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Dr Simon Wilson

Senior Lecturer and Academic Sessional

School of Humanities & Educational Studies and Faculty of Arts, Humanities & Education Faculty Office

I am a Senior Lecturer, currently Lead for several modules in the BA Theology, and the MA Chaplaincy and Pastoral Care. I supervise two PhD researchers.

I joined Canterbury Christ Church University in 2013, and became Senior Lecturer in 2016. From 2019-2021 I was Course Director of the MA Myth, Cosmology and the Sacred, and from 2020-2023 was also Lead on several modules in the BSc Human Development (Body, Mind Spirit). Since 2021 I have been part of the team teaching the BA Theology and the BA Philosophy, Religion and Ethics.

I have a BA (Hons) and MA from the University of Cambridge, and in 1994 was awarded a PhD by the University of Hull. For many years I lived in Munich, where I ran my own language-solutions agency, acquiring clients at major international companies, and also taught Business English at BMW.

From 2005 onwards I began publishing and lecturing on the subjects which later formed the basis of my academic interests, such as spirituality and its relation to place and environment.

My research interests include spirituality and landscape, love of learning, the theology of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and true sustainability. I have published widely in these areas, and presented at conferences and symposiums.

I have supervised several successful PhDs, on subjects such as the thought of the heart and conflict, and mediumship, intuition and the academy, as well as chairing a PhD on the writings of George Meredith. In 2016 I was elected a member of the Institute of Orthodox Christian Studies in Cambridge.

In 2024/25 I am teaching on the following modules, most of which I also lead:

  • L4: Introduction to Philosophy; Philosophical Reflection and Ethics of Wellbeing.
  • L6: Religion, Gender and Spirituality; Great Books of Religion, Philosophy and Ethics
  • L7: Moral Philosophy and Applied Ethics

Expertise

  • Spirituality and landscape
  • Eastern Orthodox theology and ecology
  • Education and love of learning

Research Projects

I am currently working on Eastern Orthodox theology, the common good and the environment

Research Projects

  • ‘The Sacred Marriage –dancing from dominance to delight?’. Researcher(s): Rev Sam Wernham. Supervisor(s): Dr Simon Wilson, Professor Lynn Revell. [Postgraduate Research Project]
  • A comparative exploration of the relationship of mystical / religious experiences with paranormal and non-ordinary states with a particular focus on initiatory experiences and the interplay with mythopeic conceptions of death.. Researcher(s): Mr Tarquin Rees. Supervisor(s): Dr Simon Wilson, Dr Simon Wilson. [Postgraduate Research Project]
  • An alchemical inquiry into the experience of embodying the wise woman archetype. Researcher(s): Ms Debra Deaville. Supervisor(s): Dr Sarah Christie, Dr Simon Wilson. [Postgraduate Research Project]
  • Doctoral Research Project. Researcher(s): Dr Louise Livingstone. Supervisor(s): Dr Simon Wilson, Professor Linden West. [Postgraduate Research Project (past)]
  • EXPLORING ACADEMIC READING: MEDIUMSHIP, INTUITION AND THE ACADEMY. Researcher(s): Dr Julia Moore. Supervisor(s): Dr Angela Voss, Dr Simon Wilson. [Postgraduate Research Project]
  • Facing the Hydra; An examination of the Otherness of Dreams and its Pedagogical Role in the Humanities. Researcher(s): Mr Simão Ferreira Cortês. Supervisor(s): Dr Simon Wilson, Professor Bob Bowie. [Postgraduate Research Project]
  • Harmony in Healing at the Thymele of Epidaurus: An Imaginal Approach. Researcher(s): Mrs Bettina Borg Cardona. Supervisor(s): Dr Simon Wilson, Professor Bob Bowie. [Postgraduate Research Project]
  • James Hillman, the Post-Jungians and the Study of the Sacred. Researcher(s): Mr Stone Fitzgerald. Supervisor(s): Dr Simon Wilson, Dr Ralph Norman. [Postgraduate Research Project]
  • Moving through uncertainty with George Meredith. Researcher(s): Mrs Sylvia Hornsby. Supervisor(s): Professor Carolyn Oulton, Dr Simon Wilson. [Postgraduate Research Project]
  • THE IMPACT OF DAYDREAMING ON CREATIVE EXPLORATION AND PERSONAL CONNECTION WITH ENGLISH LITERARY TEXTS. Researcher(s): Dr Danielle Limos. Supervisor(s): Dr Andrew Humphries, Professor Lynn Revell, Dr Simon Wilson. [Postgraduate Research Project (past)]
  • The influence of Vedanta as a theological framework underwriting Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man, with reference to his contemporaneous autobiographical, creative and religious writings.. Researcher(s): Mr Joel Fisher. Supervisor(s): Dr Andrew Palmer, Dr Simon Wilson. [Postgraduate Research Project]
  • The myth and cosmology of past and contemporary cultures demonstrating as metaphor stages and processes of a universal self –organizing principle at work associated with ideas of the sacred.. Researcher(s): Mrs Alexandra Derby. Supervisor(s): Dr Simon Wilson, Dr Angela Voss. [Postgraduate Research Project (past)]

Membership of Professional Bodies and Networks

  • Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
  • Elected member of the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies in Cambridge
  • Founder committee member of the Foundation for the Research and Preservation of the Lead Codies, University of Surrey

Invited Lectures

I am regularly invited to give lectures to academic conferences, symposiums, and other forums.

People search

Contact me

simon.wilson@canterbury.ac.uk
Thorne & Fynden (THs07), Canterbury and Thorne & Fynden (THs07), Canterbury

Based in

Faculty of Arts Humanities and Education
School of Humanities and Educational Studies