About the Speakers:
Topic: Spirituality as a human universal: the empirical evidence
Dr David Hay is an internationally recognised expert on contemporary spirituality and has researched extensively within this area. He is a former director of the Alister Hardy Research Centre in Oxford and is currently an honorary senior lecturer in the School of Divinity, Religious Studies at the University of Aberdeen.
Topic: Spirituality and medicine: complementary perspectives
Professor David Aldridge is Professor of Qualitative Research in the Faculty of Medicine at the University Witten-Herdecke, Germany. He has researched and practised extensively within the area of spirituality and health and has particular expertise within the area of complementary medicine.
Topic: Spirituality and mental health
Professor John Swinton is Professor in Practical Theology and Pastoral Care at the University of Aberdeen. He has a background in mental health nursing and mental health chaplaincy and has researched and published widely within the area of spirituality and health.
Topic: The Chaplain as a 'spiritual carer'
Chaplain Mark Cobb is an ordained priest in the Anglican Church with experience in parochial ministry, healthcare Chaplaincy and palliative care. His research focus is the role of spirituality in health care. He is a Research Associate of the Lincoln Theological Institute and was appointed as Clinical Director of Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in 2002.
Topic: Spirituality in nursing
Wilfred McSherry is a Lecturer in Adult Nursing Studies, Department of Health Studies, University of Hull. He has a particular interest in spirituality and nursing and has written extensively within this area both with regard to nursing practice and nursing education. His publications include his important text on spirituality: Making Sense of Spirituality in Nursing Practice.
Topic: Spirituality in medicine: can doctors be taught to be spiritual?
Dr Christina Puchalski is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Health Care Sciences at the George Washington University School of Medicine, Washington D.C. She is the Founder and Director of the George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health. (Gwish.org) Dr Puchalski currently heads up the Templeton Foundation's US initiative to introduce spirituality to the medical school curriculum.
Topic: Caring for the spirituality of healthcare professionals
Professor Steve Wright is the Director of the Sacred Space Foundation. The Foundation seeks to provide peaceful rest, retreat and recuperation facilities for doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals. It seeks to provide - "Sacred Space" - for those who have become exhausted, burned out and stressed in their work. Professor Wright is an acknowledged expert in therapeutic touch and his book Sacred Space - Right Relationship in Spirituality and Healthcare is one of the few texts which seeks to address the significance of the spirituality for pressurised healthcare professionals.
Topic: Is the spiritual dimension different within European healthcare chaplaincy?
Fr Stavros Kofinas is a priest (protopresbyter) of the Orthodox Church. He is a psychotherapist, hospital chaplain supervisor in Athens and the representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople on the European Network of Healthcare Chaplaincy of which he is the Co-ordinator.
For further information contact:
Emma Darling, Communications, Office of External Affairs, University of Aberdeen, Tel: (01224) 272013 or email: e.darling@abdn.ac.uk
- Issued by
-
The Communications Team
Directorate of External Relations,
University of Aberdeen,
King's College,
Aberdeen
- Issued on
- 12 January 2004
