Membership

Membership is by invitation only from the Chair of the Symposium on behalf of the planning group. Members may suggest new members who meet the below criteria.

Membership of the Symposium is open to:

• women researchers engaged in some form of qualitative research into the faith lives of women and girls;
• those working at master's, doctoral and post-doctoral level;
• scholars who are research active, i.e., participants must be engaged in some form of current and ongoing research;
• women scholars working in the UK and Ireland in the first instance, and visiting scholars from abroad.

Whilst men may not be full members of the Symposium, men working in the field may be invited to attend on an occasional basis and to hold supporting membership.

Membership of the Symposium requires commitment on the part of each participant to:

• attend the symposium on a regular basis;
• offer a paper at least once every 3 years;
• offer a workshop session on an occasional basis;
• assist in chairing sessions as requested or required.

Symposium Funding:

Recognising the modest incomes of many members of the Symposium, we currently do not operate a system of subscription. Each meeting of the Symposium is self-funding, and costs are kept to a minimum. We do not wish anyone to be prevented from attendance by financial considerations, and may offer a small discount to those in genuine financial need.

Engagements with Faith:

From its origin, Symposium membership has been drawn largely from Christian or post Christian traditions, including members who would not espouse Christian faith but who tend to be most familiar with that tradition. Recently, we have been joined by Muslim and Jewish women researchers, and we are seeking positively to extend the faith engagements represented in our membership.

Members of the Planning Group are:

• Professor Nicola Slee (Chair) is Director of Research at the Queen’s Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education and Professor of Feminist Practical Theology at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. She is also Visiting Professor at the University of Chester. She has wide-ranging interests in feminist practical theology, and has published extensively in the areas of women’s faith development, feminist research methodology, feminist liturgy and spirituality, the use of poetry within feminist practical theology and other topics. She is currently working on a collection of essays on feminist practical theology and co-writing a book on feminist liturgy.
• Dr Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz started work as Assistant Librarian of the Israel Antiquities Authority. She became a specialist archaeological translator and editor, and worked with several museums, including the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem and the Israel Museum. After moving back to the UK, she worked as an academic copyeditor and began to teach courses on Jewish history and classical literature in informal adult education. She completed a PhD in anthropology and Jewish studies, and has since lectured at five universities, including Cambridge and Oxford, and most recently has held a post-doctoral fellowship at the Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Manchester. I continue to teach in the Jewish community and elsewhere, and am involved in interfaith dialogue, having worked as a Scriptural Reasoning facilitator for many years.
• Dr Raana Bokhari is Tutor of English at the University of Central Lancashire. Her published works examine Muslim women and identity, settlement and community building in the UK, and women's agency. Her research interests are varied, from Muslim women and religious texts, to English literature and postcolonial representations of The Muslim Other, inclusive decolonised curricula, and Shia pilgrimage, women and rituals. She is a trained Muslim Chaplain and is currently active in EDI.
• Revd Dr Kim Wasey is Principal of Open College (Luther King House Partnership for Theological Education) and Associate Priest at St Chrysostom’s, Manchester. Her teaching and research supervision focuses on pastoral, practical and feminist theologies. She researches and has published on young women and the Eucharist and the potential of social media platforms for enabling feminist qualitative research. Having spent many years in combined chaplaincy and parochial ministry prior to teaching, she is committed to theological reflective practice, particularly in ministerial formation and ongoing professional development.

Contact:

If you are interested in being part of the Symposium, please contact Nicola Slee (sleen@queens.ac.uk).