Hasse Memorial Prize 2019

Postgraduate prize. This prize of £250 is awarded annually for the best MA dissertation in the area of the study of Religions and Theology. For 2019, it was awarded to Dominic Ashton: ‘An Analysis of Performative Irony in Nietzsche’s philosophical Discourse’ (supervised by Michael Hoelzl).

Brandon Memorial Prize 2019

Postgraduate prize. This prize of £100 is awarded annually for the best MA dissertation in the area of Comparative Religion. For 2019, it was awarded to Alexandra Laing on ‘Menopause and the Construction of the Female Body in the Hebrew Bible’ (supervised by Holly Morse).

Bernard Jackson Prize 2019

Postgraduate prize. This prize of £100 is awarded annually to the student with 'the highest grade for a master's dissertation in Jewish Studies' at the University of Manchester. It honours the Centre's second co-director Bernard Jackson. For 2019 it was awarded to Nathan Mee, 'American Cyrus: The Genealogy of Christian Zionism, and its Influence on Britain and America’s Israel Policy' (supervised by Daniel Langton). Further information.

PhD completion

Raj Patta on contemporary Christian theology. The Department would like to congratulate Raj Patta on the successful defence of his doctoral thesis ‘Towards a Subaltern Public Theology for India’. His supervisors were Peter Scott and Scott Midson and the external examiner was Prof. Mario Aguilar (St Andrews).

PhD completion

Stephanie Dermott on contemporary religion. The Department would like to congratulate Stephanie Dermott on the successful defence of her doctoral thesis 'Faith, Social Cohesion and Socio-religious Action in contemporary Britain’. Her supervisors were John Zavos and Peter Scott, and the external examiner was John Eade (Roehampton).

PhD completion

Anthony Floyd on contemporary Christian theology. The Department would like to congratulate Anthony Floyd on the successful defence of his doctoral thesis ‘A Critical and Comparative Analysis of Juergen Moltmann's and Gordon Kaufman's Environmental Theologies'. His supervisors were Peter Scott and Scott Midson, and the external examiner was Prof. David Fergusson (Edinburgh).

PhD completion

Rachel Bathurst on contemporary Christian theology. The Department would like to congratulate Rachel Bathurst on the successful defence of her doctoral thesis ‘The Flourishing of Life on Earth? A Theological Investigation of the Ecosystem Approach under the Convention on Biological Diversity’. Her supervisors were Peter Scott and Dan Brockington (Sheffield), and the external examiner was Prof. Rachel Muers (Leeds).

PhD completion

David McLachlan on contemporary Christian theology. The Department would like to congratulate David McLachlan on the successful defence of his doctoral thesis ‘A Critical Examination of the Interaction of Disability Theology and Ideas of Atonement’. His supervisors were Peter Scott and Graham Watts (Spurgeon’s), and the external examiner was Prof. Brian Brock (Aberdeen).

Social responsibility, refugees and asylum seekers

Manchester-based conversation clubs. Alice Berkeley (L3 R&T and MES) reports: I am a project co-leader for the Refugee and Asylum Seeker Conversation Club Student Action project. We work with three local charities or organisations in Manchester to deliver informal English practice to refugees and asylum seekers and are currently looking to start more clubs due to high demand from volunteers. I am responsible for the Women Asylum Seekers Together (WAST) conversation club, which offers a safe and friendly space for female learners of all abilities, many of who are from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The clubs are great opportunities to work within the wider Manchester community and to get out of the 'student bubble' of campus. Further information.

Social responsibility, Punjabi community

Culturally competent mental heath services. Javaria Rajput (L3 R&T) reports: I am involved in a local organisation called Awakening Minds which provides specialist Punjabi Services & Training. I have first-hand experience of mental ill health which drives my passion for the subject. I work actively in the organisation to campaign for culturally competent and informed mental health services which I will also be researching for my final year Dissertation. I have also recently started my own blog where I write in my spare time to inspire others through my own experiences, and my writing can be found here: Javariasjournal.wordpress.com

Student experiences

Making a difference. We're interested to hear about students' experiences and extra-curricular successes here in Manchester. Among the interesting and important activities in which many of you are engaged are some which fall under the rubric of 'social responsibility', and we're especially keen to collect examples of these. Can you help? In case you're not sure whether your story or report is relevant, please contact Dr Ketan Alder in the first instance: ketan.alder@manchester.ac.uk

New funding

SALC staff development. Congratulations to Katja Stuerzenhofecker who has been awarded £700 for the development of her work in the area of religion and action research.

Web resource, Christianity and Pompeii

New Testament Studies online guide. As covered by the university news,  Peter Oakes and Benedict Kent ask: 'Have you ever wondered about the different types of people that belonged to early Christian groups? Have you ever wondered about how they lived? Or about how New Testament texts related to their lives? Come with us to Pompeii, where abundant evidence of common first-century living conditions will inspire you to think through these issues in a new way.'  Further information.