Postgrad Initiative:
The Association of Christian
Postgraduate Groups
Meeting together locally across Europe, students are supporting one another in our shared calling as young academics.
What is it?
The Association allows self-led groups for Christian postgraduate students in Europe to gain the profile and support which results from associating together around a shared mission and common values.
The Association was launched in response to requests over recent years from independent local groups who have sought such a shared platform.
The Association is co-ordinated by Martin Herdegen, who is a Professor of Mathematics in Stuttgart. He has experience of ministry across three European countries. As an undergraduate he studied in Munich in his native Germany. As a doctoral student in Zurich he helped to found a local postgraduate group in conjunction with the German-speaking Swiss IFES movement. On moving to the University of Warwick, he started its postgrad and staff fellowship.
Association mentors include Tom Rizzo, a Professor of Chemistry at EPFL, Switzerland, and others who work alongside Martin in support and encouragement of group leaders, and they are all supported administratively by Emma Diez Rusnak.
IFES Europe is a collaborating partner within the Gospel and Academia Project (GAP) which hosts shared resources (including group discussion guides) and administers joint programmes (including the Association), on behalf of the partnering ministries.
Why join?
- The Association seeks to provide:
- Encouragement and envisioning
- to those starting or leading groups.
- Resources for groups
- based on ideas that have been fruitful across the Continent.
- Training for leaders
- through our annual leaders' conferences in Germany, reunions at the Forming a Christian Mind conferences, and through the possibility of mentoring.
- Profile and publicity
- through our list of associated groups.
Association Groups
Durham Postgraduate Christian Fellowship
True Foundation, Nottingham
Loughborough Christian Postgraduate Group
Good News for the University - University of Birmingham
Cambridge Christian Educationalist Network
Christian Postgraduate Group London
Ghent
Christian Academics Cologne
Christian Academics Group, Lausanne
Barcelona
Next Steps
If you’re interested in joining the Association with your group, planning to start a new group in your city or looking to contact a specific postgraduate group, we would love to hear from you. Please fill in the form below, and your message will be sent to the group you select.
- Contact Us