We're delighted to announce a new project at the School of Divinity funded by the John Templeton Foundation Trust The School of Divinity has been awarded a grant of £191,671 by the John Templeton Foundation Trust for a project exploring the feasibility of developing a network of European universities committing to delivering a shared approach to moral education to their students. This award builds on the course, Understanding Your Values, which has been successfully developed by the School for its undergraduate students and which is designed to help students from a range of backgrounds, beliefs and academic disciplines to explore the existential and moral frameworks for their lives. Led by Professor Gordon Lynch, the project will do further work on the design of this approach, drawing on concepts and evidence from a range of disciplines, undertake a more detailed evaluation of versions of this course run in the School and at King's College, London, and build contacts with interested universities across Europe to develop the wider network. Professor Gordon Lynch As interest in moral education in universities grows internationally, this is a very exciting time for the School to be working with colleagues across different countries to develop this new initiative. We are very grateful to the John Templeton Foundation Trust for their support with this and excited to see how this project can help us to take this work further forward. Professor Gordon Lynch Understanding Your Values'Understanding Your Values' is an undergraduate course that students can take in their third or fourth year of study at the School of Divinity.This course draws on approaches drawn from the humanities and the natural, human and social sciences which provide different perspectives on how we understand what values are and the role values play in our lives. Key themes in the course are how a sense of moral identity and purpose can be grounded in understandings of our past, present and future, as well as the value and potential limitations of our moral commitments. John Templeton FoundationThe John Templeton Foundation aims to support interdisciplinary research and catalyze conversations that inspire awe and wonder. They are working to create a world where people are curious about the wonders of the universe, free to pursue lives of meaning and purpose, and motivated by great and selfless love. John Templeton Foundation Trust This article was published on Thursday 20 August 2026
