My current project examines the interactions between Christian women’s identities, motherhood and voluntary childlessness.

I joined the Department in November 2010, having completed by PhD in Religious Studies from Lancaster University. My doctoral work qualitatively examined women’s spiritual reading as a third wave feminist practice, and used this to connect religious and secular feminisms: this  became the basis for my first monograph Reading, Feminism, and Spirituality: Troubling the Waves (Palgrave, 2015) http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/Reading-Feminism-and-Spirituality/?sf1=barcode&st1=9781137549952

Prior to this, I studied Philosophy and Systematic Theology as an undergraduate at the University of Edinburgh and Queen’s University (Kingston, Ontario), and completed an MA in Women’s Studies at Lancaster University.  

As well as lecturing in Christian Studies and supervising MA, PhD and Professional Doctorate students in our very collegial and dynamic department, I coordinate the training and research seminars we offer all our postgraduate students. These events are a space to hear international scholars, for postgraduates to develop their research skills, to present work in progress, and for staff and students to engage with each other as a learning and research community. Please click here for a copy of this year’s Theology and Religious Studies schedule (and click here for the Faculty of Humanities Postgraduate Pages). Please do not hesitate to get in contact if you have any questions or queries!

I am also the Deputy Director for the Institute of Gender Studies, founded in December 2015. This is an exciting interdisciplinary hub for student and staff with research interests in gender, and is the home for the Masters by Research in Gender Studies launching in October 2016*. Please contact me, or the Director, Prof. Emma Rees (e.rees@chester) for further information about our events and postgraduate study.

I am a member of several academic organisations, and regularly contribute to their annual meeting and conferences: British Sociological Association; BSA Sociology of Religion Study Group; British Society for the Study of Religion; European Society for the Study of Religion; European Association of Social Anthropologists; Feminist and Women’s Studies Association; and the European Society of Women in Theological Research.