Meet the team

Jessica Giles SFHEA

Senior Lecturer in Law, barrister Human rights and theological philosophy.

My research specialism is in the interdisciplinary synthesis of law & religion studies, constitutional theory and philosophical theology. I also explore aspects of technology, law and religion, including space law, human rights and religion and AI, law and religion.

This involves research into freedom of thought conscience and religion and related fundamental rights as well as the legal scope of religious freedom in public life. I am currently working on the theoretical underpinning of the right to freedom of thought conscience and religion in a comparative constitutional and theological context with a focus in Reformed Theology. I am currently lead co-editor on a volume exploring the implications of emerging technologies for law creation, as they intersect with religion.

I engage with my local community as Chair of the United Nations Association, Medway and as a member of the Medway Interfaith Action Group. I am President of the St Mary’s Alumni Society, Durham University.

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Dr Yoseph Araya FHEA

Senior Lecturer in ecology and environmental sciences within the Eco-systems and biodiversity research disciplines.

Specialist areas; ecology and environmental sciences, astrobiology.

My particular research interest is in the functional relationships between plants and their environment (particularly water and nutrients). I especially enjoy integrating experimental studies with field investigations. I also am an enthusiastic communicator of science and environmental education. I have been privileged to be an academic consultant and contribute to an OU-BBC production of Green Planet, a 5 episode exploration of how plants survive and support our earth. There is a dedicated website with poster and other articles, created along with my colleagues Prof. David Gowing and Dr Julia Cooke at the OU Connect - The Green Planet website. In summer 2022 I coordinated web workshops on Art-based global sustainbility education with Dr Maria Nita, Religious Studies, OU, and citizen science training (upskilling) for employment with the British Ecological Society. Another recent project is Walking the Talk (with Dr Marcus Badger, Prof. Clare Warren and others) which aims to understand and encourage outdoor engagement of underrepresented groups.

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Dr Chiara Berneri FHEA

Lecturer in Law EU constitutional Law, EU immigration and asylum law.

My main research interests are EU constitutional law, EU immigration and asylum law, EU internal market law and the ECHR. I teach undergraduate and graduate students. I have published several journal articles and case notes both in English and Italian. I have also written a monograph on family reunification, published by Hart in 2017 and more recently Private Sponsorship of Refugees in Europe, 2024 Hart Publishing.

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Dr Alexandra Bohm

Lecturer in Law, solicitor International peace and security law.

My primary research specialism is in international peace and security law, specifically the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) as a response to the atrocities in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. My PhD examined this policy doctrine through the lens of the English School of International Relations, taking a critical approach to the causes of violence that the R2P seeks to address and the prioritisation of military responses by global actors. I am also interested in the place of international law within theories of international relations, and in wider aspects of public international law.

With Blagovesta Tacheva and Garrett Wallace Brown, I have recently published an article ‘The Responsibility for Peace (R4P): Understanding the study of peace from a global justice and development perspective’ Rivista Italiana di Filosofia Politica (6): 73-97.

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Nadine Ellis

Lecturer in Law, Student Experience Manager.

Nadine is a Lecturer of Law and Student Experience Manager, within the Law school at the Open University. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Nadine has been an educator for the past 20 years, passionately lecturing and managing within the Further and Higher Education sectors. She has experience of lecturing and course managing within the fields of Law, Business, Public Services and Criminology. This love of learning fuels Nadine’s passion about support, online learning and change management.

Nadine is a practising Christian, qualified legal professional, and often provides pro-bono consultation to her local community. Nadine shares the OU values of inclusivity, innovation, and responsiveness.

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Dr Suzanne Newcombe

Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies, Sociology of religion.

I have active research interests in the sociology and social history of religion (broadly understood) and extensive specialist knowledge in new and minority religious movements in modern and contemporary Britain and the modern history of yoga. I am particularly interested in the interfaces between religion, health and healing. I am also interested in how to better understand and negotiate relationships with beliefs and practices that are at tension with wider society.

I am committed to making accurate and evidenced based information on minority religions accessible. I have also researched topics related to assessing the security threats posed by minority religions, conspiracy theories, hate speech and the harm caused by minority religions. I also have a long-term interest in prophecy, millenarianism and apocalyptic groups.

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Dr Maria Nita SFHEA

Lecturer in Religious Studies.

Areas of interest: Climate activism, sustainability and storytelling.

My current research is centred on climate activism, sustainability and storytelling, particularly in relation to religious practices. My new projects have looked at Extinction Rebellion activism in connection with funerary rites, as I have been interrogating new extinction rituals. More broadly I am interested in the British counterculture and the cultural processes that enabled its development, in the West. As such, I am interested in the early festival culture that developed during the late 1960s and early 1970s, in the UK. In my recent work I have investigated practices and discourses that facilitate cultural change and I am also conducting ethnographic research inside the Extinction Rebellion Movement, via participant observation. I am particularly interested in the artistic and performative dimensions in this movement and the impact of these activities on both the rebels and the public. Other research interests include: green Islam, green prayers and rituals, and spirituality in health environments.

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Professor Giles Mohan

Chair Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The Open University.

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Dr Marjan Adjevsky

Lecturer in Law, OU Law School, The Open University.

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Professor Caroline Derry

Professor of feminism, law and history, OU Law School, The Open University.

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Dr Andrew Gargett

Lecturer in artificial intelligence, Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Languages, The Open University.

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Dr John Maiden

Senior Lecturer, Religious Studies, The Open University.

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Professor Natalia Szablewska

Professor in Law and Society, OU Law School, The Open University.

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