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Rev Dr Geoffrey Cook

Life Fellow

Rev Dr Geoffrey Cook

Life Fellow
Affiliated Lecturer, Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience and former Vice-Master

Rev Dr Geoffrey Cook MSc PhD CBiol FRSB CChem FRSC was elected to the Fellowship at the end of 1978. After a period as Secretary to the Fellows Council he was elected Vice-Master, an office he held for twenty five years. During this period he was responsible for petitioning the Earl Marshall for the grant of Arms for the College, as well as serving on the group of fellows charged with drafting Statutes that enabled the College to successfully petition the Privy Council for a Royal Charter. In 1986 he became Chairman of the College's newly established Development Committee and was responsible for coordinating and the delivery of the extensions to the Norfolk Building, the construction of the College Tower, the Library Building and the three residential buildings on the College's site. Retiring from the Governing Body in 2007 he was elected to a Life Fellowship.

Dr Cook read Chemistry at the University of Nottingham coming to Cambridge in 1959 to undertake his doctoral research in the Department of the then Regius Professor of Physic. From 1963-65 he was a Research Associate, Department of Biochemistry, University of Southern California School of Medicine, Los Angeles. He returned to Cambridge as a Member of the External Scientific Staff of the Medical Research Council, initially at the Strangeways Research Laboratory, moving in 1976 to the Department of Pharmacology, where the University granted him an Associate Lectureship. In 1977 he was a Canadian Commonwealth Research Fellow, Biological Sciences Centre, University of Alberta, Edmonton. In 1986 he transferred his MRC appointment to the Department of Anatomy, now part of the Department of Physiology, Development & Neuroscience, where as an Affiliated Lecturer he is undertaking research in developmental neurobiology.

In 1978 Geoffrey Cook was ordained as the first permanent deacon in the newly erected Diocese of East Anglia. He has chaired the Diocesan Commission for Dialogue and Unity since 1984 and was a Member of the Committee for Christian Unity of the RC Bishops' Conference of England & Wales 1984-92. He served as a Member of the Governing Council of the Cambridge Theological Federation 2008-14 and is currently the RC Member, Methodist-Anglican Panel for Unity in Mission. Chairman of the Cambridgeshire Ecumenical Council 1990-92 he has Chaired Shared Churches (Ely) Limited, a company established by the mainstream churches in the County to build and own church centres in the newly developing townships, from 2003-to date. He is a Member of the Society of Ordained Scientists and a Member of the Advisory Board, Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, a Governor of Ipswich School, Suffolk and Chair of Governors, St Bede's Inter-Church School, Cambridge.

Rev Dr Luigi Gioia Headshot

Rev Dr Luigi Gioia

Visiting Scholar

Rev Dr Luigi Gioia

Visiting Scholar

The Rev Dr Luigi Gioia is the Theologian in Residence at Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue in New York City and a Visiting Scholar at the Von Hügel Institute at the University of Cambridge (UK).

A scholar of systematic theology, he focuses particularly on the Trinity, ecclesiology, and the relationship between theology and spirituality. Working at the crossroads of academy and church, he speaks and writes for both academic and general audiences, seeking to make rigorous theological reflection accessible and pastorally grounded. He is the author of The Theological Epistemology of Augustine’s De Trinitate (OUP, 2016, with a foreword by Rowan Williams), Say It to God: In Search of Prayer, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book 2018 (Bloomsbury, 2017), and Saint Benedict's Wisdom: Monastic Spirituality and the Life of the Church (Liturgical Press, 2020). His award-winning books have been translated into six languages.

 

Academic Profile

Publications 

  • Luigi Gioia, The Theological Epistemology of Augustine’s De Trinitate, 2016, OUP: Oxford. Paperback edition with a foreword by Rowan Williams.
  • Luigi Gioia, “The Threat of Death As a Test for Theological Authenticity”, 2017, in The Practice of the Presence of God: Theology As a Way of Life, Ed. Martin Laird and Sheelah Treflé Hidden, Routledge: New York, 120-9.
  • Luigi Gioia, St Benedict’s Wisdom. Monastic Spirituality and the Life of the Church, 2020, Liturgical Press: Collegeville (MN, USA), and Canterbury Press (UK)
  • Luigi Gioia, “St Benedict’s Rule as the Antidote to Regulatory Inflation”, 2021, Reviews in Religion & Theology, 28:1, 4-9.
  • Luigi Gioia, “Prayer in the Secular City”, 2024, Concilium 4, 41-50

Awards and recognitions 

  • The book Say It To God. In Search of Prayer (Bloomsbury, 2017) was chosen as the Archbishop of Canterbury Lent Book 2018.
  • The book St Benedict’s Wisdom. Monastic Spirituality and the Life of the Church (Liturgical Press, 2020) received the First Place in the category of Spirituality Award by the CMA (Catholic Media Association) in 2021.

 

Rev Dr Greg Peters

Research Associate

Rev Dr Greg Peters

Research Associate

My research is on the history and theology of Christian monasticism, mainly how monastic theology is a unique theological methodology. I also research the history of monasticism and spirituality in the Anglican tradition. I actively contribute to academic, professional, and ecclesial communities.

Rev Dr Peters is Professor of Medieval and Spiritual Theology in the Torrey Honors College at Biola University, USA. He is also the Servants of Christ Research Professor of Monastic Studies and Ascetical Theology at Nashotah House Theological Seminary, USA. He is the author of "Reforming the Monastery: Protestant Theologies of the Religious Life," "The Monkhood of All Believers: The Monastic Foundation of Christian Spirituality," and "Peter of Damascus: Byzantine Monk and Spiritual Theologian," among other works. He serves on the Executive Committee of the Society of Anglican Theologians, the Executive Board of the American Benedictine Academy and is a board member of Anglican House Publishers. Professor Peters’ interest in Christian monasticism led him to pursue a Dottorato in Studi Monastici from the Pontificio Ateneo di Sant’Anselmo in Rome, the first non-monastic to earn the degree.

Though an expert on Christian monasticism, Professor Peters has also been involved in researching and writing on Anglicanism, including Edward Pusey’s support of the re-establishment of monasticism in the nineteenth-century Church of England and Anglican spirituality. To that end he has published "Anglican Spirituality: An Introduction" and several articles on Anglican monasticism. His interest in Anglicanism grew out of his appointment as Vicar of the Anglican Church of the Epiphany, La Mirada, USA.

Professor Peters is a Consulting Editor for the Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care, is on the Editorial Board of Magistra: A Journal of Women’s Spirituality in History and is a regular reviewer for the American Benedictine Review. In addition to his appointment at St Edmund’s College, he is a Visiting Scholar at Wycliffe Hall, University of Oxford.

Academic Profile

Publications

  • Greg Peters, Anglican Spirituality, 2024, Cascade Books
  • Greg Peters, The Monkhood of All Believers: The Monastic Foundation of Christian Spirituality, 2018, Baker Academic
  • Greg Peters, Peter of Damascus: Byzantine Monk and Spiritual Theologian, 2011, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies
  • Greg Peters, “The ‘Reanimation Principle’ of Edward Bouverie Pusey: The Re-Establishment of Monasticism in the Church of England,” 2025, Anglican and Episcopal History

 

Rev Dr Roger Abbott

Senior Research Associate

Rev Dr Roger Abbott

Senior Research Associate

My research interests focus on the science-faith interface of natural hazards and disasters and theodicies. I also have research interest in the field of trauma studies, theologies of trauma and pastoral care of trauma.

The Rev. Dr. Abbott has an passionate academic and practical interest in the causation natural hazard related disasters, in the human responses to them, recovery from them and mitigation of them from the perspective of the science-faith intersection. From 2012-2021 he has carried out projects in Haiti following the devastating 2010 earthquake, exploring how survivors’ religious beliefs influenced their response to and recovery from that catastrophic event. From 2015 to 2019 he worked on projects in New Orleans, the Philippines, and in Somerset, exploring the influence of faith beliefs on survivors’ relationships with God, with their communities, and with the natural environment. Since 2020 to date he has been conducting a project around the impacts of fear, anger, trust and hope on Christians during the pandemic. He is also currently researching faith a resilience in a joint project between The Faraday Institute and the National Preparedness Commission. Following over thirty years of church pastoral ministry, Roger gained his Ph.D. in a practical theology of disaster response, from the University of Wales, Trinity & St. David. He has taught Master’s modules on the pastoral response to trauma, has run a consultancy on pastoral care of trauma, and has been an active responder to traumatic incidents in the UK since 1989. He is a member of the British and Irish Association for Practical Theologians, The Society for the Study of Theology, and The Society for the Study of Christian Ethics.

Publications

  • Abbott Roger et al What Good is God? Crises, faith, and resilience. 2020 Oxford: Monarch
  • Abbott, Roger Philip et al Narratives of Faith from the Haitian Earthquake. 2019 Abingdon: Routledge
  • Abbott, Roger Philip “‘I Will Show You My Faith by My Works’ 2019 Religions 10, 213
  • Abbott, Roger Philip. Sit On Our Hands, or Stand On Our Feet? 2013 . Eugene: Or.: Wipf & Stock
  • Abbott, Roger Philip. 2012. “Trauma, Compassion, and Community.” Practical Theology. 5.1: 31-46
John Jenkins

Rev John I Jenkins, C.S.C

Honorary Fellow

Rev John I Jenkins, C.S.C

Honorary Fellow

University of Notre Dame President Rev John I Jenkins, C.S.C. is an Honorary Fellow of St Edmund’s College.

He was elected in recognition of his significant contributions to higher education, as well as for his role in developing the partnership between St Edmund’s and Notre Dame.

Fr Jenkins, a priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross, was elected the 17th president of the University of Notre Dame in 2005. As president of Notre Dame, Fr Jenkins has contributed significantly to wider debates in higher education and society, especially in civil discourse. His achievements are characterised by a strong commitment to building common ground against increasingly widespread polarisation.

Rev Dr Stephen Pepper

Post Doctoral Research Associate

Rev Dr Stephen Pepper

Post Doctoral Research Associate

Rev Dr Stephen Chase Pepper, C.S.C. is a Roman Catholic priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross. Originally from Huntsville, Alabama, in the United States, “Chase” earned his Bachelor of Arts in political science and Catholic studies from Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey (2007), his Master of Divinity from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana (2014), and most recently his Doctor of Philosophy, in theology, from the University of Cambridge and St. John’s College as a Gates Cambridge scholar (2023).

Chase’s research treats broadly on the interdisciplinary intersections of Christian systematic theology and Dante studies, with more concentrated focus on the subjects of participation, beatitude, and intercessory prayer in Dante’s poetry. He has spoken on Dante in a variety of settings, from academic conferences and university lecture halls to parishes and prison reading groups, and he is motivated by questions about how Dante can serve as an imaginative and theological resource for building bridges across human divisions.

Inspired perhaps by his childhood fascination with astronomy and Dante’s own journey among the stars, Chase’s greatest dream is to become the first Catholic priest to say Mass in space.

Dr Alexandra Urban

Visiting Scholar

Dr Alexandra Urban

Visiting Scholar

Dr Alexandra Urban studied German philology and Latin at LMU Munich (First State Examination, 2016) and went on to complete a Master’s degree in German Language and Literature with a specialization in medieval studies (2017). From 2016 to 2020, she was a research associate in the DFG research group 1986 “Nature in Political Conceptions of Order: Antiquity – Middle Ages – Early Modern Period”, where she completed her PhD, awarded summa cum laude, in July 2020. The book was published in 2021 by De Gruyter under the title Poetik der Meisterschaft in ›Der meide kranz‹: Heinrich von Mügeln auf den Schultern des Alanus ab Insulis (series Deutsche Literatur. Studien und Quellen). Since 2020, she has been a research associate at the Chair of Professor Kellner (LMU Munich).

Dr Sandra Brunnegger

College Teaching Officer, Director of Studies, Fellow

Dr Sandra Brunnegger

College Teaching Officer, Director of Studies, Fellow

Dr Sandra Brunnegger is a Fellow in Law and Anthropology.

Dr Brunnegger is a legal anthropologist. Her research interests span human rights, indigenous legal systems and practices, everyday conceptions of justice, transitional justice, violence, environmental issues and social movements. Ethnographically, her research focuses on Latin America, with particular emphasis on Colombia. Her teaching interests include development, political and legal anthropology and international law.

Dr Sean Butler

Emeritus Fellow

Dr Sean Butler

Emeritus Fellow

Dr Sean Butler is an Emeritus Fellow at St Edmund's College. His main field of research is animal rights law.

Dr Sean Butler studied Law at Oxford (St Edmund Hall) and the LSE, London, as well as Genetics at Cambridge (CPGS) before taking his PhD in social science at Imperial College, London. He supervises Roman Law and lectures Animal Rights Law in the Law Faculty, and is Co-Director of the Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights Law.

Academic Profile

Dr Philip McCosker FRSA

Fellow

Dr Philip McCosker FRSA

Fellow
Dr Philip McCosker, FSRA, is Director of the Religion and Theology Research Programme at the Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry, Australian Catholic University, and a Fellow of St Edmund’s College, University of Cambridge. He is the former Vice-Master of St Edmund's College and former Director of the Von Hügel Institute for Critical Catholic Inquiry. He was previously Deputy Master of St Benet’s Hall and Lecturer in Theology at Trinity and Jesus Colleges in Oxford. He received his theological formation at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, and Yale. His research focuses on historical, philosophical, and constructive theology, frequently in connection with the Catholic traditions.

Dr Ian McCrone

Fellow

Dr Ian McCrone

Fellow
University Physician (Farm Animal Clinical Team Leader), Department of Veterinary Medicine

Mr Ian Stewart McCrone graduated from the University of Liverpool with a degree in veterinary science and has completed further postgraduate qualifications with a Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons' certificate in cattle health and production and a Masters Degree in epidemiology and a Diploma of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Before joining the department of veterinary medicine Ian worked almost exclusively as a farm animal (veterinary) practitioner in North Norfolk, South Yorkshire and the Lancashire-Yorkshire border.  Ian joined Cambridge in 2006 initially as a Clinical Farm Animal Veterinarian, then as a Clinician Teaching Fellow in Veterinary Public Health and Farm Animal Medicine, and since October 2013 as University Physician, a reader level position with responsibility as Farm Animal Clinical Team Leader.

Suzanne Paul

Dr Suzanne Paul

Tutor, Fellow, Fellow Archivist and Librarian

Dr Suzanne Paul

Tutor, Fellow, Fellow Archivist and Librarian

Dr Suzanne Paul is the Keeper of Rare Books and Early Manuscripts at Cambridge University Library. She is a Tutor, Fellow Librarian and Fellow Archivist.

Suzanne obtained an MA in Classics and Medieval History from the University of Edinburgh, followed by an MA and PhD in Medieval Studies from the University of Leeds. A medieval manuscript scholar by training, she is particularly interested in the application of digital and scientific approaches to the study and curation of manuscripts.

She has collaborated on several large-scale manuscript digitisation and conservation projects, including the Polonsky Foundation Greek Manuscripts project. She currently a co-investigator on the Hidden in Plain Sight project, applying methods such as X-ray fluorescence, multispectral imaging and DNA analysis to the study of premodern books.

Dr Matthew Psycharis

Fellow, Director of Studies

Dr Matthew Psycharis

Fellow, Director of Studies

Director of Studies in Law 

Matthew is a Fellow of St Edmund’s College and Director of Studies of Undergraduate Law.  He is a member of the Centre for Public Law, Cambridge.  He teaches constitutional law, and the law of trusts and equity, across a number of Cambridge colleges.  His research is in the field of constitutional law and constitutional theory.  His works on topics ranging from contemporary populism, constitutional change, referendums, and constitutional history, have been published in leading UK and Australian journals.

Matthew completed his PhD in law at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, supported by a WM Tapp Scholarship, on the topic of ‘Policy Referendums in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia’.  In addition to his doctorate, Matthew holds a Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctor from the University of Melbourne.  In 2015 he matriculated at St Edmund’s College, Cambridge, completing a Master of Laws.

Before Cambridge, Matthew was admitted to legal practice, and worked as an Associate at the Australian firm Allens-Linklaters, practising as a litigator.  He advised clients on a wide range of government investigations, business disputes, class actions, and cross-border disputes.  In a pro bono capacity, he instructed in constitutional proceedings concerning democratic rights, and advised peak human rights bodies on issues concerning offshore refugee detention and the drafting of anti-discrimination legislation.  Taking time out of practice, Matthew spent a year working as the Senior Judicial Assistant to a Judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria (Australia).  Before coming to the law, Matthew trained as an economist and worked, in 2012, as a policy analyst at the Department of Treasury and Finance (Australia).

His Law Faculty page, including a list of publications and research projects, is available here:  https://www.law.cam.ac.uk/people/academic/mj-psycharis/78801

Dr James Whitworth

Fellow

Dr James Whitworth

Fellow

Dr James Whitworth's research and clinical activity focuses on the identification of individuals at increased risk of cancer due to a heritable genetic cause, and methods to mitigate that risk where identified.

James obtained his medical degree from the University of Leicester in 2007. He continued his clinical training in the East Midlands before taking up an NIHR Academic Clinical Fellowship in Clinical Genetics in Birmingham. He moved to Cambridge to undertake a PhD, which was completed in 2019 and led to his appointment as an NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer prior to his current post.

Dr Anna Gannon, MA, PhD Cantab, FSA

Emeritus Fellow, Director of Studies

Dr Anna Gannon, MA, PhD Cantab, FSA

Emeritus Fellow, Director of Studies

Dr Anna Gannon is an Emeritus Fellow of St Edmund's College. She specialises in early medieval Insular Art. She is part of an international group working on early Irish reliquaries found in Italy, and co-edits a Medieval studies Festschrift. Current research focuses on the exegesis of evoked sacred landscapes, religious approaches to nature in the Insular world.

Dr Anna Gannon, MA, PhD Cantab, FSA, FHEA gained her first degree in Italy, where she studied Modern Languages and specialised in German Philology. She read History of Art at Cambridge, and her PhD was published as The Iconography of Early Anglo-Saxon Coinage (Oxford University Press, 2003; paperback reprint, 2010; Kindle edn. 2012). Dr Gannon worked for some years at the British Museum in the Money and Metal Department and in the Department of Britain, Europe and Prehistory, reporting on Treasure. She published the Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles, 63. British Museum. Anglo-Saxon Coins. Part i. Early Anglo-Saxon Coins and Continental Silver Coins of the North Sea, c.600-760, British Museum, 2013.

As Academic Consultant for the University, she was in charge of the professional development of newly-appointed probationary lecturers across the University. As Affiliated Lecturer in the Department of History of Art she taught her own Part II paper on Anglo-Saxon Art, as well as directing studies for five colleges. At St Edmund’s she was also a Tutor and contributed to a number of major Committees.

Her principal research interests and publications are in Anglo-Saxon coinage, Germanic and Insular art and culture, Late Antiquity and the artistic reworking of the heritage of Rome, the advent and spread of of Christianity. Her work spans archaeological and interdisciplinary methodological questions. Since her retirement she has pursued her interest in Theology, and has contributed entries to the Visual Commentary of Scripture on line, a project directed by Prof. Ben Quash, King’s College London.

Publications 

  • The Iconography of Early Anglo-Saxon Coinage (6th-8th centuries), 2003, Oxford University Press .
  • Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles, 63, c.600-760, 2013 B.M.P
  • The Coins of the Irish Free State, 1928, 2025, in Le Molte Facce di una Moneta, Milano UP, 109-26
  • Guarding the Sacred: early Anglo-Saxon cylindrical containers’ 2021, in Custodire il Sacro, Temporis Signa, XVI, 213-233
  • Insular numismatics 2020, Barbaric Splendor, Archeopress 121-139.

Dr Hermann Hauser KBE CBE FRS FREng

Honorary Fellow

Dr Hermann Hauser KBE CBE FRS FREng

Honorary Fellow

Dr Hermann Hauser KBE CBE FRS FREng is an Entrepreneur, Venture Capitalist and Honorary Fellow at St Edmund's College.

In his long and successful career as an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Hermann has founded or co-founded companies in a wide range of technology sectors. These include Acorn Computers (where he helped spin our ARM), Active Book Company, Virata, Net Products, NetChannel and Cambridge Network Limited.

Hermann holds an MA in Physics from Vienna University and a PhD in Physics from the University of Cambridge.  He is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and of the Royal Academy of Engineering and holds an Honorary Doctorate from several other universities.  Dr Hauser was awarded a CBE in 2001 for ‘innovate service to the UK enterprise sector’.  In 2012 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society and in 2015 he received a Honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE) for services to engineering and industry.

Dr David Friedman

Bye-Fellow, Director of Studies

Dr David Friedman

Bye-Fellow, Director of Studies
Dr David Friedman is Director of Studies in Classics at St Edmund's and an Affiliated Researcher in the Faculty of Classics.

Dr Friedman studies Judaism in the Greco-Roman world, with a particular focus on Josephus and ancient historiography. After receiving a BA in Mathematics (Yale) and working first at a physics lab and for many years in derivatives trading, he returned to university to earn an MA (UCL), MPhil (Oxford), and DPhil (Oxford), which explored how Josephus presented the origins of the Jews to his Roman audience. David is a Bye Fellow of Darwin College, a Bye Fellow and Director of Studies in Classics at St  Edmund's and an affiliated researcher in the Faculty of Classics.

Dr Phung Dao

Tutor and Fellow

Dr Phung Dao

Tutor and Fellow

Dr Phung Dao is Associate Professor in Second Language Education. His research focuses on the intersection of second language acquisition (SLA), educational technology, and language education.

Phung Dao is Associate Professor in Second Language Education at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, where he teaches MPhil/MEd courses in Research in Second Language Education (RSLE) and supervises PhD students. Before joining the University of Cambridge, Phung was a senior Lecturer in TESOL and Applied Linguistics at Manchester Metropolitan University (2018-2022), teaching undergraduate/postgraduate courses and supervising PhD students in TESOL/Applied Linguistics. He also taught undergraduate/postgraduate courses in Applied Linguistics at University of Queensland (Australia), Concordia University (Canada) and An Giang University (Vietnam). His research interests focus on instructed second language acquisition (ISLA), technology for language teaching and learning, peer interaction, learner engagement, Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT), L2 pedagogy, and L2 teacher education. His publications appear in international peer-reviewed Applied Linguistic journals such as Modern Language Journal, TESOL Quarterly, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, Language Teaching, Computer Assisted Language Learning, Language Teaching Research, Applied Linguistics Review, TESOL Journal, System, Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, Language Learning Journal, IRAL and among others.

His current research projects, funded by British Council and IELTS IDP Australia, investigate online English language teaching in Vietnamese public schools, IELTS impacts on stakeholders, and young learners’ engagement in L2 learning tasks in face-to-face and online classes.

Academic Profile 

Publications

  • Dao, P. (2024). Learner Engagement in Online Second Language Classrooms. Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Iwashita, N., Dao, P., & Nguyen, M. (2025). Understanding Interaction in the Second Language Classroom Context. Multilingual Matters.
  • Dao, P., M. Nguyen, PT. Duong, V. Tran-Thanh. (2021) Learners’ Engagement in L2 Computer-Mediated Interaction: Chat Mode, Interlocutor Familiarity, and Text Quality. Modern Language Journal. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12737
  • Dao, P., Bui, T. & Nguyen, XNCM (2024). Public primary school teachers’ perceptions and assessment of young learners’ engagement. Language Teaching Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/13621688241253546

 

Dr Fiona Costello

Bye-Fellow

Dr Fiona Costello

Bye-Fellow

Dr Fiona Costello is a Bye-Fellow at St Edmund's College.

She is interested in the global movement of persons, Brexit and the legacy of EU free movement to the UK, wider UK Immigration law and policy and access to justice pathways available to vulnerable and minoritised communities living in the UK and EU.

Dr Costello works on various research matters at the Faculty of Law, Cambridge examining immigration issues in the UK post Brexit (particularly for EU citizens in the UK) and access to justice pathways for marginalised communities. Her work is part of a programme called ‘The UK in a Changing Europe’ (http://ukandeu.ac.uk), which is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

Alongside her academic work, Fiona also works with a charity in Norfolk called GYROS (www.gyros.org.uk) supporting refugee, asylum seekers and other migrant communities. Fiona has written extensively on the topic of migration to the UK. Her work has been featured in The Independent, The Times, The Conversation and BBC News among others. She has given evidence to both the House of Lords, EU Affairs Committee, and the Equality and Social Justice Committee in the Senedd, as well as to Parliamentary Staff in the House of Commons and to the APPG on citizen’s rights. Her work has been cited in reports by both the UK House of Lords and the Welsh Parliament.  She also blogs on Brexit matters, mainly for the http://ukandeu.ac.uk/. Her 2024 co-authored monograph ‘Low-Paid EU Migrant workers, The House, The Street, The Town’ was shortlisted for the SLSA Hart Book Prize 2025.

Fiona’s full list of academic publications can be found here: https://www.law.cam.ac.uk/people/f-costello/78811

Dr Merav Rosenfeld-Hadad

Associate Tutor, Bye-Fellow

Dr Merav Rosenfeld-Hadad

Associate Tutor, Bye-Fellow

Dr Merav Rosenfeld-Hadad is both a Bye-Fellow and Associate Tutor at St Edmund's College.

She is an historian musicologist who specialises in the history, culture, religion, and music of Jews from the Arab-Muslim world. She leads a project on 20th-century Judaeo-Arabic culture in Baghdad and Aleppo, collaborating and lecturing internationally, and publishing widely in leading journals.

Dr Merav Rosenfeld-Hadad (PhD, University of Cambridge, St Edmund's College) is a leading scholar in Judaeo-Arabic studies based at the University of Cambridge, and a Bye-Fellow and Associate Tutor at St Edmund's College. She is a historian musicologist who specialises in the history, culture, religion, and music of Jews from the Arab-Muslim world, examining Arabic music across Jewish, Muslim, and Christian societies, with a particular focus on its role in identity and interfaith relations. She currently leads a research project on the religio-cultural life of Jews in Baghdad and Aleppo during the first half of the twentieth century. She also collaborates with the Universities of Tübingen, Heidelberg, Ben-Gurion and Bar-Ilan on research projects that examine the literary, musical, and religious life of Jewish communities from the Arab-Muslim world. Additionally, in partnership with Professor Geoffrey Khan at the University of Cambridge, Merav is working on a project that explores the Jewish oral reading traditions of Biblical Hebrew. Merav also sits as a Trustee on the Board of The Cambridge Junction where she promotes values of coexistence through the arts. Merav's work has been published by leading publishers in the UK, US, Germany, and Israel. She has received multiple awards, both in the UK and abroad, including ORS, BA, Wingate, and Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, and she lectures internationally. Prior to her academic career, she worked in Israel as a senior economist in the investment banking and education sectors, and she is the author of music programmes for schoolchildren, designed to foster values of peace between Jews and Muslims in Israel.

Academic Profile 

Publications

  • “The Bible in the Paraliturgical Song of Middle Eastern Jewry: The Making of Song as a Guardian of Jewish Faith and Identity.ˮ In Reworking the Sacred through Music and Poetry: The De/Sacralization of Texts, eds. Angelika Zirker, Matthias Bauer and Jan Stievermann, (LIT, 2025)
  • “‘We Shall Sing Songs and Praise to the LORD Who Created Us Last in the World:’ Ḥakham Yosef Ḥayyim of Baghdad, Leadership with Poetry and Music.” In The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Music Studies, ed. Tina Fruhauf, 91-115 (Oxford University Press, 2023)
  • Judaism and Islam One God One Music (Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2019)
  • “‘There on the Poplars [Arabs] We Hung Up [Rely On] Our Lyres [Jewish Music]’ Rabbi ‘Ovadyah Yosef’s Halakhic Rulings on Arabic Music.” In Muslim-Jewish Relations in Past and Present: A Kaleidoscopic View, ed. Yousef Meri, 172−205 (Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2017)

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