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.

Wendy Joseph KC retired from a distinguished legal career in 2022, including a decade as a judge at the Old Bailey sitting on criminal cases. Joining the Old Bailey in 2012, Wendy was the only woman amongst sixteen judges and only the third woman ever to hold a permanent position there. She has also served as a Diversity and Community Relations Judge, working to promote understanding between the judiciary and society, and as a mentor for young people. Wendy’s first book, Unlawful Killings, published in 2021, was a Sunday Times Best Seller and won the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger award for non-fiction. In 2024, she published a new book, Rough Justice: Do We Have the Law We Deserve?

Kate O’Brien is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Durham University and Co-Director of the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Programme. For the last ten years, she has delivered undergraduate and postgraduate programmes at HMP Durham, HMP Frankland and HMP Low Newton, as well as directing Durham University’s MSc programme in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Kate has particular expertise in the field of women and imprisonment and has worked on funded projects examining the experience of female prisoners with histories of sexual violence and abuse, and those separated from their children. Her publications include a co-authored volume, Criminal Women: Gender Matters (Bristol University Press, 2022).

John Podmore is an international expert on corruption in prisons, currently working with the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. A former prison governor (of HMP Belmarsh, HMP Brixton and HMP Swaleside) and prison inspector, he is the author of Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Why Britain’s Prisons are Failing (Biteback, 2012). John has also held an honorary professorship at Durham University.

Dr Fiona Hill is Chancellor of Durham University, an acclaimed foreign affairs specialist and author, and a former advisor to George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump. She served on the US National Intelligence Council from 2006 to 2009 and was a member of the US National Security Council from 2017 to 2019.

Born in Bishop Auckland, the daughter of a coal miner, Hill’s many publications include an autobiography, There is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the 21st Century (Mariner, 2023). Hill remains a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a non-profit public policy organisation based in Washington DC, conducting in-depth research into new ideas for solving problems facing society at local, national and global levels.

Wednesday 26 June, 7.30pm

In June 2024 , Durham Cathedral Institute and Durham Churches Together hosted a General Election Hustings for the City of Durham constituency.

The event, chaired by the Dean of Durham, Philip Plyming, was a chance for people to hear from local candidates and there was the opportunity for the audience to ask questions.

Parliamentary candidates included Green candidate Jonathan Elmer, Labour candidate Mary Foy, Conservative candidate Luke Holmes, Reform UK candidate Mark Belch and Liberal Democratic candidate Mark Wilkes.