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1. Upcoming Dates and Deadlines
3rd May – Deadline for Seedcorn Grant applications
7th May - Common Awards EDI Webinar: Knowledge is Power: Justice and Theologising in the "Global South"
8th May - Common Awards Management Board
22nd May – TEI Forum
24th May - Deadline: TEIs to submit Curriculum Development requests for programme and module changes
31st May - Common Awards Student Survey closes
2. Board of Examiners (Overarching)
The Overarching Board of Examiners is due to be held on September 3rd (Summer) and December 3rd (Winter), 2024.
We therefore ask that TEIs hold their own Board of Examiners no later than 7th August 2024 (Summer) and 30th October 2024 (Winter). This allows the Common Awards Team enough time to process the data received from TEIs, and resolve any queries, before the Overarching Board of Examiners.
Action required:
Submit TEI Board of Examiner's dates to the Common Awards team if you haven't already done so.
3. The Annual Conference of Theological Educators 2024
The 2024 Annual Conference for Theological Educators will be taking place on July 10th – 12th.
Bookings are now open. Please use this link to book your place: Event Booking Details (durham.ac.uk) The booking form will remain open until 14th June.
The conference will be taking place at Durham University, and the theme of the conference will be: 'Theological Education and Mental Health’
This three-day two-night conference is FREE* to all Common Awards staff (all core and associate staff who are or expect to be involved in teaching, assessing or administering Common Awards programmes in the designated Common Awards TEIs). In theological education and the ministry settings, issues of mental health are unavoidable. Each year, 1 in 4 people in the UK experience a mental health problem of some kind. This conference covers a variety of topics to support theological educators in their teaching and formational responsibilities, including:
*Travel expenses not included.
Speakers will include:
Rev’d Prof. John Swinton, Chair in Divinity and Religious Studies (Aberdeen), RMN (registered Mental Nurse), and ordained in the Church of Scotland.
Rev’d Prof. Chris Cook, former Director of the Centre for Spirituality, Theology & Health (retired in 2022), qualified doctor, former Professor of Psychology, and ordained in the Church of England.
Rev’d Dr Joanna Collicutt, fellow at Harris Manchester College of Oxford University, a chartered clinical psychologist, and ordained in the Church of England.
Dr Tasia Scrutton, Associate Professor in the School Philosophy, Religion, and History of Science at Leeds University and author of Christianity and Depression.
Rev’d Jarel Robinson, ordained in the Church of England, co-chair of One Body One Faith, formerly a Methodist minister, and author of Black, Gay, British, Christian, Queer.
Dr Eve Parker, lecturer in Modern Christian Theology at the University of Manchester and author of Trust in Theological Education.
Rev’d Luke Larner, ordained in the Church of England and editor of Confounding the Mighty: Stories of Church, Social Class and Solidarity.
Revd Dr Carlton Turner, Anglican Tutor in Contextual Theology and Mission Studies at the Queens Foundation, Birmingham and author of Introduction to Caribbean Contextual Theology.
With worship led by Rev Prof Maggi Dawn, Professor of Theology at Durham University, advisor to the Royal School of Church Music, and former Dean of Marquand Chapel at Yale Divinity School.
For more information, please visit the Common Awards website conference page
4. Student Events
Jesus, the Spirit, and the Hope of the World: A Day with N.T. Wright
The above student event, which took place at St. Paul’s Cathedral on 26th April 2024, was well-attended by students from 13 Common Awards TEIs. Students were engaged throughout the sessions and valued the opportunity to explore the Cathedral following the event. The event was recorded, and the videos will be added to the Common Awards Hub in due course. We will contact attendees with a survey for feedback on their views of the event. Further information will be added to next month’s Bulletin.
We would be grateful if TEIs could remind students that booking for the ‘Mental Health in Ministry’ student conference is still open. The full details are as follows:
Mental Health in Ministry: The Theology and Psychology of Depression and Hearing Voices
9 July 2024 at Durham Cathedral, Durham
Book your place here: https://forms.office.com/e/0pj6seLRNM
Students will come away from this FREE* day-conference with a deeper understanding of how to wisely and faithfully engage with matters of mental health. This conference focuses on two areas that have a rich tradition of study both in psychology and in the long history of Christian practice: hearing voices and depression. Our speakers will address, in each case, contemporary clinical understandings of these two experiences, their various theological interpretations, and also speak to the benefits and short-comings of each. Students will also have the opportunity to see the cathedral, the grounds of Durham University, and to meet students from other TEIs.
Download the full timetable here: Mental Health in Ministry Student Conference Programme.
For more information, please visit the Common Awards website Events for Students page.
5. EDI Webinar: Knowledge is Power: Justice and Theologising in the "Global South"
07 May 2024 1:30 - 3:00pm
Tickets are available here
Dr Selina Stone (Durham/Common Awards) is joined by Rev Dr Carlton Turner and Dr Eve Parker to discuss theologies from India and the Bahamas.
6. Annual Self Evaluation Form updates
Section B of the Annual Self Evaluation submission template has been updated to reflect an additional section asking TEIs to provide an update on progress against PER conditions and recommendations for PERs held from 2023/24.
Section A of the Annual Self Evaluation submission template has been updated to align with annual Service Level Agreement reporting.
Please ensure that you download the most recent version of the template forms; both of the revised forms can be found on the Templates and Forms page of our website.
Please do not hesitate the contact the team if you have any questions when completing the ASE for 2023/24.
7. TEI Forum
The rescheduled TEI Forum will be online and taking place on 22 May 2024 (1pm to 4pm). TEI Forum members are reminded to please contact Lucy Dallas (Chair) directly with any agenda items.
Action required: To ensure our contact list is up to date, we would be grateful if TEIs could contact the Common Awards Team to confirm the names, positions and email addresses of their TEI Forum members.
8. Staffing updates
Alyson Bird (Senior Quality Manager, Common Awards) has been seconded as the Interim Head of the Academic Quality Service until 31st July 2024. Emma Harrington (Assistant Quality Manager, Common Awards) will step-up to the position of Senior Quality Manager also until 31st July 2024. Please continue to contact the Common Awards team on common.awards@durham.ac.uk to ensure that any queries can be answered as quickly as possible.
TEIs have been contacted individually where processes in progress will continue to be supported by Alyson. Please do not hesitate to contact the team if you have any questions.
9. Further Information
The full 2023/2024 academic calendar is available here.
With thanks,
The Common Awards Team
