Our recently appointed professors from across our six departments will present the story of their route to become a professor, and the achievements that have brought them to this point.
Between them, they will provide insight into the many different ways academics can demonstrate their contributions to academic life across the spectrum of research, teaching, management and leadership activity.
Please note: Some details may change. Please check this page regularly for updates.
September 2026
Professor Kate Woodthorpe
'We all know how this ends: how death can help us make the most of life'
- Date: Tuesday 29 September 2026
- Time: 6.00pm - 7.00pm
- Location: The Chancellors' Building, Room 3.5
Professor Kate Woodthorpe has spent over two decades researching death and dying, leading major projects and publishing widely on topics from funeral poverty and cemetery change to mortuary practices, funeral education, and end-of-life families.
In her inaugural lecture, she draws on this work and her own experiences to show how facing our shared mortality can help us be present and live life more fully.
Kate Woodthorpe is Professor of Sociology with over 20 years’ experience of conducting research and publishing on death and dying. Currently co-director of the world-leading Centre for Death & Society, she has advised multiple government departments and agencies including the Department for Work and Pensions, Scottish Government, and Competition and Markets Authority.
October 2026
Professor Maria Loades
Beyond the Clinic: Rethinking Early Mental Health Support for Young People. Single-Session Interventions and the Pursuit of Population-Level Impact
- Date: Thursday 8 October 2026
- Time: 5.00pm - 6.00pm
- Location: 6 West, Room 1.1
Many young people experiencing mental health difficulties cannot access timely psychological support. This lecture explores how we might take effective psychological interventions beyond traditional clinics through brief, digital and single-session approaches.
Drawing on her research with young people, Professor Loades will consider how we can make support more accessible, safe and effective, and what it would take for these approaches to have a meaningful impact at population level.
The lecture will be chaired by Professor Julie Barnett.
Maria Loades is a Clinical Psychologist and Professor at the University of Bath, where she co-leads the spotLight on Adolescent and young Adult Mood Problems (LAMP) research group. Her research focuses on improving access to early mental health support for young people, with a particular interest in scalable, accessible digital interventions for depression.
Professor John Troyer
Death! Exciting and New: Reflections on Post-mortem Politics
- Date: Thursday 15 October 2026
- Time: 6.00pm - 7.00pm
- Location: The Chancellors' Building, Room 2.6
Death, dying, the dead body, grief & bereavement and the technological mediation of mortality are persistent human experiences and yet somehow always new. In this way, the politics connected to these collective (and radically distinct) human experiences eternally return to the shock of the old being new again. Again. And again.
Dr. John Troyer is Professor of Death Studies and former Director of the Centre for Death & Society in the Department of Social and Policy Sciences at the University of Bath. He is a co-founder of the Death Reference Desk website, the Future Cemetery project, and the author of Technologies of the Human Corpse (MIT Press, 2020). He grew up in the American funeral industry.