DEPARTMENT OF THEOLOGY AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES
PROGRAMME OF EVENTS 2015-6
PLEASE NOTE: All full time MA and PGR students, and all students living near to Chester are expected to attend
training sessions, research seminars and external speakers’ presentations. Please make a note of the MA and PGR
Symposiums, and the PGR Annual Progress Reviews.
The programme is, occasionally, subject to change. Please do check the TRS Research Events page for updates
http://www.chester.ac.uk/trs/research/seminars, check your Chester email regularly for reminders, the Department
Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/TRSChester and look out for our regular tweets @TRSChester
We try to film all of the PG Training Sessions and make them available on the TRS Chester website, and you can also
watch current and previous seminars here: http://www.chester.ac.uk/trs/research/seminars
AUTUMN TERM
Wednesday 30th September – Thursday 1st October 2015
009 Hollybank
PG Induction Day
The department welcomes all new MA, MPhil, PhD and DProf students to the department.
Wednesday 7th October 2015
009 Hollybank
Research Seminar: Religion and Public Life hosted by Prof. Elaine Graham and Prof. Chris Baker
This session draws on the most recent work of Elaine Graham and Chris Baker, as they examine the
intersections between church, state, politics, theology, and religion.
2.00 – 3.30 pm
Papers
3.30 – 4.00 pm
Tea and Coffee
4.00 – 5.30 pm
Roundtable
Wednesday 14th October 2015
009 Hollybank
2.00 – 3.30pm
PG Training
Dr Ben Fulford
What is Postgraduate Research?
Think of this session as a bootcamp for starting your postgraduate studies! Where are the resources? What
handy hints and tips do you need to know?
3.30 – 4.00 pm
Tea and Coffee
4.00 – 5.30 pm
Dr Jane Dryden, Mount Allison University and Gladstone Fellow (Chester)
Hegel, Vulnerability, and Criticisms of Reconciliation
Postgraduate Research Faculty Event (Faculty Event)
PG Tips!
This event is the first Faculty event of the year, and is open to all MPhil, PhD, and DProf students in
Humanities. Come and meet other new and existing research students, and hear some handy tips and hints on
how to survive being a postgraduate at Chester!
Refreshments included. Please RSVP to humanitiespg@chester.ac.uk
PLEASE NOTE: Date and venue to be confirmed, but will be arranged shortly. Please contact Dr
Hannah Ewence (h.ewence@chester.ac.uk ) or Dr Alana Vincent ( a.vincent@chester.ac.uk ) for details.
Wednesday 21st October 2015
009 Hollybank
2.00 – 3.30 PG Training
How to do Things with Texts
Dr Alana Vincent
This interactive session explores how we read, critique, manage, and build our arguments with the key
voices informing our research.
3.30 – 4.00 Tea and Coffee
4.00 – 5.30 Dr Alana Vincent
Speakers for the Dead: Digital Memory and the Erosion of Identity
Wednesday 11th November 2015 009 Hollybank
2.00 – 4.30
Short papers in Theology, Biblical Studies, and Religious Studies featuring staff and research students from
TRS Chester and TRS partnerships colleges. (Details to follow)
Wednesday 18th November 2015 009 Hollybank
2.00 – 3.30 PG Training Dr James Kapalo, University College Cork
Researching Religion and Material Culture: From ‘Worldviews’ to ‘Lifeworlds’ and Back
3.30 – 4.00 Tea and Coffee
4.00 – 5.30 Dr James Kapalo, University College Cork
Hidden Galleries: Secret Police Archives and Material Religion
Wednesday 2nd December 2015
009 Hollybank
2.00 - 3.30
PG Training Researching “Vulnerable” Groups Dr Lucy Lowe, University of Edinburgh
3.30 – 4.00 Tea and Coffee
4.00 – 5.30 Dr Lucy Lowe, University of Edinburgh
At the Feet of Mothers: Navigating Islam, Forced Migration, and Kinship in the Somali Diaspora
Wednesday 9th December 2015
104 Molloy
10.00 – 4.00 PG Training (Faculty Event) Thesis Writing Workshop
Details to follow.
Please contact Dr Hannah Ewence (h.ewence@chester.ac.uk ) or Dr Alana Vincent
(a.vincent@chester.ac.uk ) for details.
Wednesday 16th December 2015
Hollybank MA Symposium
This is the first dedicated MA event of the year. The afternoon consists of the Student Staff Liaison Meeting,
lunch, training, and presentations from 2nd year students on their dissertation work, and sessions to prepare
for the MA One Day Conference in May (see below). *All MA Students*
12.00-12.30 Welcome, Lunch, and Arrivals
12.30- 1.30 What is an MA Essay?
Dr Wendy Dossett
1.30 – 2.15 What is Academic Malpractice, and How Do You Avoid it? Dr Ben Fulford
2.15 – 2.45 Tea and Coffee
2.45 – 3.30
Writing an Abstract
3.30 – 4.30
Dissertation Student Papers
4.30 – 5.00
Student Staff Liaison Meeting
SPRING TERM
Wednesday 13th January 2016
009 Hollybank
2.00 - .3.30 Qualitative Data Analysis: Approaches and Methods Dr Dawn Llewellyn
What is data analysis in qualitative work? What approaches do we use in Theology and Religious Studies
when examining our field notes and transcripts? This session will give a whistle stop overview of the most
common ways of critically engaging with our data. Do come along a short sample (100 words or so) with an
example of your own data (only something that is bound by your agreement with your participants, and if it
is ethically appropriate).
3.30 – 4.00 Tea and Coffee
4.00 – 5.30 Prof. Loveday Alexander, University of Sheffield
Did Jesus found a Church? Reflections on the Ecclesiology of the Gospels
Wednesday 27th January 2016
009 Hollybank
1.00 – 3.30 What is Grounded Theory? Prof. Dean Garratt, University of Chester
In this session, Prof. Garratt traces the development of grounded theory.
(Please note the change of time for this session).
3.30 – 4.00 Tea and Coffee
4.00- 5.30
Prof. Anthony Reddie
Title: tbc
Wednesday 3rd February 2016
009 Hollybank
2.00 – 3.30 Postgraduate Research Papers
Chris Heinhold, Chriswin Raj
3.30 – 4.00 Tea and Coffee
4.00- 5.30
Dr Maya Warrier, University of Winchester
Title: tbc
Wednesday 10th February 2016
009 Hollybank
2.00 – 4.30
Short papers in Theology, Biblical Studies, and Religious Studies featuring staff and research students from
TRS Chester and TRS partnerships colleges. (Details to follow)
Wednesday 2nd March 2016
009 Hollybank
2.00 – 3.30 Postgraduate Research Papers
Peter Atkins, Richard Ollier,
3.30 – 4.00 Tea and Coffee
4.00- 5.30 Prof. Stephen Pattison, University of Birmingham
Title: tbc
Wednesday 9th March 2016
009 Hollybank
Research Seminar: Negotiations: Religion and Philosophy in Public hosted by Dr Alana Vincent.
2.00 – 6.00 pm
This afternoon marks the annual meeting of working group of scholars from the UK, Sweden, and Belgium
focussed on continental philosophy, political theology, and inter-religious discourses. Details of papers and
discussion will follow, but all are welcome!
SUMMER TERM
Wednesday April 13th 2016 009 Hollybank
2.00 – 3.30 How to Write a Dissertation: Tips from on ‘Old Hand’
University of Manchester
3.30 – 4.00 Tea and Coffee
4.00- 5.30
Prof. Philip Alexander, University of Manchester
Title: tbc
Prof. Philip Alexander,
Wednesday 27th April 2016
009 Hollybank
2.00 – 4.30
Short papers in Theology, Biblical Studies, and Religious Studies featuring staff and research students from
TRS Chester and TRS partnerships colleges. (Details to follow)
Wednesday 4th May 2016
009 Hollybank
2.00 – 3.30 Dr Nicola Slee, Queen’s Theological Foundation, Birmingham
Title: tbc
3.30 – 4.15 Tea and Coffee
4.15 – 5.30
Reading, Feminism, and Spirituality: Troubling the Waves
An Author Meets her Critics
This session examines Dawn Llewellyn’s qualitative study of Christian and post-Christian women’s reading
practices, Reading, Feminism, and Spirituality: Troubling the Waves (Palgrave, 2015). In this roundtable,
the panel will reflect on the themes that arise when reading cultures, religion, and feminist generations
connect.
Discussants: Hannah Bacon, Emma Rees, Nicola Slee, and Alana Vincent.
Chair: Prof. Elaine Graham
Wednesday 11th May 2016
009 Hollybank
MA Symposium
In this symposium, all MA students present 10 minute papers outlining work in progress based on their
dissertation. The day will also include dissertation training sessions, refreshments and lunch.
*All MA Students*
Deadline for Abstracts May 1st 2016 (to d.llewellyn@chester.ac.uk)
12.00 – 12.30 Lunch
12.30 – 2.00 Papers
2.00 – 2.15 Tea
2.15 – 3.00 Papers
3.30 – 4.00 Tea
Wednesday 25th May 2016
Hollybank
Faculty PGR Conference
This day conference is open to all Postgraduate Research Students in the Faculty and is an opportunity to meet
other MPhil, PhD and DProf students in Humanities, present your work in a friendly environment, and attend
training sessions. Refreshments and lunch are included, and the day is followed by a meal out!
Abstract and Registration Deadline: May 1st 2016 to humanitiespg@chester.ac.uk
Details to follow.
Please contact Dr Hannah Ewence (h.ewence@chester.ac.uk ) or Dr Alana Vincent
(a.vincent@chester.ac.uk ) for details.
Wednesday 1st June 2016
009 Hollybank
2.00 – 3.30 Postgraduate Research Papers
Helen Thomas, Elisabeth Storrs,
3.30 – 4.00 Tea and Coffee
4.00- 5.30
Dr David Tollerton, University of Exeter
Holocaust Theology and the Religious ‘Nones’
Wednesday 8th June 2016
009 Hollybank
2.00 – 3.30 Postgraduate Research Papers
Al Rogers, Richard Walker
3.30 – 4.00 Tea and Coffee
4.00- 5.30
Dr Johanna Stiebert, University of Leeds
Title: tbc