Expert at St Mary's University Appointed Visiting Fellow at UCL

Dr Stephen Bullivant, Senior Lecturer in Theology and Ethics at St Mary’s University, Twickenham has been appointed a Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies, University College London (UCL).  Dr Bullivant will work with UCL and St Mary’s in partnership with colleagues from Queen’s University, Belfast and Coventry University on a major new project, 'The Scientific Study of Nonreligious Belief'. Backed with a grant of $215,000 from the John Templeton Foundation, the project will run until December 2016 and will focus on building resources for the study of secularity and nonreligious belief systems including the publication of The Oxford Dictionary of Atheism (co-authored by UCL sociologist Dr Lois Lee and Dr Stephen Bullivant). This programme builds on a significant body of work undertaken at St Mary's University. In 2010, St Mary's was the first university in Britain to introduce an undergraduate Religious Studies module on 'Atheism and Nonreligion.' The Oxford Handbook of Atheism, which Dr Bullivant co-edited with the leading philosopher of science Michael Ruse, recieved its European launch at St Mary's in early 2014. Dr Bullivant said: “I am delighted to be joining the research community at the Institute for Advanced Studies at University College London. It is a great joy to be collaborating with such fine colleagues - at UCL, Queen's, and Coventry - on this pioneering research into contemporary atheism, nonreligiosity, and secularity.”  Dr Bullivant was recently announced as the Director of the Benedict XVI Centre for Religion and Society at St Mary’s University which is an international hub for research and engagement activities in the area of religion and the social sciences. It will host a series of lectures, curated by Prof Philip Booth on the Catholic Social Teaching, Policy, and Society, and also contribute to a major new book on the fiftieth anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae (Of Human Life), which reaffirmed the traditional Christian teaching on sexuality.