Sue Miller
Director
Biography
Sue Miller is the Director of the Susanna Wesley Foundation.
Sue’s work for the Foundation involves exploring connections, building relationships, identifying research and learning needs, and capitalising on people’s interests and strengths in order to build a community of scholars and a set of SWF research involvements. Sue came to this role from a post in the Methodist Church, and, before that, from academia where she was a Principal Lecturer in a Business School.
Christopher Stephens
Head of Southlands College
Biography
Dr Christopher Stephens is the Head of Southlands College at the University of Roehampton.
He studied Theology at Christ Church, Oxford, including research into the Church of Late Antiquity and teaching undergraduate Church History and Patristics.
After a number of years leading the research department of the Methodist Church in Britain, he moved to Roehampton, where he has pursued his interests in ecclesiastical history and the development of contemporary faith communities and religious institutions.
His recent publications include Canon Law and Episcopal Authority (OUP, 2015), contributions to the Brill Encyclopaedia of Early Christianity (2018) and, with Dr Lia Shimada, research articles which explore human diversity and organisational development (Atlas of World Religions (Springer, 2014), Mediation Theory and Practice (2016), International Perspectives on Equality and Diversity (2021)).
His current research projects include further work on early canon law, explorations of theological and linguistic approaches to diversity, and methods for measuring the contributions of chaplaincy in higher education.
Lia Dong Shimada
Senior Research Officer
Biography
Dr Lia Dong Shimada joined the Susanna Wesley Foundation as Research Associate in November 2015.
She is now Senior Research Officer and involved in developing the Foundation’s research portfolio, with an emphasis on diversity in leadership and ministry.
Her project outputs include editing the book ‘Mapping Faith: Theologies of Migration and Community‘ (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2020). One current project is ‘Death, Dying and the Afterlife‘, in collaboration with Theos Thinktank.
Emma Pavey
Communications and Resources Officer
Sam McBratney
Partnerships and Research Officer
Biography
The Revd Sam McBratney is a Methodist presbyter with nearly twenty years’ experience of ministry in various contexts – Circuit-based (rural and urban), chaplaincy, academia, theological education and reconciliation. He has worked as a chaplain in four universities, including two in London where he established and led two multi-faith teams.
Ermal Kirby
Research Officer
Biography
The Revd Ermal Kirby joined the Susanna Wesley Foundation as a part-time Research Officer in January 2016: his main research focus examines Cultural Diversity and Methodist Circuit Ministry.
Erica Dunmow
Research Associate
Biography
Erica Dunmow is Chair of Urban Theology Union, Sheffield and Director of the Reclaiming Local Lay Ministry for Mission Project. She began work within the third sector, holding national roles for nearly 20 years. Since 2004 she has held national and local roles in developing mission and new congregations, especially in urban contexts.
Delroy Hall
Research Associate
Biography
Dr Delroy Hall is Sports Chaplain at Sheffield United Football Club. He is an experienced counsellor in various sectors as well as a researcher and leadership trainer.
Steven van den Heuvel
Research Associate
Biography
Dr Steven van den Heuvel is Director of the Institute of Leadership and Social Ethics at Evangelische Theologische Faculteit, Leuven, Belgium, researching for a just and sustainable society. Recent books include Relational Anthropology for Contemporary Economics: A Multidisciplinary Approach (2022), Historical and Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Hope (2020) and Leading in a VUCA World (2018).
Anthony Thorpe
Research Associate
Biography
Dr Anthony Thorpe is a researcher, author and lecturer in leadership and management who previously worked in the school and further education sectors. His research interests include leadership and management in education and other contexts, organisational theory, human resource management and the links to social justice as well as the interplay of theology and leadership studies. He draws on the insights of critical realism to explore and question aspects of leadership and management in the wider context of society and philosophy.
Keith Elford
Honorary Fellow
Biography
The Revd Dr Keith Elford is Coordinator, Centre for Leadership Learning, and Programme Leader, MA in Christian Approaches to Leadership at Sarum College. His doctoral research project focused on the relationship between ecclesiology and organisational theory.
Megan Seneque
Honorary Fellow
Biography
Dr Megan Seneque is an experienced facilitator in transformational change and leadership. She is working with the Methodist Church’s Discipleship and Ministries Learning Network exploring what it means to build communities of practice and to effect systemic change.
Tim Harle
Associate
Biography
Dr Tim Harle lives at the interface of business and faith. He has worked at senior levels in a range of organisations, as well as working in Whitehall. He was Programme Leader for Sarum College’s MA in Christian Approaches to Leadership, and a Visiting Fellow at Bristol Business School.
Leonard Holmes
Associate
Biography
Dr Leonard Holmes has been engaged as a professional practitioner, teacher and researcher on employment issues for over four decades. More recently, this has included membership of the Board of Directors and Trustees of Workplace Matters, an ecumenical workplace chaplaincy organisation.
Kathryn Kissell
Associate
Biography
Dr Kathryn Kissell is a Counselling Psychologist who engages with the intersection of psychology and ministerial practice. We have collaborated with Kathryn to produce the ‘Flourishing Ministers, Flourishing Communities‘ resource.
Nick Mayhew-Smith
Associate
Biography
Dr Nick Mayhew-Smith is a writer and researcher specialising in the impact that religious activity and ideas have on culture and commerce, on heritage, and on the environment. His research and publication topics have included environmental theology, faith-based businesses and enterprises, and the ongoing legacy of religious activity in the British landscape. He is Deputy Head of Southlands College.
Mark Wakelin
Associate
Biography
The Revd Mark Wakelin is a Methodist Minister in the Sutton Circuit at Epsom Methodist Church. He has served the Church in various ways: as President of the Methodist Conference, Connexional Secretary for Internal Relationships, Director of the Guy Chester Centre, National Secretary for the Methodist Association of Youth Clubs, and Circuit Minister in Stockport and Lincoln.
Tim Bradshaw
DTh student
Biography
The Revd Tim Bradshaw is a Methodist Minister and Superintendent Minister of the Islington and Camden Mission Circuit, based at Archway.
Andrew Dunlop
PhD student
Biography
The Revd Andrew Dunlop is an Anglican minister who is currently Tutor in Context-Based Training and Pioneering at Ridley Hall, Cambridge. Andrew is interested in new forms of church, fresh expressions, and pioneering.
Ollie Eliott
DTh student
Biography
Shanon Ferguson
PhD student
Biography
The Revd Shanon Ferguson is an ordained minister with the Metropolitan Community Church and currently serves as the Senior Pastor in North London and Associate Chaplain at the University of Roehampton.
Cristina Gangemi
DTh student
Biography
Cristina Gangemi is studying for a DTh which seeks to explore theology, in theory and practice, through the lens and story of disability.
Dave Hill
DTh student
Biography
Sally Rush
DTh student
Biography
Sally Rush is a Community Worker with Younger Adults at Wesley’s Chapel and Leysian Mission and is also a Methodist Lay Preacher.
Phil Schneider
DTh student