Chaplaincy at UoG

The Chaplaincy team is here for all students, offering welcoming spaces for community, wellbeing and spirituality.

The University of Gloucestershire has developed a strong and well resourced Chaplaincy team over a number of years, which is widely valued by the student and staff community.

The team offer wellbeing support to all students and staff members, whatever their belief and worldview.

To enable this the team has created Sanctuary spaces on each campus and offers a wide range of activities and events.

Meet the team

The team currently includes:

Revd Canon Simon Witcombe – Senior Chaplain
Jo Parkin – Chaplain (International student lead)
Revd Kerry Samuel – Chaplain (City Campus lead)
Atique Miah – Chaplain (Muslim student lead)

along with a Wider Team of Associate Chaplains and Faith Advisors from a range of faiths.

Team members offer individual support to students and staff members and contribute to the university community in a number of ways.

The team also bring their deep understanding of religious faith and spirituality to the role, enabling interfaith dialogue and the sharing of prayer and reflection.

Chaplaincy team photo featuring Simon, Jo, Kerry and Atique.

Students enjoying chatting and sharing food in one of UoG's sanctuary spaces.

The Sanctuary Spaces

Over recent years the University has created a number of Sanctuary spaces, with at least one on each campus and a further Sanctuary at Pittville Student Village.

The Sanctuaries are welcoming and comfortable spaces for all students, and places of belonging for students facing a variety of challenges.

The chaplains act as hosts, offering a welcome, and enabling conversations and community.

Alongside the social spaces, most of the Sanctuaries offer a Prayer and Meditation Room with ablutions facilities for Muslim students and staff.

At Francis Close Hall the Small Sanctuary offers this space, with the Chapel Sanctuary being adjacent to the historic and atmospheric University Chapel.

Chaplains have offices in most of the spaces where they can meet students and staff.

Chaplaincy activities

The Chaplaincy team offer a wider range of activities either in the Sanctuaries or around the University campus sites.

Current activities include:

Dog walks with Chaplaincy dogs
Cake and Chat
Wellbeing Wednesdays
Neurodiversity Drop-in (with the Disability Team)
Big Questions Café (interfaith dialogue)
Campus Communion
Friday Prayers for Muslim students and staff
Exploring Christianity group
African Students Fellowship
Mindfulness courses

The wellbeing activities and groups are appreciated by many students, enabling relationships to grow and community to develop.

Students from different backgrounds and on different courses are able to meet each other, get to know one another and become part of a community.

Two members of the Chaplain team on a Sanctuary arranged dog walk in the park.

Faith and spirituality

The Chaplaincy team model interfaith relationships based on mutual respect and openness, offering opportunities for those from different faith traditions and worldviews to learn from each other, share space together and develop deep relationships.

The team also offers opportunities for students and staff to pray and worship together, as well as supporting a wide variety of students and staff in their spiritual exploration and growth when this is sought.

The team offer informal support to two student faith societies, the Christian Union, and the Islamic Society, as well as the monthly African Students Fellowship.

Student and staff support

A central part of the team’s role is the individual support of students and staff. Unlike many other university teams, Chaplains are accessible and can be seen without appointment. Chaplains offer a safe space where students and staff can be listened to. The team work closely with the other Wellbeing teams, signposting students for further support where appropriate.

These conversations may be about the many practical issues students face, perhaps as international students, or about anxieties concerning their course, or concerns about relationships, or mental health issues.

The team support students and staff from the LGBTQ+ community and those exploring gender identity. Some students bring questions arising from their faith tradition and spiritual searching.

The team has a particular focus in supporting international students, including students from forced migration backgrounds through the Sanctuary Scholarship scheme.