Dr Laura Cottrell has a clinical background in nursing and nursing education in Canada. She received her Masters in Nursing from the University of British Columbia in 2011 and in 2018 she completed her PhD at the University of Alberta, which houses the International Institute for Qualitative Methodology. In her thesis Laura explored the concept of joy at the end of life with adults in hospice. Laura worked at the Cicely Saunders Institute from 2017 to 2019 on the IARE II and Empower projects and returned in 2025 to work on a national photovoice study exploring links between breathlessness and loneliness.

Laura's research interests include palliative and end of life care, nursing theory, qualitative methodology, ageing and frailty, and carers/caregivers.