The Voices of Young People Conference

Professor Jeff Astley is Alister Hardy Professor of Religious and Spiritual Experience, University of Warwick, and Honorary Professor in the Department of Theology and Religion, Durham University. He was for 32 years the founding director of the North of England Institute for Christian Education in Durham. He is the author or editor of 40 books on Christian education, practical theology and religious faith, including SCM Studyguide to Christian doctrine (London: SCM Press, 2010), Teaching religion, teaching truth (Bern: Peter Lang, 2012), Exploring ordinary theology (Farnham: Ashgate, 2013), Studying God: Doing theology (London: SCM Press, 2014) and with Leslie J. Francis, Diversity and intersectionality: Studies in religion, education and values (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2016).

Dr. Gareth Byrne is Associate Professor of Religious Education and Director of the Mater Dei Centre for Catholic Education, Dublin City University. His primary areas of teaching and research are religious education and Catholic education. He was the founding director of the Irish Centre for Religious Education (ICRE) and the writer for the Irish Episcopal Conference of Share the good news: National directory for catechesis in Ireland (Dublin: Veritas 2010). His recent contributions include an edited volume with Patricia Kieran, Toward mutual ground: Pluralism, religious education and diversity in Irish schools (Dublin: Columba, 2013) as well as chapters in Astley, J. & Francis, L.J. (Eds.) Diversity and intersectionality (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2016), Shanahan, M. (Ed.) Does religious education matter? (London: Routledge, 2017), Whittle, S. (Ed.) Researching Catholic education (Singapore: Springer, 2018), Whittle, S. (Ed.), Religious education in Catholic schools: Perspectives from Ireland and the UK (Oxford: Peter Lang, forthcoming, 2018) and Buchanan, M. and Gellel, A.M. (Eds.) Global perspectives on Catholic religious education, volume II (Springer: forthcoming 2018).

Dr. Sandra Cullen is Assistant Professor of Religious Education at Dublin City University Institute of Education and Director of the Irish Centre for Religious Education (ICRE). She is chair of DCU’s MA in Religion and Education (post-primary) and Religious Education leader of the EdD programme. Her research interests include the place of religious education in the public space, the role of conversation in religious education, and the religious education of religion teachers and their continuing professional and personal development. Her most recent publications are: Interpreting “between privacies”: Religious education as a conversational activity, in M. Shanahan (Ed.) Does religious education matter? (London: Routledge, 2017), and Cullen, S. The religious education of the religion teacher, in Buchanan, M. & Gellel, A.M., (Eds.) Global perspectives on Catholic religious education, volume II: Learning and leading in a pluralist world (Springer: forthcoming 2018).

Professor Leslie J. Francis is Professor of Religions and Education and Director of the Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit at the University of Warwick. He has been conducting quantitative research and publishing in the fields of religious education and church school studies since the 1970s. His research is rooted both in the psychology of religion and in empirical theology. He is author or editor of over 70 books on religious education, Christian formation, practical theology, psychology of religion, church school studies, and clergy studies. His recent books include Anglican cathedrals in modern life (New York: Palgrave McMillan, 2015), The empirical science of religious education (London: Routledge, 2016), and Lessons in spiritual development (London: Church House Publishing, 2017). With Dr Tania ap Siôn he publishes curriculum resources for young learners, including the series Exploring our World and Exploring Why (Bear Lands Publishing, available at http://www.st-marys-centre.org.uk/resources.html).

Professor Andrew McGrady is a member of the Advisory Board of the Irish Centre for Religious Education at the DCU Institute of Education. He is currently the Chairperson of the Catholic Primary School Management Association (CPSMA) and a trustee of the Mater Dei Educational and Research Trust. He previously lectured at the Mater Dei Institute of Education, Dublin (now incorporated into DCU) serving as Director from 2008 to 2016, and was a Council member of the Teaching Council of Ireland. His current research interests include religious education, faith-based schools and young peoples’ religiosity and spirituality. His recent publications include: Teaching religion in schools in Ireland, in Rothgangel, M., Jackson, R., and Jaggle, M., (Eds.) Religious education at schools in Europe: Part 2, western Europe (Vienna, Vienna University Press, 2014) and 'Teaching religion': Challenges and opportunities for educational practice in a pluralist context, in Byrne, G., and Kieran, P., (Eds.) Toward mutual ground: Pluralism, religious education and diversity in Irish Schools (Dublin: Columba Press, 2013).

Dr. Bernadette Sweetman is a research assistant in the Centre for Evaluation, Quality and Inspection (EQI) in the Institute of Education, Dublin City University.  She is the author of Our family mass: Resources for the family Sunday liturgy series (Veritas, 2012-2014) and was part of the writing team for the Credo Series (Veritas 2013-2015) used in Catholic high schools across the USA.  She was Research and Development Officer for the Irish Centre for Religious Education from 2013-2016.  Currently lecturing on a number of modules in initial teacher education for second-level religious education teachers, her research interests focus on religious education at primary and post-primary levels, peer mentoring and intercultural education. Her upcoming publications include: Godparenthood and education: An Irish perspective, in Whittle, S. (Ed.), Religious education in Catholic schools: Perspectives from Ireland and the UK (Oxford: Peter Lang, forthcoming 2018) and with Gareth Byrne, ‘CPD and RE: What do RE teachers in Irish Catholic primary and post-primary schools say they need?’, in Buchanan, M. and Gellel, A.M. (Eds.) Global perspectives on Catholic religious education, volume II (Springer: forthcoming 2018)