UWTSD’s Religious Experience Research Centre welcomes Visiting Professor from the Catholic University of Brasilia

The Religious Experience Research Centre (RERC), based at UWTSD’s Lampeter campus, is currently hosting Professor Marta Helena de Freitas from Brazil.

Professor Bettina Schmidt welcoming Professor Marta Helena de Freitas to UWTSD’s Religious Experience Research Centre at the beginning of the year (before the lockdown restrictions were introduced).

Marta is a Psychology of Religion professor at the Catholic University of Brasilia and is the “Psychology & Religion” Working Group Co-ordinator for the National Association of Research and Postgraduate Studies in Psychology (ANPEPP).

In collaboration with Professor Bettina Schmidt, Director of the RERC at UWTSD, Professor Marta Helena de Freitas is currently conducting research which focuses on “Religiosity and Spirituality in Psychotherapy: an intercultural study based on the perception of clinical psychologists.” She is also writing a research article focusing on Sir Alister Hardy, founder of the Lampeter based Research Centre, for a Brazilian journal as well as other national and international publications in Brazil and beyond.  

Living and working in Lampeter has allowed Professor Marta Helena de Freitas to conduct research directly at RERC and access historical documents about Sir Alister Hardy’s life and work.

While her activities are currently restricted due to the Coronavirus outbreak she contributes actively to online research seminars. She’s also used the time to concentrate on her creative work and writes poems to reflect on her time in Wales. Speaking about her experience of living in Wales during the Coronavirus pandemic, Professor Marta Helena de Freitas said:

“Being based in Lampeter offers to me an original, unique and very special experience of being able to study, research and write in the oldest academic institution in Wales and one of the oldest in the UK. After all, the University has been present in this town since 1822. People here are very welcoming and the town has many nice and pleasant cafes. In this small, quiet and inspiring town, I can live near the river and walk to the Campus where I have the honour to study at the RERC and also participate in some of the interdisciplinary seminars.

With this opportunity, my expertise in Psychology of Religion can dialog with other important subjects including Theology, Classics, Archaeology and Ancient History. During the weekends and also during this quarantine, I’m privileged to be able walk along the River Teifi and enjoy wonderful and bucolic landscapes that inspire me a lot in my work and poetry.”

“During this period as a research fellow at UWTSD my main focus has been a cross-cultural research project that aims to compare the perceptions and the experiences of Brazilian and British clinical psychologists on the relationships between religiosity, spirituality and mental health.”

Professor Marta Helena de Freitas has also contributed to a new book, Spirituality and Wellbeing, which was released recently and edited by UWTSD’s Prof. Bettina Schmidt and Jeff Leonardi. Discussing her contribution to the new book, she added: 

“The theme of Spirituality and Wellbeing is increasingly recognised as essential in contemporary society, especially in times of a pandemic, but which has always been on the agenda of the main concerns of humanity. My chapter in this book presents and discusses results from researches conducted with health and mental health professionals in Brazil exploring on how are their perceptions and experiences related to the relationships between religiosity, spirituality and physical and mental health.”

Further Information

For more information please contact Arwel Lloyd, Principal PR and Communications Officer, on 07384 467076 / Arwel.Lloyd@uwtsd.ac.uk