PhD Student Profile

Biographical note

Nicole Holt MSc BA (Hons) is currently a PhD student and sessional lecturer at Canterbury Christ Church University. She has won several academic prizes including the David Steers Award and Dean of Canterbury’s Prize for Christian Theology. Her specific interests are: spirituality, health, wellbeing, animals, children and adults, particularly those with additional needs. She is also involved with other research projects at Christ Church University. These projects include looking at ‘Spiritual Care’ and how animals (more specifically chickens and dogs) can impact people’s health and wellbeing. Nicole is also a Post Graduate Research Association Representative, one of her roles is running ‘Thesis Bootcamps’ and leading workshops.

Project title

'How spirituality impacts people’s health and wellbeing.'

Research outline

To explore the potential links between people’s personal spirituality and their health and wellbeing. If these links are proved then it will explore the level of impact that spirituality has on particular areas of health and wellbeing such as physical or emotional health. This project will examine what people consider to be ‘spiritual’, what they view as spiritual practices and how this can relate to quality of life and happiness. Furthermore, it might be possible to investigate ways in which spirituality may help to minimise potential harm and maximise the benefits in relation to health and wellbeing when applied to a wider population.

Supervisory Team

• Professor Douglas MacInnes (first supervisor)
• Dr Jennifer Hardes (second supervisor)
• Dr Eleni Hatzidimitriadou (chair)

Research Outputs

• ‘Craft and Techniques Tips for all Writing Genres’ Workshop presented at the MeCCSA PNG conference at Canterbury Christ Church University. July 2018
• ‘How Spiritualty Influences some People’s Health’ paper presented at the Spirituality and Mental Health Conference at Manchester University. July 2017.
• ‘God`s Pack: ‘Transcending Conventional Theology and Wellbeing’ paper presented at the Arts and Humanities Conference at Canterbury Christ Church University. June 2017.
• ‘Spirituality and Peoples Wellbeing’ paper presented at the Interprofessional Education: Sharing Research and Practice Conference at Canterbury Christ Church University. January 2017.
• ‘Wild Places and Healthy Spaces’ paper presented at the British Association for the Study of Religions (BASR) conference. September 2016.
• 'Creating Gold Standards Animal Rescue Charities.' Presented at The Festival of Community Psychology: Creativity Collaboration and Community. November 2015.
• ‘Concept Analysis of Spirituality’ paper presented at ‘Spirituality in the 21st Century’ Conference in Lisbon, Portugal. March 2015.
• ‘How dog Ownership Impacts People’s Health and Wellbeing.’ Presented at Canterbury Christ Church Health and Wellbeing Conference. May 2014.

• Holt, N. and Gawen, H (under review, 2020) ‘An experimental study investigating the impact of repetitive television viewing on attention, distractibility and enjoyment’.
• Spruin, E., Mozova, K., Franz, A., Mitchell, S., Fernandez, A. and Holt, N. (2019) ‘The Use of Therapy Dogs to Support Court Users.’ International Criminal Justice Review, ISSN 1057-5677..
• Holt, N. and Walker, P. (2017) Comfort, Christ and Man’s Best Friend: The “New” Christian Role for Therapy Dogs. Sage Theology Journal.
• Holt, N. (2017) ‘Mandatory Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) recording in slaughterhouses.’ UK Parliament Website.
• Spruin, E., Abbott, N., and Holt, N. (2017) ‘The impact of short break schemes on disabled children and their families.’ International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 64, 1-15.
• Noble, O. and Holt, N. (2016) ‘A Study into the Impact of the Reading Education Assistance Dogs Scheme on Reading Engagement and Motivation to Read Among Early Years Foundation Stage Children.’ Journal of Education 3-13.
• Spruin, E., Holt, N., Ferdandez, A., and Franz, A. (2016) Dogs in the Courtroom. In L. Sher and J. Merrick, Crime and Criminal Behaviour. New York: Nova Science Publishers.
• Franz, A., Ashdown, L., Fernandez, A., Hirst, L., Holt, N. and Spruin, E. (2016) Animal Welfare: Domestic pets – written evidence (AWF 238). UK Parliament Website.
• Holt, N. (2016) ‘What Does the Word Spirituality Really Mean?’ In Mata-McMcMahon, J., Kovac, T and Miller, G., Spirituality an Interdisciplinary review. Interdisciplinary Press.

Teaching Experience

Sessional lecturer in the school of Public Health, Midwifery and Social Work.