I began studies in theology at St Mark’s National Theological Centre in mid-2018 on the recommendation of a work colleague who had found her study there a profoundly satisfying experience. Having spent my professional life amongst school students, teachers, and teacher educators, my move into the unknown academic discipline of theology was both uncertain and very tentative. I first enrolled in a Graduate Diploma, and am now in my third year of a Ph D. My capacity to make progress from outright beginner to research student has been the outcome of the constant support and encouragement of the teaching, library, and administrative staff at St Mark’s. The strength of the teaching program lies in the deep academic knowledge and wisdom of lecturers and their willingness and outstanding pedagogical capacity to share this effectively with students, even those who, like me, begin with little or no academic background in theology.

Over my nearly seven years of engagement with St Mark’s, and my enrolment in fourteen subjects prior to my research program, I have developed my knowledge to the extent that I have been awarded an Australian Government Research Training Program scholarship to complete my PhD. Until the start of my research program in 2023, my program was entirely self-funded at considerable personal monetary cost. Although I am fortunate to have been able to have drawn on our personal resources for the duration of my initial studies, I was also aware that those resources would not permit me to enrol in a fee-paying PhD program. The scholarship that now supports my studies is a financial lifeline.

I am a woman whose husband (and children) are prepared to support my fascination with theology and to help me by taking up the strain of financial commitment. I know how much it has meant to us to have access to a scholarship to free me now to focus on my study.