Mary Ward and Cardinal Hume Fellowships
Every year we appoint one Cardinal Hume Fellow and one Mary Ward Fellow to support experienced researchers or teachers from all over the world who would like to advance their scholarship by spending three months at the Institute. We provide accommodation, participation in the community life of the Institute and access to libraries, seminars and lectures in Cambridge. £5,000 will fully sponsor one fellow.
The theological education of women is the Institute’s USP, and Mary Ward Fellows have all been women. 50 per cent of the Cardinal Hume Fellows have been men.
Prof Susan Docherty was Mary Ward Fellow 2019/20. She writes:
“I am so grateful to the whole MBIT community, who welcomed me so warmly this year as the very first Mary Ward Visiting Research Fellow, and equally grateful to those who so generously sponsored this fellowship. I spent just over two months at the Institute during a sabbatical from my full-time job as Head of Theology and Philosophy at Newman University Birmingham. During this time I wrote a book chapter on how the New Testament Letter to the Hebrews understands the relationship between Israel’s scriptures and the revelation of Jesus. I also started research on my section of an international project which aims to explore Jewish and Christian interpretations of the Book of the Exodus and their relevance for contemporary discourse around migration. Our first volume, edited by myself and a German New Testament scholar Beate Kowalski, will be published by Brill in 2021, entitled: Let My People Go: The Reception of Exodus Motifs in Jewish and Christian Literature.
Having the opportunity to live and work at Margaret Beaufort, with its quiet and studious atmosphere, and proximity to the wonderful University libraries, made such a difference to the pace and progress of my research and writing. That would be true of other places in Cambridge, of course, but what is unique to MBIT is its genuine community of staff, students and associates. Their interest in my project, and their breadth of theological and ethical understanding, added so much to my thinking and made the sabbatical all the more enjoyable. I now feel permanently connected to a whole new research group, all of whom inspire me with their deep commitment to contributing to the common good of church and society.”
Fr Dr Kevin Grove, Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Notre Dame, wass Cardinal Hume Fellow 2019-20. He writes:
Cardinal Hume Fellow 2 Rev Dr Kevin Grove
“For my Cardinal Hume fellowship, MBIT provided not only access to terrific libraries, seminars, and facilities, but also welcomed me into a supportive and generative community of researchers. MBIT is truly a crossroads for the mind, the heart, and the spirit. There the Church, the university, and service agencies for those in need meet and collaborate.”
