In this deeply reflective lecture, which took place on Wednesday, 20 May, Professor Phipps examined the theological and practical failures exposed by recent assaults in Gaza, Sudan and Tigray. Drawing on decades of work with refugees worldwide, and grounded in her experience working with refugees in Scotland, she explored the urgent and often painful realities of offering refuge. Through this, she discussed what it means to provide sanctuary in conditions that can feel apocalyptic.
The lecture examined difficult questions around collective responsibility and moral failure, asking what heartbreak reveals about society’s treatment and betrayal of refugees. In the face of immense grief, Professor Phipps offered poetic and prayerful resources for courage, faith and cheerfulness from her tradition within the Iona Community.
Professor Alison Phipps is the UNESCO Chair in Refugee Integration through Education, Languages and the Arts at the University of Glasgow, where she serves as Professor of Languages and Intercultural Studies. She also chairs the New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy, a collaborative initiative involving the Scottish Government, Scottish Local Authorities, and the Scottish Refugee Council.
In 2012, she received an OBE for Services to Education and Intercultural and Interreligious Relations, and in 2023, she received an honorary doctorate from the University of Edinburgh in recognition of ‘inspirational and extraordinary research and work with refugees and multilingual and multicultural communities’. She is a member of The Iona Community, and in 2024, she authored the prayer booklet ‘Call and No Response: 30 Prayers in Genocidal Times’.
Introducing her lecture, Professor Phipps said:
“The question I used to be asked most often before October 2023 was ‘how do I keep on keeping on?’. Today the question has become a demand for hope. For hope, for those who work on the edges of human and environmental suffering, feels absent.
“The central theme of this year's Ebor lecture, which I have the honour of being invited to deliver, is in the question of what it means to remake hope, and to survive the absence of hope, is one which is carried as both heavy burden and gift of grace by those who have been made into refugees by a broken and unjust world order."
Professor Esther McIntosh, Director of the Centre for Religion in Society at York St John University, added:
“This lecture promises to be a profound and moving event, inviting attendees to reflect, respond, and reimagine what it means to offer refuge in a world marked by crisis and displacement.
“We are incredibly grateful to have this opportunity to hear from Professor Alison Phipps as she shares her decades of experience in refugee work with us. She has worked with colleagues in the Gaza Strip for over fifteen years, and has led members of the Home Affairs and Justice Select Committee on a witness-bearing trip to refugee camps in France. As we mark 20 years of the Ebor Lecture series, how we respond to genocidal actions in Gaza, Sudan and Tigray is of vital moral and human significance.”
The Reverend Canon Maggie McLean, Canon Missioner at York Minster, said:
“The Ebor Lectures have a long history of exploring difficult and demanding questions facing contemporary society. This year’s lecture, with its focus on refugees and our response to the enforced movement of people across the globe, could not be more timely.
“Professor Phipps is well placed and highly qualified to address these questions with insight, accuracy, and compassion. We hope that many people, whatever their views are on this issue, will come with open hearts and minds to engage with a topic which none of us can ignore.”
Established in 2006, the Ebor Lectures in Theology and Public Life aim to foster dialogue between religion and society on matters of cultural, ethical, and political importance. They are hosted by the Centre of Religion and Society at York St John University and jointly sponsored by York Minster, The Methodist Church (Yorkshire North & East District), The C. & J.B. Morrell Trust and the York Area Society of Friends (Quakers).
Event details and booking
Ebor Lecture: When Every Hope Has Gone: Grief, Rage and Refuge in a Merciless Age with Professor Alison Phipps
Date: Wednesday 20 May 2026
