Postgradute Research Conference

From 22-24 June 2016, we hosted our annual postgraduate research (PGR) conference, an event during which Trinity College and Bristol Baptist College welcome our postgraduate researchers for three days of presentations, discussion, workshops, and interaction with a noted senior scholar.

This year, around 30 students travelled from around the world to Bristol, with 23 of those presenting papers related to their current research topic.

On Wednesday, 22 June, Rev Dr Walter Moberly, Professor of Theology and Biblical Interpretation at Durham University, participated in a panel discussion of his recent Old Testament Theology (Baker 2013), a book that the PGR community had engaged in research seminar during the spring term. That same evening, Trinity hosted a book launch and reception in honour of Tutor in New Testament Dr Jamie Davies’s monograph, Paul Among the Apocalypses?, recently published by T&T Clark.

On Thursday, 23 June, attendees were treated to a lecture from Prof Moberly entitled ‘More Jesus or Another Jesus? A New New Testament and Questions of Canon and Religious Truth’. On Friday, 24 June, the conference closed with a faculty Q&A panel and a farewell dinner, at which current student Michael Rhodes was awarded the annual paper prize for his essay ‘Forward unto Virtue: Formative Practices and 1 Corinthians 11:17-34.’

On Saturday, postgraduate students travelled to London to view the fourth century Codex Sinaiticus at the British Library, eat lunch at the historic Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese pub, and snap photos of Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey. On Sunday, students attended eucharist at Bristol Cathedral and gathered in the afternoon for an informal barbecue at the college before returning home.

‘As l looked forward to my MPhil programme a few years ago, I was preparing mainly for a time which I thought would consist of intellectual stretching and deeper learning. I hadn’t realised it would also be a season of fellowship and new friendships,’ said attendee Trevor Neill, a Baptist minister from Birmingham. ‘It’s been a pleasure to get to build new relationships with faculty, staff, and fellow students, who have inspired and humbled me as they’ve shared their research and passion for thoughtful discipleship. The research conference has come to be a highlight of the year, a safe space in which to share ideas and learn in a context which is worshipful, trusting, and respectful.’

Director of Postgraduate Research Dr Justin Stratis said, ‘Each year I come away from this conference so impressed with our PGR students, and this year was no exception. The papers were excellent, the interaction was quality, and of course Prof Moberly was brilliant. What an honour to play a part in the development of the next generation of Christian theologians!’

Trinity College offers postgraduate research programmes at master’s and doctoral levels. Find out more about postgraduate research here.