After Graduating
Students who have achieved doctoral and master's level degrees in religion and civil society at the University of Manchester go on to a range of careers in education, NGOs, the media, governmental and international offices as well as faith based communities. Here are some recent examples of the "destinations" of some of our students, together with a commentary on what they found valuable about studying at Manchester:
Timothy Stanley, Lecturer in Theology, The University of Newcastle, Australia
PhD, 2009
The most significant thing for me about my time completing doctoral studies in Manchester was its location in a large cosmopolitan metropolis. There is a profound intellectual tradition in the department which inspires some of the most rigorous and sophisticated reflection upon religious thought and practice. However, the research and courses taught consistently defy academic ghettoisation. Rather, the work of so many of the staff in the Religions and Theology Department remain deeply engaged with the concerns of the city, and, by proxy, the contemporary world of today. The academic calendar at the university is filled with research seminars and public lectures, which, from memory, covered everything from contemporary Buddhist art in China, the Poetry of the Sufi mystic Rumi, the neo-platonic eschatology at work in Hegel's thought, new scientific methods of addressing lacuni in Dead Sea Scrolls, and the socio-political archealogy of Paul's Epistle to the Romans. This breadth and diversity of the department directly inspired my own participation in conferences in both Europe and North America, as well as the courses I taught at the University alongside my own research. In brief, I came to Manchester to study for a PhD in philosophical theology with Professor Graham Ward, and in the process gained a much wider appreciation for theology's role within the humanities in a large international university. My time in Manchester was transformative and has directly led to my current position teaching theology at a large research university with a similar ethos in Australia.