William Temple Foundation

Professor Simon Lee (Chair) is Emeritus Professor of Jurisprudence at Queen’s University Belfast. He was a Brackenbury Scholar at Balliol College, Oxford, and a Harkness Fellow at Yale Law School. He taught law at Trinity College, Oxford, and King’s College London before becoming professor of jurisprudence at Queen’s. Simon was the co-founder of Initiative ’92, a citizens’ movement during the Troubles in Northern Ireland in the 1990s, which created grassroots dialogue through the Opsahl Commission.

He served for twenty years in executive leadership roles for Liverpool Hope University College, Leeds Metropolitan University, Level Partnerships and the Cambridge Theological Federation, where he was also a Fellow of St Edmund’s College, before returning to professing law full-time for ten years at the Open University and Aston University. For thirty years, he has also been serving in non-executive roles, including chairing diverse boards.

A lay Catholic, he has a long history of ecumenical and inter-faith engagement in the public square. He has honorary doctorates from either side of the Atlantic. He is the author of many books, essays and articles on law, religion, ethics, politics, history, universities and sport. In the summer of 2026, he is launching the Olney Review of Books.

The Very Rev’d Dr Peter Robinson has served as Dean of Derby since July 2020, leading the life of Derby Cathedral and working as part of the Bishop of Derby’s senior staff team. Previously, he was Archdeacon of Lindisfarne in the Diocese of Newcastle from 2008.

Peter brings extensive experience of ministry and theological reflection across inner-urban, rural and city-centre contexts. He led the pioneering Urban Ministry and Theology Project in Newcastle’s East End, developing new forms of contextual theological education following Faith in the City.

He chaired the Lindisfarne Regional Training Partnership (2009–2017) and the Diocesan Board of Education (2014–2020), gaining significant experience of working with academies and multi-academy trusts. Peter chaired the William Temple Foundation from 2011–2020, overseeing a major development programme, and continues to support the Foundation as a trustee and council member.

Rev’d Dr Yazid Said is a Senior Lecturer in Islam at Liverpool Hope University. He studied Classical Arabic and English Literature at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and Christian Theology at the University of Cambridge. After being ordained an Anglican priest, he completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge (2010) on the medieval Muslim theologian Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (d. 1111). His research is focused on medieval Muslim political and legal thought and on Christian-Muslim theological encounters, with reference to the manner in which Greek philosophical thought was appropriated in both Christian and Muslim texts.

He is the author of Ghazali’s Politics in Context (Routledge 2012) and co-editor of The Future of Interfaith Dialogue: Muslim-Christian Encounters through A Common Word (Cambridge University Press, 2018). Yazid is currently working on two projects: a critical edition of an Egyptian Muslim polemical manuscript against Christians and Jews in seventeenth century Ottoman Egypt and an investigation of Ghazali’s concept of ‘taste’, dhawq.

Revd Dr Paul Monk His first career as a scientist followed training as a chemist at the University of Exeter, then working in several UK universities. After re-training and theology degrees from the Universities of Manchester and Sheffield, he was ordained in 2007 and served as a priest in first Oldham then Ashton-under-Lyne, both in Greater Manchester. That later career also included theology, spiritual direction and discernment, and community development.

Paul has written 24 books across chemistry, mathematics, biosciences, church and local history, and theology; he has also authored and co-authored numerous texts in chemistry, physics, and theology, ecology, and interfaith work. He previously served on the Diocese of Manchester’s ecology and environmental board and advised churches on fundraising and grant applications.

A major focus of his work is rebuilding community cohesion. He founded Barnabas Thrive, which was one of the largest Anglican community projects in Greater Manchester.

Rev. Dr. Deirdre Brower serves as Principal of Nazarene Theological College in Manchester, where she combines academic leadership with a deep commitment to justice, community, and the life of the church. Ordained in 1996, Deirdre has ministered in diverse urban settings and continues to preach, mentor leaders, and journey alongside local congregations.

As a Senior Lecturer in Practical Theology, she explores the intersection of faith, leadership, and social transformation, drawing on the rich Wesleyan heritage of grace, holiness, and community. Her teaching and writing focus on what it means for Christian faith to take root in real places, among real people, in ways that bring hope and renewal.

Deirdre earned her PhD from the University of Manchester and holds both an MA in Christian Holiness and a BA (Hons) in Pastoral Theology from Nazarene Theological College.

Professor Edward Abbott-Halpin is Emeritus Professor at the University of the Highlands and Islands. A political scientist, his work focuses on governance, human rights, child rights, peace and conflict resolution.

Over a 30-year academic career, he has held senior roles across UK universities and served as Principal of the University of the Highlands and Islands, Orkney College. He has also worked in the Civil Service and has an extensive knowledge of working in South and West Asia. Edward chaired the international NGO HURIDOCS and has worked with organisations including CRIN, Plan International, and the Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children.

He was an expert panel member of the Scientific and Technical Options (STOA) Unit of the European Parliament, and an Associate Schuman Fellow of the European University Florence. He remains involved in the Cambridge Governance Labs at Cambridge University, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts.

Ian Mayer DL is an entrepreneur specialising in leadership, group behaviour and virtual organisations. With a background in education and technology, he has worked in digital learning and innovation since the mid-1990s and currently manages internet-based business and community projects.

In March 2019, Ian was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of South Yorkshire, a Crown appointment supporting the Lord Lieutenant across the region. He is also a Public Leadership Ambassador for the Evangelical Alliance.

Together with his wife Alyson, Ian pioneered One Heart One Voice, a church unity movement in Doncaster, and now leads The Catalyst Network, promoting unity across leadership contexts. They have three grown children and six grandchildren.

Rev’d Dr Ericcson T. Mapfumo is a missional priest serving Christ Church Moldgreen and St James Rawthorpe, and Anglican Chaplain at the University of Huddersfield. His doctorate explores the lived experience of Black clergy in the Church of England, contributing to intercultural ministry and belonging.

Before ordination, Ericcson worked in the construction industry and education. He has extensive chaplaincy experience across universities, schools, prisons and healthcare settings. Raised in Zimbabwe within an Indigenous African Pentecostal Church, his faith journey spans global Pentecostalism and Anglicanism.

He is committed to grassroots “under the tree” theology, community organising and intercultural dialogue. His publications include Black Clergy in the Church of England: Towards a Sense of Belonging.

Dr Matthew Barber-Rowell FRSA is Northern Temple Network Lead, appointed in August 2025, representing the Foundation across the north of England. His first monograph, Curating Spaces of Hope: Transformational Leadership for Uncertain Times, has been widely commended, including by Stephen Timms MP and Ian Markham.

Matthew previously served as Communications Officer (2023–2025), leading the Radical Hope campaign, co-editing two books, and co-designing the Communicating Radical Hope in an era of poly-crisis conference at the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, London, in Partnership with Virginia Theological Seminary.

Awarded a Temple Scholarship in 2019, Matthew completed his PhD at Goldsmiths, University of London, becoming the first Temple Scholar to receive a doctorate from the Faith and Civil Society Unit. He later became a Research Fellow and inaugural Len Collinson Postdoctoral Fellow. 

His work focuses on leadership, dialogue and resilience in response to global crises, including ecological transformation, poverty, and institutional renewal. He is a Research Associate of the Susanna Wesley Foundation and a Dean’s Scholar at Virginia Theological Seminary. Follow him on LinkedIn.

Dr Katya Braginskaia joined the William Temple Foundation as Digital Learning Lead in April 2023 and is based at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her research interests include multiculturalism, hospitality, integration, minority faith activism, and refugee representation in national and local contexts.

Previously at the University of Bristol, Katya held a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship and convened courses on religion and politics. Her postdoctoral project, Minority Faith and Civil Society Responses to Refugee Integration in Britain (2018–2022), examined Muslim and Jewish initiatives supporting refugees in England and Scotland.

She has presented her work at interdisciplinary conferences and is currently writing up this research. Katya also contributed to the Public Faith and Finance project and the AHRC-funded Co-Creating Cities and Communities initiative, published as Co-Creating Urban Living.

Katya completed her PhD at the University of Edinburgh in 2014, focusing on Muslim councils in Britain and Russia. She is the UK correspondent for the EUREL network.