Academic research can shape society in powerful ways: but how can you know what research to trust? What role does trust have as we examine each other’s sources, interpret data, and relate to our colleagues?

In today’s society, where trust often seems naive, it can be hard to know whom to trust, when to trust, or whether we should trust at all. Yet trust is a virtue at the very heart of the Christian faith. So how, as Christian scholars, should we think about trust? Does trust require a leap of faith; or if not, how should we make use of evidence; and how do our moral commitments feed into this process? And how does a biblical understanding of trust enrich our work and witness?

Dr Tom Simpson, from the University of Oxford, will speak to us about this topic, drawing on his new book Trust: A Philosophical Study (OUP 2023). Academics from across the UK, in fields from computer science to sociology, will respond to Dr Simpson and consider implications of his argument for their fields, and they will facilitate discipline-specific seminars, where you can meet with and learn from fellow postgraduates and postdocs in your subject-areas.