Public lectures take place annually, addressing the intersections between religion, culture, and psychoanalysis.
2016
The 2016 Memorial Lecture in memory of Murray Leishman was given by June M Campbell, psychoanalytic psychotherapist, on the subect of ‘Psychoanalytic Perspectives on the Infinite’. A tribute to Murray Leishman, ‘Mapping a journey’ was given by The Rev David S M Hamilton (former Chair).
2017
The 2017 lecture, ‘Psychoanalysis and religion: auld enemy or new alliance?’ was given by The Rev Dr Alistair Ross, Associate Professor of Psychotherapy, University of Oxford.
2018
The 2018 lecture ‘Reading Between the Lines: poetry, therapy and faith’, was given by The Revd Canon Mark Oakley, Chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral, London.
2019
The 2019 lecture, ‘Craiglockhart Hospital and its Poets 1916-1919: A Centennial Perspective’ was given by The Revd Professor David Fergusson OBE, formerly Professor of Divinity at the University of Edinburgh and currently, Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge.
2020
Due to Covid-19, the 2020 Annual Lecture was postponed.
2021
Following on from a significant piece of research, commissioned by the Ministries’ Council of the Church of Scotland, ‘Resilience and Wellbeing in Ministry: An empirical enquiry within the Church of Scotland’, completed in 2019, The Guntrip Trust had invited Prof Leslie J Francis to reflect on some of his key findings, against a broader canvas of resilience and wellbeing in work, with specific focus on self-awareness and self-reflection.
Sadly, due to COVID-19, his lecture entitled ‘Am I Good Enough?’, due to be delivered in 2020, had to be postponed. In 2021, he was joined by his friend and colleague Prof Andrew Village co-author of a book based on that research. Professor Village shared findings from their ‘Coronavirus, Church and You’ Survey, offering reflection on the impact of the pandemic on resilience and wellbeing.
“The most important thing to take forward from the research is the importance of self-awareness, for those working in ministry to understand how they work, how they respond to others around them, and how this affects their ability to be resilient to all that life and ministry throws at a person.”
2022 Lecture
The 2022 lecture was delivered in hybrid format by Mona Siddiqui, Professor of Islamic and Inter-religious Studies in the University of Edinburgh. Her lecture, entitled ‘Gratitude and the Struggle of the Journey Within’ explored the intersecting themes from her own fields of interest and those of the Guntrip Trust; particularly where theological and philosophical views of human struggle chime with the invitation to engage in a psychodynamic therapeutic way, with the kind of struggles with which many people wrestle in therapy.
2023
In 2023, it was decided not to hold a lecture. Instead, trustees reflected on previous formats, with the intention of exploring options that would facilitate the dual purposes of sponsoring events which promote the profile of the Trust, as well as providing novel, relevant presentations at the intersections of religion, culture, and psychoanalysis.
2024
In 2024, in partnership with The Scottish Association of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapists (SAPP), the Trust has invited psychoanalyst Anthea Gomez to explore the links between music and psychotherapy, using Bach’s Chaconne from the Partita in D minor for solo violin, Hanna Segal’s Theory of Aesthetics and contemporary writings on music and the Unconscious. These reflections will be interspersed with musical illustrations, played by violinist Sara Trickey, who will then perform the Chaconne in its entirety. The presentation is entitled, ‘Pleasing Sorrows and Grateful Terrors; Music and the Psyche’.