Research Fellows share our aims and objectives, sharing with trustees and staff the task of developing the mission and profile of the Foundation. The post of Research Fellow is a three year term, supported by a small annual honorarium. Research Fellows are usually recommended by the Director, a current Research Fellow or a trustee on the basis of their existing knowledge, writing and creative contribution to the areas of work the Foundation is committed to. If however, you are interested in supporting the work of the Foundation in this very direct way, and would like to be considered as a Research Fellow, please contact the Director in the first instance.

Senior Research Fellows

Dr Saiyyidah Zaidi has three strands to her practice: she works with CEOs, senior leaders and their teams, as an advisor, mirror and sounding board; she trains senior leaders to become coaches; and she is an independent researcher in practical theology. Under the supervision of Professors Heather Walton and Anthony Reddie, Saiyyidah was the first Muslim in Britain complete a Doctorate in Practical Theology (thesis title ‘This is the sound of my soul: seeking belonging and inclusion in practical theology’). Her writing and seminars continue to impact practical theology in Britain, where she has been described as a pioneer. Since 2020, Saiyyidah has been a Trustee and Executive Committee Member of the British and Irish Association of Practical Theology. Stemming from her research and lived experience, Saiyyidah has a particular interest in helping individuals and organisations to develop impact and influence through exploring identity, culture, and belonging. Saiyyidah is a qualified Architect, has two Masters degrees in Construction Economics and Management and Applied Positive Psychology, and a PhD in Practical Theology/Critical Studies She is an European Mentoring and Coaching Council Master Coach, a Faculty Member and Tutor with Meyler Campbell, and a Partner with Altair, a next generation leadership advisory firm. Outside work and home, Saiyyidah enjoys cinema, travel, and experiencing new things (she is currently learning improvisation comedy!). Saiyyidah lives in London with her husband, two young adult children and Tiger the cat. Every week, Saiyyidah writes The Space newsletter which contains resources and advice on gaining clarity, confidence, and space, you can subscribe here to get her unique mix of practical and philosophical thoughts straight to your inbox.

Greg Smith has worked for over fifty years in urban mission, community development and social research in London and Preston. He has published extensively on religion in the inner city, faith involvement in urban regeneration, and urban theology.  He is a member of the BSA Sociology of Religion study group and a trustee of the Urban Theology Union. Until retirement in 2019 Greg worked for Together Lancashire, a joint venture of Church Urban Fund, Diocese of Blackburn and the Lancashire Methodist District supporting faith based social action and urban churches in the western half of the county. He continues to be active in the City of Sanctuary movement in Preston, in his local inner city parish and in other community projects.  From 2011 to 2016 he also worked for the Evangelical Alliance managing the 21st Century Evangelicals research programme and  and has published several academic papers based on the data. See more on  Greg’s work and publications. In his spare time he enjoys photography, bird watching, railways, spending time with his toddler grandchildren and walking with his dog.

Research Fellows

Dr Tina Hearn is a Social Policy Lecturer at the University of Birmingham, whose teaching includes social theory, policy analysis, poverty, wealth and inequalities within which she has a particular interest in the roles of faith in politics and policy making; she is also a member of the Social Theory Research Group.    Tina  has a strong commitment to widening participation and is Director of Widening Participation in the Department, spending time, both inside and outside of work life, working with young people in schools and colleges across the West Midlands.  Tina has also been involved in community politics, with a focus upon equalities, racialisation and policy making.   Tina’s current research interests focus upon exploring some of the insights of continental philosophers, such as Deleuze and Simondon and their various inferences for analysing power, politics and policy making and for the roles of faith groups within these.    Follow Tina at tina-hearn@bsky.social  

Valerie Barron PhD, has spent the last 20 years working with churches in the North East as they navigate social, economic, and political change. During this time Val has worked as the Community Development Worker for Church Urban Fund, completed her PhD studies as a Temple Scholar at Goldsmiths University of London, and is now the Community Organiser for Faith for Tyne and Wear Citizens. Val’s work considers questions around and responses to poverty, injustice and employment. She has guided campaigns to increase in Living Wage Employers in the North East, reduce bus fares for 16-21 year olds, and provide free school meals for young people. Val lives in Sunderland and feels that the 2024 riots there were a shocking reminder of the importance of bringing people together from across different communities to work together on common concerns

Revd Dr Gill Reeve is Senior Chaplain at the University of Chester leading a multi-faith chaplaincy team that is focused on care & belonging + all faiths and none. Gill has spent most of her career in the NHS as a Speech & Language Therapist working with adults in general hospital settings, and healthcare and wellbeing remain a keen area of interest. More recently, Gill’s PhD explored how performative sacred values can be enablers of socio-ecological, place-based transformation. Sustainability research increasingly recognises that values are deep leverages for transformation, and Gill’s inter-disciplinary research describes how performative sacred values can be a catalyst for change through the three key processes of ‘listening to the ecosystem’, ‘creative assemblage building’ and ‘embodying a sacred imaginary of place’. Gill has had a long-term interest in faith-based, urban engagement projects, founding the charity Night Church Chester in 2010, as a safe and inclusive sacred space in the night-time economy. She is also a team member of a small Urban Expression community in Ellesmere Port, focussed on following God on the margins and in the gaps, shaped by the values of courage, creativity and diversity. In 2018, Gill was ordained as a Pioneer Minister in the Church of England and spent her curacy in Liverpool, working closely in an urban network and with Faiths4Change, an environmental charity. This experience inspired Gill’s interest in socio-ecological transformation, and Faiths4Change and their relational network were at the heart of Gill’s PhD research. Working as a Senior Chaplain in HE gives Gill the opportunity to continue to explore how shared sacred values can act as catalyst for place-based transformation in a Higher Education context through a variety of place-based projects and creative initiatives.

Masako Hayashi is a social welfare theorist and theologian specialising in welfare state theory, Christian social thought, and theological ethics in social policy. Her research focuses on the social ethics of R. H. Tawney and British Christian Socialism. Her work examines how theological concepts shape social institutions, especially the welfare state and the third sector. She has held visiting research positions at Goldsmiths, University of London and Wesley House, Cambridge, and was a recipient of a doctoral fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. She teaches social policy and comparative welfare state theory at Rikkyo University (Tokyo).

In Memory

Rev’d Dr John Reader (1953-2023) was a parish priest, theological educator and practical theologian with over 30 years experience in rural ministry. John has degrees from Oxford, Manchester and a Ph.D from the University of Wales, Bangor. He was an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Worcester and a Senior Tutor in Christian Rural and Environmental Studies at Ripon College, Cuddesdon. John’s most recent publications are ‘A Philosophy of Christian Materialism: Entangled Fidelities and the Public Good’ (Ashgate, 2015) co-written with Chris Baker and Tom James, and Theology and New Materialism: Spaces of Faithful Dissent (2017) published by Palgrave Macmillan.

Rev’d Canon Professor John Atherton (1939 – 2016) was an esteemed and beloved member of the William Temple Foundation team for over 40 years. His work journeyed through involvement with issues of poverty in the 1960s – 1980s, to engagement with economic systems as a cause of poverty from the 1980s – late 1990, leading to engagement with the wider subject of economics, and its growing involvement with wellbeing studies. He was widely considered one of the leading public theologians of his generation and is greatly missed. Read more about John’s life and work here.