Members

We’re a research network of 10 postdoctoral fellows and their mentors.

Project Office

Mark Harris (Project leader) - The University of Edinburgh, UK

Sarah Lane Ritchie (Project co-leader until August 2021) - The University of Edinburgh, UK

Katia Hervy (Project co-ordinator) - The University of Edinburgh, UK

Andrej Zeman (Research Assistant) - The University of Edinburgh, UK

Edward DeLaquil (Research Assistant) - The University of Edinburgh, UK

Project Members

Jamie Boulding

Jamie Boulding is a Research Fellow in Theology and Science at Samford University. He completed his PhD in Theology and Science at the University of Cambridge. Before his appointment at Samford, he held a postdoctoral position at the University of Leeds. Originally from London, he has also worked in management positions for technology companies in Florida and Virginia

Matt Elia

Matthew Elia is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Duke University Divinity School as part of the God and the Book of Nature research network. He completed the PhD in Religious Studies at Duke University in 2019, supported by an ACLS/Mellon Dissertation Fellowship. His first book project (currently under revision) places Augustinian politics in conversation with Black Studies by examining the central role of slavery in Augustine's thought. His current research on religious ethics, race, and science examines the limits and promise of 'solidarity' as a framework for virtue in the face of the Anthropocene futures now emerging: climate apartheid, border militarization, and environmental devastation. His writing has appeared or is forthcoming in the Journal of Religious Ethics, Studia Patristica, and Biblical Interpretation, among others.

Andrew Jones

I investigate how philosophical and historical perspectives are important for contemporary scientific debates. Specifically, I consider how theological and philosophical ideas from Kant’s philosophy have been essential to development of certain scientific disciplines.

Revealing the historical significance of theology and philosophy for the development of science is central for appreciating what philosophical and theological ideas can offer to contemporary debates. The foundations of my research investigate Kant’s influence on the development biology, and have a book on this topic under review scheduled for publication later this year.

This work has led to various projects. I have recently published on Kant and biomedical ethics, I am co-authoring a book on Kant’s political philosophy, and am organising a conference in preparation for a journal special issue on the topic of Kant and natural science. In my more interdisciplinary projects, I work with biologists, ethnographers, and human geographers to understand factors related to increased AMR risk in farming. I also consider how ecotheological perspectives can offer guidance to rectify oversights in current debates around biosecurity, AMR, and livestock management. For more information about my work, visit my website, or contact me on Twitter, @andyjonesphd or LinkedIn.

Simon Kittle

Simon studied computer science, before turning to theology and then philosophy, completing a PhD in philosophy in 2015 at the University of Sheffield. His research has focused on free will, action theory, and now centers on the nature of mind and agency. 

Simon Kittle's Website

Megan Loumagne Ulishney

Megan Loumagne Ulishney is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Theology and Science at the University of Nottingham. For her undergraduate degree, Megan studied education, Scripture, and English Literature at Biola University, and is a perpetual member of the Torrey Honors Institute. She taught high school English and Theology for five years after graduation. After partially completing a Masters in Spiritual Formation and Soul Care at Talbot Seminary, Megan moved to the east coast in order to complete a Masters of Divinity at Boston College as a Baker-Arrupe Fellow.

Megan's doctoral research under the supervision of Prof Graham Ward at the University of Oxford (Christ Church) focused on the doctrine of original sin and, in particular, on the challenges and opportunities for the doctrine in a post-Darwinian world. Her thesis constructed a framework for considering original sin in conversation with the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis and updated information about the evolution of sexual difference.

As a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Nottingham, Megan's research focuses on theories of sexual selection and the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis, and their relevant points of intersection with theologies of nature. Major themes of this research include the role of desire, beauty, and play in evolution, divine action, and creaturely agency.

Megan is very interested in questions related to theology and science, especially evolutionary biology and anthropology, and the intersection of these fields with Christian theology. Besides this project, her theological interests include contemplative spirituality, feminist theology, Teresa of Avila, and the theology of Edward Schillebeeckx.

Fred Simmons

As part of the God and the Book of Nature Project, Frederick Simmons is examining what basic biological findings may mean for Augustinian ethics and faith. More broadly, his research and teaching concern the natural sciences’ implications for Christian thought, the ethical and political significance of Christian theological commitments, and the Christian import of natural aesthetics. He has taught at Princeton Theological Seminary, Yale Divinity School, Amherst College, La Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, and La Universidad Politécnica Salesiana; he has also served as the Houston Witherspoon Fellow in Theology and the Natural Sciences at the Center of Theological Inquiry.

Bethany Sollereder

Bethany Sollereder is a Research Fellow at the Laudato Si’ Research Institute at Campion Hall, University of Oxford. She specialises in theology concerning evolution and the problem of suffering and is currently working on the theological aspects of restoration ecology. Bethany received her PhD in Theology from the University of Exeter and an MCS in interdisciplinary studies from Regent College, Vancouver. She is the author of God, Evolution, and Animal Suffering: Theodicy without a Fall and Why is there Suffering? Pick your own theological expedition.