Freedom to flourish?: Using psychological self-determination theory to investigate an innovative programme supporting women’s doctoral research in theology

This paper details the context and findings of exploratory research investigating how women undertaking doctoral research in theology characterise the impact on their freedom to flourish of a holistic project which supports and explicitly addresses the intersectionality of their academic, spiritual and personal lives. Conceiving feminist research as spiritual practice, and females as marginalised in the academy and faith communities, it evaluates the project using Self Determination Theory: a psychological, empirically driven, organismic motivational meta-theory, rarely engaged with by feminist or practical theologians. Measures and theories of SDT are used directly or inform multiple types of qualitative and quantitative data gathering from project participants. Data analysis will identify the project’s support or thwarting of three essential ‘nutriments’ of autonomy, competence and relatedness that SDT posits as essential to human flourishing, and propose emerging insights and questions from dialogue between these ‘nutriments’ and feminist discourses around women’s self-authenticity, agency and relationality.