The Committee
Chair: Dr Maithrie White
As an undergraduate pursuing a degree in English (Literature) in Sri Lanka, I learned how crucial it was to develop a Christian mind in my studies as well as the world around me. This vision was fired and nurtured by FOCUS (the IFES affiliated Fellowship of Christian University Students - Sri Lanka), and subsequently by the passion and commitment of its community of graduates. As a graduate in Sri Lanka, I was extensively involved with the ministry of FOCUS as an associate staff worker and speaker. It is the same passion and vision of FOCUS that fires the vision of the Postgrad conference, which was founded by a group of us - then students, academics and chaplains - in 2003, during my PhD at the University of Nottingham.
I like exploring off the beaten track, and my PhD in Cultural Studies and Critical Theory led me to Monty Python and Douglas Adams. After my PhD I returned to lecturing in Sri Lanka, where as Head of the Department of English, I discovered that the title also conferred a zombied existence of infinite babble and meetings. I love lecturing and managed to sneak J K Rowling and Terry Pratchett into my modules. I am fascinated by the beauty and mystery of the Universe, and intrigued with what makes our world go round. I enjoy dabbling with theology, theory, and the magic of words, and delight in mixing them all up one way or another. Oh, I am also a writer, and am in the process of editing my fiction for publication.
web: http://firedjinn.blogspot.com/
email: chair@christianpostgrad.org.uk
Secretary: Cathi Fredricks
I work for Canterbury Christchurch University in quality assurance bridging the academic/administration divide. My passion for supporting Christian students to integrate their academic and spiritual selves began during my undergraduate studies where the University motto was "All Truth is God’s Truth." I have had various opportunities to support Christian graduate student work, as a staff member for Intervarsity USA working in the IFES (International Fellowship of Evangelical Students) offices, as an Advisory Council member for the Oxford GCU, and now through the National Postgraduate conference.
My personal academic interest is in literary interpretation of the Old Testament. I have a BA in English and Biblical Studies from Evangel University and an MCS from Regent College in Biblical Studies – Old Testament. I enjoy photography, cricket scoring and pretending to do valuable things with my time.
email: enquiries@christianpostgrad.org.uk
Dr Richard Gunton
I'm an ecologist who likes to wonder what the new earth will be like... Since finishing my PhD in Leeds, post-doctoral research has let me see more places in the world than I ever expected, but what really excites me is exploring how a Christian worldview can open up new vistas on the situations we thought we knew. I'm sure that means lots of talking and sharing with other people who love God's world, so I'm delighted to be involved with the Christian Postgraduates' Conference.
Dr Anthony Smith
Anthony Smith is a postdoctoral researcher in astronomy at the University of Sussex, where he currently spends most of his time counting blobs (galaxies) in pictures of the distant Universe taken by the Herschel Space Observatory. He also did his PhD at Sussex, where he has been involved in coordinating a group for Christian postgraduates and staff. Apart from this, he occasionally dabbles in music (singing, piano, organ), and (to save you asking) he holds no aspirations to be an astronaut or the next Patrick Moore, and he's never (knowingly) been abducted by aliens. Anthony has a bad web page, http://www.anthonysmith.me.uk, on which his occasional musings and pontifications can be found.
Dr Mike Clifford
Mike Clifford is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Nottingham and a volunteer with Tearfund. His research interests are in combustion, biomass briquetting, cookstove design and other appropriate technologies. He has published over 80 refereed conference and journal publications and has contributed chapters to books on appropriate and sustainable technologies. In 2009, he was voted "engineering lecturer of the year" by the Higher Education Academy’s Engineering Subject Centre for his innovative teaching methods involving costume, drama, poetry and storytelling.
At work:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7926789.stm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXI1gf-2OAI
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8047155.stm
At play:
http://www.myspace.com/reel2reelfolk
Now online at: http://www.geekpop.co.uk
Dr Eline van Asperen
Eline is a postdoctoral researcher in archaeology/palaeontology, based at the University of York, researching the dynamics of large mammal communities during the Ice Age. She teaches in the Department of Archaeology and the Hull York Medical School. She is originally from The Netherlands, where she studied Archaeological Sciences at Leiden University. She came to York to do her PhD, which involved visiting lots of museum cellars across northwest Europe for a detailed study of horse bones to find out more about the impact of climate change on these animals (no, she’s not a horse girl – it could have been any other large mammal, she loves rhinos for instance!). The most exciting thing she ever dug up was a number of human graves dating from the Stone Age, one of which contained a man holding the prehistoric equivalent of a lighter under his nose!
Besides archaeology and palaeontology, her second love is philosophy, which unfortunately has to be confined to Sunday afternoon musings and reading big books on long train journeys. She is passionate about her faith and her academic calling and enjoys a good discussion about the relationship between the two. Whilst at York, she has coordinated a Christian postgraduates group.
http://sites.google.com/site/hymsfme/eline-van-asperen
Dr Nicole Maturen
After the privilege of doing a PhD in evolutionary biology on three continents (at The University of Michigan, Taiwan National University and The Natural History Museum, London), I left the lab to take a postdoc at The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, Cambridge. In my current position I enjoy plenty of reading, writing and talking about biology as well as forays into cross-disciplinary research and public engagement. The National Christian Postgraduate Conference was a particularly rich blessing to me as an international student, and I'm glad to be part of its continuation.
Remi Tobler
Remi Tobler studied Psychology in Cambridge. She obtained a Masters in Education from McMaster University, Canada. She has spent 13 years working for Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) in Toronto, Canada among both undergraduate and postgraduate students. She is currently working as the UK coordinator for the Christian postgraduate ministry through Friends International.