Our people

Dr Alexander Peattie is a Research Associate in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences focussing on the role that neuroinflammation and peripheral inflammation play in the progression of Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and development of the related dementia (PDD). This work investigates relationships between neuropsychological differences, potential genetic risk factors, blood/CSF inflammatory markers, and PET/MRI neuropathological hallmarks alongside the potential anti-inflammatory treatments possibly employed to combat PD and PDD progression from a longitudinal perspective. This may have important implications for other neurodegenerative diseases and dementias.

Previously, Alexander doctoral work focussed on the neurocognitive sequalae of chronic Traumatic Brain Injury, whether certain treatments ameliorated symptoms, and how neuroimaging could be used to identify certain patients. Additionally, Alexander collaborated with others in investigating Disorders of Consciousness, neurofunctional correlates of anaesthesia, and effects of psychopharmacological modulators.

Having done his PhD at Eddies, Alexander says he is "thrilled I can continue to contribute to a community close to my heart."

Andrea is a Fellow and College Teaching Officer in Law at St Edmund's.

Dr Peripoli studied Law at the University of Bologna, Cambridge, and at the European University Institute. Andrea's current research examines how legal discourse represents complex socio-economic realities. His work incorporates insights from cognitive sciences, game theory, and economic sociology to investigate how law (mis)understands the social world. Prior to his current role, Andrea taught EU law, Roman law, labour law, and law and economics at LSE and Cambridge.

Professor Sarah Perrett  is Associate Director of The Faraday Institute, which she joined in 2020, when she was elected to Senior Membership of St Edmund’s College. She is also a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, where she has led a research group since 2003 and she continues to divide her time between Beijing and Cambridge. Sarah studied Natural Sciences (Chemistry) followed by a PhD in Protein Chemistry at the University of Cambridge. She then held a Research Fellowship at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge before moving to Beijing in 2000. She was awarded an OBE for services to UK/China relations in the scientific field in the 2015 Queen’s New Year Honours List.

Sarah is Editor-in-Chief of Essays in Biochemistry (Portland Press). Her research interests include mechanisms of protein folding and amyloid formation. She has published over 100 research articles and has edited three books.

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

I lecture and publish in the areas of Christian moral and political theologies, interfaith relations, and conflict transformation. I have oversight of the Woolf Institute's teaching in the Cambridge Theological Federation as well as the Institute's public engagement programmes.

Dr Phillips has been at the Woolf Institute since 2022. Previously she was Lecturer in Christian Ethics and Director of Studies at Westcott House, as well as Research Fellow with the Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology. She was a Visiting Scholar with the Institute for Criminology 2018-2019 and from 2016-2019 she co-convened and ethnographically researched a course on 'The Good Life and the Good Society' inside a high security prison. At Margaret Beaufort she completed Flourishing Inside, a project researching the intersections of Catholic social thought and prison chaplaincy. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Academic Profile

Publications

• Elizabeth Phillips, Apocalyptic Theopolitics: Essays and Sermons on Eschatology, Ethics, and Politics (Cascade, 2022).
• Elizabeth Phillips, Anna Rowlands and Amy Daughton (eds), T&T Clark Reader in Political Theology ( T&T Clark, 2021).
• Craig Hovey and Elizabeth Phillips (eds), The Cambridge Companion to Political Theology (Cambridge University Press, 2015).
• Elizabeth Phillips, Political Theology: A Guide for the Perplexed (Continuum, 2012).
• Elizabeth Phillips and Ferdia Stone-Davis (eds), Catholic Social Thought and Prison Ministry (2024).

I’ve been a careers professional since 2008, joining the finance school at the University of Reading just as the financial crash hit and a recession started. Quite a baptism of fire. My role broadened over the next few years to initially the Business School, and then to the wider University. I joined Cambridge as Head of Careers in the Summer of 2024, and am now happily settled in Waterbeach.

Prior to this career I was a HR professional, covering a range of roles from HR Policy, Project, and Process to Graduate Recruitment and Development.

I had an academically undistinguished time at the University of Manchester in the early ‘90s, but I really enjoyed the Madchester scene! I’m originally from a small market town in Yorkshire, which has been instrumental to my outlook on life, and has led to a passion for social mobility.

• Director of Studies: Graduate Medicine Programme (Pre-clinical)

Dr Poole obtained her PhD from Cambridge University, Department of Pathology, where she studied the protein-protein interactions of Influenza A virus polymerase. After a period of time at St George’s Hospital Medical School studying immune evasion mechanism of paramyxoviruses, she returned to Cambridge University. Dr Poole then worked in the Department of Medicine at Cambridge University where she worked on Human Cytomegalovirus. In the Department of Medicine she worked as a Senior Research Associate researching the molecular mechanisms of Human Cytomegalovirus latency. In 2023 she was appointed an Associate Professor at the University of Cambridge, Department of Pathology, where she continues to study Human Cytomegalovirus latency with a view to the development of novel therapeutics.

Former Acting Bursar at St Edmund's College.

• Director of Studies: 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

Former Director of the Science Museum, London

• Director of Studies: Philosophy

Russell Re Manning is the Deputy Centre Administrator at CRASSH (Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities).

Russell joined CRASSH from Bath Spa University where he worked as Programme Leader and Reader in Religions, Philosophies and Ethics. He previously worked in various research and teaching roles at the Universities of Aberdeen and Cambridge and was a Fellow at St Edmund’s from 2004-2011.

Russell’s research interests are at the intersections of religion and culture, with a particular emphasis on the intellectual history of ‘natural theology’ and the work of Paul Tillich (1886-1965).

Russell holds an MA from the University of Oxford (Philosophy & Theology) and an MPhil and PhD (Philosophy of Religion) from the University of Cambridge, during which time he was a student at St Edmund’s (and one of the very first residents in the Richard Laws building!).

Professor Evan Reid is a clinician-scientist who studies the molecular cell biology of genetic motor neuron disorders, with a research group based at Cambridge Institute for Medical Research. He is clinically active and see neurogenetics patients in my role as an NHS honorary consultant in Clinical Genetics.

Evan graduated in Medicine from Glasgow University in 1991 then trained in the specialty of Clinical Genetics in Glasgow and Cambridge. His main research interest is in the hereditary spastic paraplegias (HSPs), which are genetic forms of motor neuron degeneration. Evan moved to Cambridge in 1995 and completed a PhD in the Department of Medical Genetics in 2000, studying the genetics of these conditions. He has been involved in mapping and identifying numerous HSP genes. After stints as a Wellcome Trust Advanced and then Senior Research Fellow, he became a University Lecturer then Reader at the University of Cambridge. Since 2021 he has held the title of Professor of Neurogenetics and Molecular Neurobiology. Evan is a Principal Investigator at Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, a research institute of the University of Cambridge that has a strategic focus on unravelling the mechanisms of rare genetic disease. He is a clinically active and run a specialised neurogenetics clinic at Addenbrooke's Hospital. His research has encompassed the clinical features, genetics and cell biology of HSPs, but now concentrates on understanding the molecular pathology of HSP proteins that are involved in membrane traffic processes. This research has a strong focus on modelling the disease in human stem-cell derived neurons and encompasses proteomics, functional genomics and basic cell biological methodologies.

Academic Profile

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)

Corinne is Director of Studies for our Archaeology degree

Maura Ryan is the John Cardinal O’Hara, C.S.C. Associate Professor of Christian Ethics at the University of Notre Dame. Ryan's primary interests are in the areas of bioethics and health policy, women’s health and development, and Catholic Social Teaching.  She is the editor of two volumes in social and medical ethics and her book Ethics and Economics of Assisted Reproduction: The Cost of Longing was published by Georgetown University Press in 2001. Her articles have appeared in the Hastings Center Report, Theological Studies, The Journal of Philosophy and Medicine, Signs, The Journal of Catholic Social Thought, Christian Bioethics, Environmental Health Perspectives and Ethics and Behavior.  Her current project treats the intersections of health, development and human rights in Christian bioethics. She has served on the Board of Directors for the Society of Christian Ethics, the editorial boards of the Religious Studies Review and Ethics and Behavior, the St. Joseph County Healthcare Advisory Consortium and the ethics committee for Hospice of St. Joseph County. Ryan served as Associate Provost at Notre Dame 2001-2004, Associate Dean for the Humanities and Faculty Affairs in the College of Arts and Letters 2009-2015 and is currently serving as Vice President and Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs.

Liam is Director of Studies for Geography