Dr Cheryl Hunt

Dr Cheryl Hunt is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Exeter. She is Director of Research and Scholarship and a Trustee of the International Network for the Study of Spirituality (INSS). Her work and main research interests lie at the intersection of Critical Reflection, Spirituality, Education and Professional Practice.

Dr Hunt directed the Professional Doctorates Programme in the School of Education and co-designed and co-directed the Postgraduate, HEA-accredited, Certificate in Academic Practice for University staff. Previously, she worked in adult and community education for many years before taking up an academic appointment at the University of Sheffield, UK. Using innovative methods of collaborative inquiry and critical reflective practice, she has designed and directed numerous successful action-research projects in a wide range of professional and community settings. She is passionate about the use of educational and research processes that enable people to explore and develop their own meaning-making; to take a critical perspective which challenges orthodoxies; and to give voice to hitherto submerged knowledge that can make a difference both personally and politically.

Since 2008, Dr Hunt has played a key role in founding and developing the International Network for the Study of Spirituality (formerly the British Association for the Study of Spirituality), including a successful and ongoing series of biennial international conferences. She is the founding editor of the Journal for the Study of Spirituality and was its Chief Editor from the journal's inception in 2010 until 2023; she continues to serve as an Executive Editor.

Dr Hunt's current research interests are in the relationship between spirituality and consciousness studies, and the implications of such studies for teaching, learning and transformative education; and for the emergence of a new postmaterialist paradigm. She is Co-Editor of the book series Studies in Neuroscience, Consciousness and Spirituality. She is a former Executive Editor of Teaching in Higher Education and was responsible for developing and editing its 'Points of Departure' section. This continues to encourage work that moves away from the standard academic paper and into more experimental territory to tackle new and emerging ideas in higher education.

An experienced doctoral supervisor, examiner and reviewer, Dr Hunt has an excellent reputation for supporting innovative projects in adult, higher and professional education, particularly those involving ways of knowing that extend beyond the cognitive.