Our people

My research is in theology, intellectual disability and Christian community. My current work uses a participative approach, investigating belonging to a Christian community of differing intellectual abilities with members of the community.

Carole received her PhD from the University of Durham, where she worked on Rowan Williams’ concept of difficulty as a tool for negotiating difference between religious and secular life and commitment in the public square. She was a member of the academic staff of Wesley House in the Cambridge Theological Federation from 2015 to 2021, and Director of Studies from 2017, teaching political theology and leading the MA programme on Pastoral Care and Chaplaincy. Carole is currently project leader for Growing in Friendship, a participative theological action research project of the University of Aberdeen’s Centre for Spirituality, Health and Disability and Lyn’s House Cambridge. Lyn’s House is a Christian community of friendship for people with and without intellectual disabilities. The Growing in Friendship project is the first instance of participative research using a theological action research approach with a community of differing intellectual abilities. She is also a member of the Von Hügel Institute’s research project Disability and Knowledge in collaboration with the University of Notre Dame’s Rome Global Gateway and L’Arche Italy. She is ordained in the British Methodist Church, has served on its Faith and Order Committee, and is currently a member of the British Methodist-Roman Catholic Dialogue Commission. She studied in Cambridge (King’s College) for her first degree in Modern Languages (French and Italian).

Academic Profile

After taking a BA(MA) in Zoology at Oxford University (under Richard Dawkins) and a PhD in bioengineering at Reading University, Andrew Jackson pursued a 30-year career in biotech R&D, working for a major blue-chip company and two of the Cambridge-based technology consultancies. He then joined the Faraday Institute as their Director for External Affairs before taking early retirement to fulfil a lifelong ambition to study academic theology.

He sat the University of Cambridge postgraduate Diploma and MPhil degree in theology (both awarded with distinction and the Divinity Faculty prize) followed by a PhD at the University of Nottingham resulting in a monograph published with Routledge, entitled ‘Maximus the Confessor and Evolutionary Biology: The Phylogenetic Logoi.’ Andrew recently returned to the Faraday Institute as Academic Lead for its Tutorial Programme in Science and Religion. His theological research interests include the theology of evolutionary biology, Eastern Patristics, and the theology of technology.

Scott Jackson has served as the Mary Irene Ryan Family Executive Director of Shakespeare at Notre Dame since the position was created in 2007, providing oversight for the many Shakespeare-related programs housed at the University of Notre Dame, with a particular focus on engaging the local community through the works of William Shakespeare.

Previously he served as executive director for the Fairbanks Shakespeare Theatre (FST) in Fairbanks, Alaska. At FST he produced and performed in outdoor Shakespeare productions staged under the midnight sun at venues throughout Alaska and around the globe (most notably at the VIII World Shakespeare Congress in Brisbane, Australia, and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland). From 2000–2003, Scott was the business and legal affairs coordinator for Brighter Pictures, Ltd (now a part of Endemol Shine UK), one of the United Kingdom’s most successful independent television and film production companies.
He holds a dual BA in theatre and history from Indiana University Bloomington, an MFA (distinction) in Actor Training and Coaching from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (University of London), and is a certified Kundalini yoga teacher (CKYT-200) under acclaimed practitioner Maya Fiennes. He has produced, directed, and performed in over 175 theatrical productions.

Scott currently serves as the vice president/president-elect for the Shakespeare Theatre Association, where he also served as treasurer from 2013-2017. He has taught acting process at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, the University of Notre Dame, Holy Cross College, and Indiana University South Bend. Since 2018 he has taught Meisner acting technique and Mindfulness for the Artist for the Prague Shakespeare Company’s Summer Shakespeare Intensive.

A firm believer in the power of Shakespeare and the theatre arts to affect positive social change, he is a co-founder of the Shakespeare in Prisons Network. He teaches a Shakespeare in performance course and leads the kundalini yoga club at the Westville Correctional Facility, Indiana’s largest state prison.

Additionally, he has developed an anti-harm approach to actor training called Foundationing and presented this research at the annual meetings of the European Society of Criminology, the British Shakespeare Association, the Shakespeare Theatre Association, the Shakespeare Association of America, Theatre Communications Group, and the World Shakespeare Congress.

He is the recipient of the Shakespeare Association of America’s Publics Award for the production of the 4th International Shakespeare in Prisons Conference in 2020-21, the Robinson Community Learning Center’s Arthur Quigley, PhD award for community service, and the Fairbanks, Alaska Downtown Association’s Golden Heart award.

My current research interests concern the epistemological and ethical implications of the doctrine of creation and the articulation between philosophy, the sciences and theology. In 2024, I was involved in setting up the Centre d'études et de recherche interdisciplinaire évangélique (CERIE).

After completing postgraduate studies in physics and mathematics at the University of Cologne (Germany) and in theology at the Seminary for Evangelical Theology in Vaux-sur-Seine (France), Lydia Jaeger obtained her Ph.D. in philosophy at the Sorbonne on the possible links between the concept of law of nature and religious presuppositions. She holds a permanent lectureship and is academic advisor and international relations officer at the Institut Biblique de Nogent-sur-Marne (France), and academic director of the Centre d’enseignement et de recherche interdisciplinaire évangélique en sciences, culture et théologie (CERIE). She is a research associate of St. Edmund’s College, University of Cambridge, a Faraday Associate of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion and a KLC Research Fellow at the Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology (all based in Cambridge, UK). Lydia Jaeger is the author of seven books and numerous articles on the relation between Christianity and the natural sciences. She has edited (or co-edited) nine collective volumes; among them is Lire la Bible aujourd’hui : Perspectives croisées sur les défis contemporains (Bibli’O, 2022 – English translation Zondervan Academic, 2024). Her book Ordinary Splendor: Living in God’s Creation was listed as a finalist in the 2024 Christianity Today Book Awards in the Theology (popular) category.

Academic Profile

Publications

• Lydia Jaeger, Einstein, Polanyi and the Laws of Nature, West Conshohocken (PA): Templeton Foundation Press, 2010
• Lydia Jaeger, What the Heavens Declare: Science in the Light of Creation, transl. Jonathan Vaughan, Eugene (OR), Wipf and Stock, 2012
• Lydia Jaeger, Ordinary Splendor: Living in God's Creation, Bellingham [WA], Lexham Press, 2023

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.

My work focuses on inequalities in education, intergenerational income mobility, and policies to narrow the socio-economic gap in education and the labour market. I am currently working on evaluating the My Village programme delivered by the People’s Action for Learning (PAL) Network.

Yuyan is a Research Associate at the Faculty of Education, working on the evaluation of the My Village programme. Yuyan’s research interests include educational inequalities, social mobility, and policy interventions to reduce socio-economic disparities in education and the labour market. She is an ONS Accredited Researcher, proficient in analysing large longitudinal datasets. Her PhD research focused on intergenerational income mobility in England, exploring the impacts of educational achievement, bursaries, and the COVID-19 pandemic on social mobility.

Academic Profile

Dr Pavlína Kašparová researches how visual art mediates Christian faith, identity, and the divine. Her work spans theology, fine art, and perception, exploring art practice as a method of theological scholarship. She publishes and exhibits on topics such as visual arts and healing, female identity, symbolism, and the role of imagination in faith.

Pavlína Kašparová, also known as Sr Marie OP, is an artist and theologian and has been a member of the Czech Congregation of Dominican Sisters since 2006. She holds a PhD in Fine Art and Theology from Anglia Ruskin University. Currently, she serves as the Director of Studies and a Research Associate at The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, where she actively engages in academic discussions and promotes interdisciplinary connections. Additionally, Dr Kašparová has been a Psychology Cross-training Workshop Fellow at the University of Birmingham since July 2023, where she continues her exploration of visual language in theology.

She is a Post-doctoral Research Associate at St Edmund's College, University of Cambridge, a member of the Cambridge Interfaith Research Forum at the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge and a Research Associate at the Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology. Her research centres on the material and concrete expressions of religious identity as reflected in bodily appearance. Her interdisciplinary projects span across theology, with an emphasis on spirituality and soteriology, fine art incorporating photography and moving images, and psychology exploring perception and self-awareness.

Since 2020, she has served as a Council Member of the Czech Congregation of Dominican Sisters and was a Coordinator for Central and Eastern Europe for the Dominican Sisters International Confederation for four years (2019-2023). Previously, Dr Kašparová held the position of Director of Studies at The Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide, where she lectured on Spirituality and the Arts. Her academic foundation includes two Master’s degrees in Catholic Theology and Art History, along with a Bachelor’s degree in Design, earned at Palacky University in Olomouc and University Hradec Kralove, the Czech Republic.

Academic Profile 

Publications

• Kašparová, P. (2022). Perception of Visual Art in Christian Churches. In: H. Alford, ed., Preaching and the Arts / Predicazione e Arte. Communitas 2021. Rome: Angelicum University Press, pp.33–42.
• Kašparová, P. (under review). Look! This Is My Faith: Healing Narratives in the Work of Christian Artists.
• Watanabe, S., Kašparová, P., Łazarewicz-Wyrzykowska, E., Perez, J., Tanton, T., & Waite, H. (under review). Voices in the (interdisciplinary) wilderness: Reflections from a psychology cross-training project for theologians.

Honours & Awards 

• Funding for 2-year research project Organisational development process of the Dominican Sisters in Central and Eastern Europe, 2024, Renovabis
• Funding for 1-year research project Material Rendering of Imagery of 'Divine' and 'Faith' of Practicing Christian Adults with Artistic Skills, 2023, John Templeton Foundation
• Funding for art research project The Women of the Book, 2020, Spalding Trust
• First Prize Presentation Award, 2019, Anglia Ruskin University
• Full-time PhD scholarship for 3.5 years, 2017, Renovabis
• Exceptional MA dissertation in Theology, 2015, Palacky University Olomouc

Isidoros (né Charalampos) Katsos is Assistant Professor of Theological Epistemology and Philosophy at the Divinity Faculty, National University of Athens. He holds a PhD in Human Rights, Ecology, and Cultural Heritage Law (Freie Universität Berlin, 2009); and a PhD in Philosophy and Theology (University of Cambridge, 2019), under the supervision of Rowan Williams. He has studied law in Athens, Paris and Berlin; and philosophy and theology in Athens and Cambridge. Previous appointments include a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Oxford; a Junior Research Fellowship at Campion Hall, Oxford; and a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Center for the Study of Christianity, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Αuthor of The Metaphysics of Light in the Hexaemeral Literature: From Philo of Alexandria to Gregory of Nyssa (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023); and – as Charalampos Katsos – of Nachhaltiger Schutz des kulturellen Erbes: Zur ökologischen Dimension des Kulturgüterschutzes (Baden-Baden: Nomos ; Zürich: Dike ; Wien: Facultas, 2011). His teaching and research interests focus on ‘Christian Philosophy’, largely defined, and the intersection of theology, ecology, and human rights in the age of A.I.

Professor Mihaela Kelemen is Chair in Business and Society at Nottingham University Business School, UK where she is also Director of Professional Practice and Acting Associate Dean for Research and Knowledge Exchange. She has developed a creative methodology of stakeholder engagement and knowledge co-production entitled Cultural Animation which underpins a variety of participatory research projects funded by the AHRC, GCRF, ESRC, EPSRC, MRC and HEFCE on topics including community sustainability, food poverty, health inequalities, and post-disaster reconstruction. Her most recent projects focus on hardly reached communities and the importance of their voice and agency in building trust with relevant institutions in order to address health inequalities. Her most recent international project explored the relationship between hope, futurity and agency from the point of view of marginalised women from conflict affected areas in the Philippines and Pakistan.

Her research has been disseminated in top academic journals as well as via books, podcasts, interviews, virtual games, documentary dramas and community based exhibitions curated jointly with the award winning New Vic Theatre. She is an expert at the University of Nottingham Rights Lab, a fellow of the RSA and a member of the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships Peer Review College and of the AHRC Peer Review College.

I research into interfaith relations, primarily between Jews, Christians and Muslims. Much of my academic work explores the significance of sharing sacred texts and narratives. I also work with local actors in the Middle East to agree measures to safeguard Jerusalem's holy places.

Dr Edward Kessler, MBE is Founder President of the Woolf Institute and a leading thinker in interfaith relations, primarily, Jewish-Christian-Muslim Relations.
He was described by The Times Higher Education Supplement as 'probably the most prolific interfaith figure in British academia' and was awarded an MBE for services to interfaith relations. He has written or edited 13 books, including An Introduction to Jewish-Christian Relations (Cambridge, 2010), Jews, Christians and Muslims in Encounter (SCM, 2013) and Jesus (The History Press, 2016). His Documentary History of Jewish-Christian Relations was published by Cambridge in 2024. In 2024 he was awarded the Seelisberg Prize for his contribution to fostering Jewish-Christian relations. He was Vice-Chair of the Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life (2013-15), Principal Investigator of the Woolf Diversity Study, a study of diversity in England and Wales (2017-19), and Chair of the Commission on the Integration of Refugees (2022-25). In 2023 he was appointed Chair of the Advisory Board overseeing the unification of Reform and Liberal Judaism. Kessler regularly appears in the media commenting on religion and belief issues of the day, such as the impact of October 7th 2023 attacks on Israel and the Gaza War on the Leading Podcast, and hosted the weekly podcast Naked Reflections (2020-23).

He also presented the series, Covid-19 Chronicles (2020), on the impact of the coronavirus on religion and belief. He wrote and presented two A-Z podcasts (2018-20), An A-Z of Believing: From Atheism to Zealotry and An A-Z of the Holy Land: From Arab to Zion. Much of his academic work has been examining Scripture and exploring the significance of sharing a sacred text. In recent writings, he has focused on the encounter with Islam and contemporary relations between the three Abrahamic faiths. Kessler proposes positive approaches for managing difference, which he argues, is vital in forming a constructive identity as well as for sustaining communities, in the UK and Overseas. Since 2015, he has been working with local actors in Israel, Palestine and Jordan to agree measures to safeguard Jerusalem's holy places.Kessler also explores the tensions, positive as well as negative, between religion and civil society.

At a lecture at the Brookings Institution in 2014, he argued that diplomats and policymakers need to be better trained in religion and belief, describing the contemporary religious landscape as a 'post-interfaith' world. In 2019, at an annual lecture for the Council for Religious and Life Stance Communities in Oslo, he argued that because religious monopolies are in decline, belonging to a minority is the norm. In his 2024 address upon receiving the Seelisberg Prize, he called for a redoubling of efforts to pursue genuine dialogue at a time of increasing polarisation.

Academic Profile

Dr Saussan Khalil is both a Bye-Fellow and Director of Studies in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at St Edmund's College.

Her research focuses on teaching Arabic as a foreign language and Arabic sociolinguistics, in particular the intersection between the standard and spoken forms of Arabic.

Dr Saussan Khalil has published research on teaching Arabic as a foreign language, and the interplay between Standard and Spoken forms of Arabic (particularly the Cairene dialect) in print and online.

Academic Profile 

Publications

• Khalil, S, Arabic Writing in the Digital Age, Routledge, https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003044321
• Oxford Arabic Dictionary, https://premium.oxforddictionaries.com/arabic/
• Kalamna Phonics Toolkit, https://kalamna.org/resources/

Awards & Recognitions 

• Humanities Innovation Week Competition 2nd place prize, 2021
• Cambridge University Arts and Humanities Impact Fund, 2020
• Cambridgeshire Prestige Awards, 2020
• iStudy Guide Best in Arabic Language Courses, 2019-20
• Loveday Memorial Award, 2012

Dr King is a physiologist by training. Her research previously focused on changes in cardiac metabolism in ischaemia and diabetes. She is now working on a new area looking at ancient DNA as a reflection of environmental change in Egypt, Sudan and the Fenlands.

Dr King completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Witwatersrand, and MSc and PhD in Cape Town, in South Africa. She then undertook post-doctoral research at the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Oxford, followed by a period at Pharmacology at Imperial College. She has taught for many years at the University of Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin University, and has extensive experience in teaching of physiology, biochemistry, cell and developmental biology, and genetics. She is an associate professor and was Deputy Head of the School of Life Sciences in charge of student experience, curriculum development, learning and teaching, and apprenticeship delivery for nine years. Her current focus is on teaching, research and pastoral support of students. She is working in collaboration with colleagues at Cambridge, UCL, Manchester and in Luxor.

LinkedIn profile

As a scholar educated in international relations, peace and conflict studies, sociology, religious studies and theology, I carry out research on various intersections of international affairs, migration, peacebuilding, EU foreign and security policy, and religion.

Dr Vladimir Kmec joined the Von Hügel Institute as a Research Affiliate in 2013 and was appointed Research Associate in 2017. At the University of Cambridge, he supervised undergraduate students at the Department of Politics and International Studies and served as a Research Associate at the European Centre. He coordinated the Politics and International Relations courses at Trinity Hall and Downing College and lectured in the International Security summer programme at Magdalene College. He previously held academic appointments as a Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Research Fellow at University College Dublin and as a Postdoctoral Fellow and Lecturer at the University of Groningen.

As a Peterhouse Scholar at the University of Cambridge, he analysed the EU’s peacebuilding efforts within the framework of the Common Security and Defence Policy. As a Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholar at Trinity College Dublin, he examined the interplay of migration and religion. He was also a visiting scholar at Humboldt University in Berlin and at the University of Göttingen. He studied at the University of Cambridge, Trinity College Dublin, the University of Ottawa, Comenius University in Bratislava, Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen and Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen-Nürnberg.

Beyond academia, Vlado brings extensive experience from his work with the United Nations (DPKO and UNMAS), international NGOs, media outlets and faith-based organisations. He has served on boards of academic associations and youth organisations. He has advised the United Nations and the European Union—including the Political and Security Committee of the Council of the EU and the European External Action Service. Since 2022, Vlado has served as Programme Officer for Central and Eastern Europe at the Ecumenical Centre in Berlin.

Vlado is an interdisciplinary scholar with research interests at the intersection of international relations, European security, peace and conflict studies, sociology, theology and religious studies. He has conducted empirical fieldwork in Ireland, Germany, the Western Balkans, Mali, and in Brussels and New York. In recognition of his contributions to research on European security and defence as well as his engagement in European-level initiatives, Vlado was awarded the European Award for Citizenship, Security and Defence – Special Award for European Security and Defence, along with the Medal of the French President, at the 2018 Berlin Security Conference.

Publications

• 'Minority Religions and Immigration in Ireland', in Ganiel and Holmes (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Religion in Modern Ireland, Oxford University Press, 2024, 522–541.
• EU Missions and Peacebuilding: Building Peace Through Common Security and Defence Policy, Abingdon: Routledge, 2022.
• 'Inclusiveness and Exclusiveness of Religious Actors in Peace Negotiations', with Gladys Ganiel, International Negotiation, Vol. 24 (1), 2019, 136–163.
• 'The Establishment of the Peacebuilding Commission: Reflecting Power Shifts at the United Nations', International Peacekeeping, Vol. 24 (2), 2017, 304-322.
• 'United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei' Oxford Handbook of UN Peacekeeping Operations

Fran Baker Kurdi leads Social Impact & Innovation at Arm, a world-leading semiconductor and software design company. Her award-winning work focuses on extending the benefits of technology to the people and areas not currently prioritised in technology development. Working with impact partners on worldwide programmes, from social entrepreneurs to global organisations, Fran drives an impact strategy delivering inclusive innovation where technology can play a role. Fran has a MSt from the University of Cambridge in AI Ethics & Society, receiving a distinction for her work focusing on the sustainability of AI.

In 2020, Fran was selected as the United Nations Global Compact SDG Pioneer UK winner, and in 2022 was selected as one of twenty Global Fellows through the League of Intrapreneurs. In 2024, Fran was a finalist in the Everywoman in technology ‘Tech for Good’ award and has been recognised on the ‘100 Brilliant Women in AI ethics’ list.

Anna-Maria is Director of Studies for Engineering