “debris” they leave behind within the communities in which they once lived. 

Five science work packages will examine how stressed cells transition toward death, how dead cells are broken down into nutrients for relatives, how death can shape the architecture of microbial communities, and the evolutionary and energy costs involved. Results, published as scientific papers and accessible expositions, are expected to reinforce the view that how organisms die within their ecosystems is one of the most distinctive characteristics of life, true from life's simplest beginnings onwards.

Complementing the science, constructive theological research will place the findings in dialogue with the Christian intellectual tradition, and an embedded "deathnography" will see a social scientist observe the research as it unfolds. Three interdisciplinary workshops will connect this emerging science with theologians, philosophers, and sociologists, each producing a programmatic essay. Throughout, the team will engage the public through a website and partnerships, ending with a public lecture and debate, and ultimately seek to sustain a community investigating "necroecology."