The Southlands Methodist Trust (SMT) is a charity of the Methodist Church in Britain, which, through the auspices of the Susanna Wesley Foundation, supports research of significance to Church and Society. During the summer of 2025, the SMT will be awarding a number of grants of up to £5,000 to support individuals or groups within […]
Hope research project
New Research Associate the Revd Dr Susie Snyder introduces a new project. “Hope has holes in its pockets,” as poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer puts it—and this perhaps feels particularly true at this point of the twenty-first century (1). I have been interested in hope for a while, and at a time of global polycrisis, public […]
Celebrating the Susanna Wesley Foundation
On 26th March, we gathered for an exhibition, symposium and dinner to mark ten years of the Susanna Wesley Foundation. The exhibition, entitled Remarkable Women: making a difference in education, featured portraits of leaders from Southlands College history. The symposium was around the theme of Learning to Make a Difference, and included posters from recent […]
Menopause and Theology course
Reflection written by SWF Researcher and Research Communications Manager Emma Pavey On 26th February, I led an online short course via Sarum College exploring Menopause and Theology, which drew a good crowd of participants. In our short time together I offered thoughts on ways these two aspects of life intersect, structuring the time around the […]
New Research Associate
The Susanna Wesley Foundation is pleased to welcome Dr Matthew Barber-Rowell as a Research Associate. For the last 15 years, he has been considering the relationship between lived experiences of crises and transition, the different sources of hope we might rely on, and new forms of leadership in communities and institutions in north west England. […]
Chaplaincy Podcast mention
A recent episode of the ‘Chaplaincy Chain‘ podcast drew on SWF research by Sue Miller and Christopher Stephens. The podcast, which is a joint project of the Free Churches Group and the Methodist Church, explores chaplaincy from a variety of angles. In this episode, Kristin Aune and Sally Nash discussed the importance of research into […]
HE Chaplaincy – research presentation
“if a university chaplain organises an event but nobody turns up….was it a failure?’ This was the opening question of a session entitled ‘What’s it worth? Impact in HE chaplaincy’ and posed by Christopher Stephens and Sue Miller to university chaplains at their annual CHELG (Chaplains in Higher Education Liaison Group) conference. Questions, too, around […]
Menopause and theology research project
Summary: SWF researcher Dr Emma Pavey has begun a research project exploring menopause and theology from various angles, a topic that is current and yet also under-explored. This project is looking at different ways theological thinking can accompany those experiencing menopause, but also vice versa – how menopause can serve theology and the church through […]