Events
This page provides information about the range of events organised by the Centre, past and present.
Future Events
The next conference will take place in 2024. Further information will be uploaded here later this year.
Past Events
The annual conference of the Religious Experience Research Centre took place on the 9th of July 2022 in Lampeter. The topic was Mystical Experience: Past and Present, and the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, gave the Alister Hardy Lampeter Lecture about The Soul and the Trinity in Julian of Norwich.
Please see below for the programme with information about the speakers and their papers:
Conference Programme July 2022
Please click on the links below to access recordings from the conference:
Video Recordings:
The keynote speaker was Prof Jane Shaw, Harris Manchester College, Oxford. Other speakers were Dr Jack Hunter, UWTSD, and Prof Marta de Freitas, Catholic University of Brasilia.
- 2021 RERC Conference Abstracts
- Alister Hardy Religious Experience Research Centre Conference 2021 Information
Please click on the links below to access the keynote lectures from 10th July 2021.
Video recordings:
- Keynote Lecture by Professor Jane Shaw [MP4]
- Lecture by Professor Marta Helena de Freitas [MP4]
- Lecture by Dr Jack Hunter [MP4]
Additional links:
In 2019 the Alister Hardy Religious Experience Research Centre celebrated its 50th anniversary. To celebrate the date we held a special conference from July 1 to July 3 2019 with the topic the Future of the Study of Religious and Spiritual Experience. The Keynote speaker was Professor Ann Taves, Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara and former President of the American Academy of Religion.
The fifth conference of the Alister Hardy Religious Experience Research Centre took place on July 18th 2018 with the topic of Spirituality and Wellbeing: Interreligious Perspectives. The Alister Hardy Lampeter lecture was given by Prof William West, University of Manchester. Other speakers were Mark Seed and Dr Brenda Llewellyn Ihssen.
The Alister Hardy Religious Experience Research Centre Conference 2018 [PDF]
RERC Conference 2018 Spirituality & Wellbeing Abstracts [PDF]
The fourth conference of the Alister Hardy Religious Experience Research Centre was held on July 16th 2017 with the topic of Spirituality, Therapy and Wellbeing. The Alister Hardy Lampeter lecture was given by Dr Wendy Dossett, University of Chester. Other speakers were Lymarie Rodriguez, Patricia R. Souza, Dr Thomas Jansen, Rev Dr Jeff Leonardi and Prof Bettina Schmidt.
Recording of the keynote lecture given by Dr Dossett [Video recording link]
The third conference of the Alister Hardy Religious Experience Research Centre at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David took place on July 3rd 2016 in the Old Hall in the Old Building of the Lampeter campus with the topic of Spirituality and Wellbeing. The aim of the day was to discuss the link between spirituality and health from different disciplinary approaches.
The Alister Hardy Lampeter lecture was given by Revd Canon Dr Joanna Collicutt, Karl Jaspers Lecturer in Psychology and Spirituality at Ripon College Cuddesdon Oxford. Among the other speakers were Dr Jeff Leonardi, Dr Penny Sartori and Prof Chris Roe.
Alister Hardy RERC Conference 2016 - Abstracts and Speaker Biographies
Alister Hardy RERC Conference 2016 - Information and Programme
Copies of the presentations can be downloaded below:
Being Mindful Being Christian - Revd Canon Dr Joanna Collicutt [PDF]
Counselling, Health and Spirituality - Dr Jeff Leonardi [PDF]
How We Can All Benefit from the Message of Near-Death Experiences - Dr Penny Sartori [PDF]
Clinical Parapsychology: The interface between anomalous experiences and psychological wellbeing - Prof Chris Roe [PDF]
Consciousness and Its Evolution: From a Human Being to a Post-Human
Taras Handziy
Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin, Poland and visiting student at the Religious Experience Research Centre.
6th May 2015, Founders Library, Lampeter campus, 6 p.m.
2015 Annual Alister Hardy Lampeter Lecture: Crystallizing the Angels – A methodological proposal for the study of angels
Keynote: Rev. Dr June Boyce-Tillman MBE
Professor of Applied music at the University of Winchester and Associate Professor of North-West University, South Africa.
Keynote lecture followed by a series of papers on angels in different religious traditions (e.g. angels in Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism and Islam).
3rd July 2015, Founders Library, Lampeter campus, 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Recording of keynote lecture [Video recording link]
Abstracts of conference papers [PDF]
Crystallising The Angels - Rev. Dr June Boyce-Tillman MBE [PDF]
Angels in Jewish Mysticism - Theolyn Cortens Cert.Ed. M.A. [PDF]
Angels in Ancient Judaism and Johannine Christianity - Dr Catrin Williams [PDF]
Jinn In The Machine - Dr Gary R. Bu
Religious experience in Lampeter Conference
Keynote: Dr Fiona Bowie
King’s College London.
Friday 4 July 2014, Founder’s Library, Lampeter campus.
Recording of keynote lecture [Video recording link]
An expanded edition of the papers of the conference and other contributions is available in the new book Study of Religious Experience – Approaches and Methodologies, edited by Bettina E. Schmidt (Equinox 2016).
Near death experiences and the mind-body relationship: a systems-theoretical approach
Dr David Rousseau
Wednesday 14 May 2014, Founder’s Library, Lampeter campus, at 4 pm.