Durham Cathedral Institute

The Institute hosts events on the floor of the cathedral, where national and international experts discuss and debate the most pressing issues of our times, answering questions from members of the public. Ranging from politics and ethics to social and spiritual issues, topics for each debate are chosen with particular significance for the people and communities of the North East.

Institute events are open to everyone and include a substantial section of Q&A.

Durham has always been a place of intellectual enquiry - up to and beyond the decisive role of Bishop William van Mildert in founding Durham University in 1832. The Institute builds upon centuries of learning, deep and generous listening, and collective discernment.

We are keen to hear from residents, school groups, business leaders, students, and anyone with a stake in the future flourishing of justice and the common good in the North East region.

15 March 2023

Kathryn Stone, independent Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards of the British House of Commons, led a topical discussion alongside the Bishop of Durham, concerning ethics in public life.

With recent events at the time having thrust the question of "standards" in public life into the spotlight, this debate examined what the general public has the right to expect from our elected leaders and political representatives.

Speaker

Kathryn Stone is one of the country’s leading independent commissioners for standards in public life. She was the independent Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards in the House of Commons from January 2018 to December 2022. During her term of office, Kathryn oversaw high-profile investigations into MPs’ conduct, including the Owen Paterson case in 2021. After five years as the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Kathryn is now the Chair of the Bar Standards Board.

Kathryn has also served as Commissioner for Victims and Survivors for Northern Ireland and a commissioner for the Independent Police Complaints Commission, overseeing investigations for seven police forces in the Midlands and North. For eleven years, she was chief executive of the national charity Voice UK, being awarded an OBE in 2007 for services to people with learning disabilities.

Friday 7 October 2022

Two leading experts, Dr Fiona Hill and Professor John Tomaney, discussed the restoration of communities and the renewal of opportunity and social mobility. They answered audience questions on the records of recent UK governments, the impact of conflict on the world stage, the vital role of education, and much more.

We were delighted to be joined by groups of students from local Church of England and Roman Catholic schools, and their teachers.

Thanks to the Durham branch of Stowe Family Law for sponsoring this event.

A recording of the lecture is available on the Durham Cathedral YouTube channel.

Speakers

Fiona Hill, former intelligence analyst and National Security Advisor to three US Presidents, is a native of Bishop Auckland, and author of There Is Nothing for you Here: Finding Opportunity in the 21st Century. She testified at Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial and is currently Robert Bosch Senior Fellow, Center on the US and Europe at the Brookings Institution, Washington DC.

John Tomaney, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at University College, London, was born in County Durham, and one of the country’s leading thinkers on public planning and socioeconomic regeneration.

11 April 2022

Bridget Kendall MBE gave the first lecture of the Durham Cathedral Institute on the political and historical contexts of the war in Ukraine.

Before the event, the cathedral held an evening of prayer and reflection as an act of solidarity with the people of Ukraine and all impacted communities. The cathedral was lit up in blue and yellow, followed by a sung prayer for peace and a minute's silence.

A recording of the lecture is available on the Durham Cathedral YouTube channel.

Speaker

Bridget Kendall, former BBC Diplomatic correspondent, has been Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge, since 2016. Moscow correspondent for the BBC at the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall, she has first-hand knowledge of the leader driving the conflict in Ukraine, having conducted two long interviews with President Vladimir Putin in 2001 and 2006 which were broadcast live to the world from inside the Kremlin.