Professor Katherine Southwood honoured with Outstanding Service in Mentorship Award

This prestigious international award recognises women who have provided invaluable guidance, advice, and encouragement in the field of biblical studies. Professor Southwood is one of only two recipients in 2024.

On receiving the award, she commented:

'I am delighted and grateful to receive this recognition. It is an award that aligns closely to my values. Empowering women to engage authentically is vitally important because diversity brings richness, depth, and texture to scholarship.'

Professor Southwood is a Fellow of St John's College, whose interdisciplinary research bridges Biblical texts and social sciences.

She has authored five books, including her recent monograph Job’s Body and the Dramatized Comedy of Moralising. She has also published two recent articles: ‘Trauma, Brokenness, and Pain in the Book of Lamentations: Empathetic Attention as a Hermeneutic for Thinking About Rehabilitation of Health’ in Jews and Health: History, Tradition, and Practice and, in collaboration with James W. Southwood (Clinical Psychologist, NHS England), ‘Job as a Work of Laughtears and Learning: Comedy, Pain, and Audience Empathy’. As part of her exploration of illness, pain, empathy, and meaning, Katherine has organized several conferences with NHS chaplains, supported by a Wellcome Institutional Public Engagement with Research grant.

Congratulations to Professor Southwood for this well-deserved award. St John's is proud to be home to scholars committed to mentoring and guiding others, and building community in their fields.