NECC 2026 Programme

Meet the Speakers

Find out more about the fascinating speakers attending this year’s conference. 

Professor Morwenna Ludlow
Morwenna Ludlow is Professor of Christian History and Theology at the University of Exeter, and holds an honorary position as Canon Theologian at Exeter Cathedral. She teaches and conducts research in historical theology, and is a scholar of the history of Christian thought (with a particular focus on the early church: 100-500 CE) but also writes about the reception of early theology by modern thinkers and is very interested in the implications of early theology for the world today.

Nico Muhly
Nico Muhly, born in 1981, is an American composer who writes orchestral music, works for the stage, chamber music and sacred music. He’s received commissions from The Metropolitan Opera: Two Boys (2011), and Marnie (2018); Carnegie Hall, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Tallis Scholars, and King’s College, Cambridge, among others. He is a collaborative partner at the San Francisco Symphony and has been featured at the Barbican and the Philharmonie de Paris as composer, performer, and curator. An avid collaborator, he has worked with choreographers Benjamin Millepied at the Paris Opéra Ballet, Bobbi Jene Smith at the Juilliard School, Justin Peck and Kyle Abraham at New York City Ballet; artists Sufjan Stevens, The National, Teitur, Anohni, James Blake and Paul Simon. His work for film includes scores for for The Reader (2008) and Kill Your Darlings (2013), and the BBC adaptation of Howards End (2017). Recordings of his works have been released by Decca and Nonesuch, and he is part of the artist-run record label Bedroom Community, which released his first two albums, Speaks Volumes (2006) and Mothertongue (2008).
Find out more via Nico Muhly’s website >

Nicholas Orme
Nicholas Orme is emeritus professor of history, University of Exeter, where he worked for 43 years. He is the author of over thirty books on English religious, social, and cultural history, including Exeter Cathedral: the first thousand years (Impress Books, 2009), and The History of England’s Cathedrals (Yale University Press, 2024).
Find out more via the University of Exeter website >

Dr Eleanor Parker
Dr Parker’s research focuses on literature in England between the tenth and the thirteenth centuries, with a particular focus on the literary and cultural impact of the Viking and Norman invasions. Her first book Dragon Lords: The History and Legends of Viking England (2018) developed out of her doctoral research into the development and circulation of narratives about Viking invasion and settlement in medieval England. She has also published several articles relating to post-Conquest interpretations of Anglo-Scandinavian history, especially the reign of Cnut. Her second book, Conquered: The Last Children of Anglo-Saxon England (2022), looked at the generation of English children who grew up in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest and examined interpretations of their lives in romance, hagiography and historical writing.
Find out more via the University of Oxford website >

Professor Christopher Southgate
Professor Christopher Southgate trained originally as a research biochemist. He has taught at the University of Exeter since 1993. He explores the science-religion debate (and related areas such as environmental ethics), and his research interests include the problem of suffering in evolution, the concept of glory in the natural world and in religious poetry, tragic events affecting church congregations, and relation of the poetry of TS Eliot to the Book of Ecclesiastes.
Find out more via the University of Exeter website >