Professor Peter Kevern

Associate Supervisor
Email: pk594@cam.ac.uk

Peter is an Associate Supervisor at Westcott House, specialising in:

The interface between religion and health/social care

He is also developing a side-interest in the potential of mediaeval bestiaries to enrich our thinking about ecological concerns.

Peter is the Professor of Values in Health and Social Care at the University of Staffordshire. His current role combines teaching and research along with academic leadership in the university. He is currently supervising eight PhD candidates on subjects as diverse as: the significance of the concept of ubuntu for Social Work; the philosophy of Maurice Blondel; Primary Care Chaplaincy; the relationship between religiosity and political beliefs; the needs of South Asian people with dementia in residential homes; spiritual resilience in stroke survivors; spiritual coping in emergency services workers; church acoustics and meaning.

Peter was a Brother in the Society of St Francis for 13 years in the UK and Papua New Guinea. He then trained Anglican ordinands for 10 years before moving to his present place of work in 2010. Anglican for most of his adult life, he became a Catholic in 2009 and feels he is still trying to get the hang of it!

The core of Peter’s research has been at the interface between religion and dementia: from the theology of dementia to the way religious organisations can fulfil public health goals for dementia care. Most of the rest has been related to this central theme in some way, and includes ageing in the church, Chaplaincy, Spiritual care and the Cognitive Science of Religion, Death and Bereavement, and Pakistani Muslim responses to dementia.

Peter is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and serves as a member of the Society for the Study of Theology, and the Catholic Theological Association.

Selected Recent Publications

Kevern, P Touching God: dementia and the bodies of Christ Cascade Books: 2025

The Fear of Dementia and the Challenge to Personhood. Exploring the depths of our existential dread in Lars Danbolt, Understanding Existential Health for Dementia Care: Supporting the Bio-Psycho-Social Approach London: Taylor and Francis [2025, in press]

Kevern, P, Walker, W, Jones, J, Owen, S and Esfathiou, N (2024) Influences on bereaved family uptake of chaplaincy support when viewing the deceased person: a case series study in controlled conditions Health and Social Care Chaplaincy https://doi.org/10.1558/hscc.29358

Nazir, N and Kevern, P (2024) Understanding and awareness of dementia in the Pakistani-origin community of Stoke-on-Trent, UK. A scenario-based interview study Healthcare 12(2) 251 https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12020251

Adshead, C, Runacres, J and Kevern, P (2023) Exploring the Subjective Experiences of Peer-Led Social Support Groups for Individuals Bereaved by Suicide Illness, Crisis and Loss (Online First publication 14/8/23) https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10541373231194174

Kevern, P (2023) Presence and Abstraction. Interpreting the practice of Eucharistic Adoration online Heythrop Journal 64(5) 644-655 https://doi.org/10.1111/heyj.14243

Kevern P, Lawrence D, Nazir N and Tsaroucha A. (2022) Religious Influences on the Experience of Family Carers of People with Dementia in a British Pakistani Muslim Community. Healthcare 30;11(1):120 https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11010120