St Edmund Hall launches new Theology and Philosophy Graduate Scholarship

Starting this academic year 2025-26, the College has established the new Oxford-St Edmund Hall Scotus-Ockham Graduate Scholarship in Theology and Religion or Philosophy. The first recipient of the award is, DPhil Theology student Joseph Harrison, who will complete their research at the Centre for the Study of the Bible and will be affiliated to Teddy Hall from 2025.

Joseph hopes to explore the literary and philosophical conceptions of city as well as the archaeological evidence from ancient cities. Joseph’s MPhil dissertation looked at obscure creatures in the Hebrew Bible and its translations and their implications for pluriform traditions and interpretations. Joseph’s interests include biblical Hebrew poetry and poetic form, classical philosophy, the Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient art, archaeology, materiality, patristics, translation theory, biblical hermeneutics, metaphor, the Vulgate, and classical literature.

“My DPhil project will focus on cities and communities, and I am delighted that not only have I received funding for what promises to be an incredibly exciting and interdisciplinary project, but also that I will be a part of the Teddy Hall community as I study. The past two years have been incredibly rewarding academically, but they have also reminded me of the importance of our service to the community, especially in the form of the volunteering work that I have done with the Oxford Companions. I look forward to being a part of such a community-oriented College, and I am incredibly grateful for the support that I am receiving from the Oxford-St Edmund Hall Scotus-Ockham scholarship to make this possible. – Joseph Harrison

This scholarship award has been generously co-funded with the University in perpetuity with an endowed gift by Dr Sara Browne (1983, Medicine) St Edmund Fellow and Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of California, and Chris Richey, Managing Partner of Neosho Capital and the Richey Family Foundation.

The scholarship is inspired and created in honour of the Oxford Franciscan School, particularly in tribute to John Duns Scotus, a Scottish Catholic priest and Franciscan friar, university professor, philosopher and theologian and William of Ockham, an English Franciscan friar, scholastic philosopher, and theologian. Scotus and Ockham were followers of St Francis, a Saint of peace and of the poor. The intellectual tradition that followed him gave theological and philosophical foundation to his fundamental insights, particularly in the Oxford and Parisian schools of their day.

“We are immensely looking forward to welcoming our first Oxford-St Edmund Hall Scotus-Ockham Graduate Scholar in the Autumn this year. The Hall is extremely grateful to Sara and Chris for strengthening the future of theology and philosophy teaching and research and we are proud that this will be the first affiliated Theology scholar at the College.” – Principal Baroness Willis

“We congratulate Joseph on his selection and are proud to assist the next generation of academics to help ‘light our human path’ during challenging times. No pressure Joseph… We are privileged to support wonderful young academics, like Joseph,  to advance theological and philosophical studies of the human appreciation of God and spirituality, alongside the pursuit of truth, justice and peace for the benefit of all life.” – Dr Sara Browne (1983, Medicine) and Chris Richey

For the students receiving the scholarship, Sara and Chris wish to inspire an ethos of Franciscan spirit and what it means to be human; emphasising compassion, relationship, creativity, intellect, spirit, justice, responsibility or peace, within a world shared with other sentient beings. Their intention is to advance both theological and philosophical studies of the human appreciation of God and the practice of spirituality and they hope more broadly, alongside the pursuit of truth, justice and peace, and the appreciation of beauty and love for the benefit of all life.