Registration is now open for Theology & Culture: Gendered Violence Conference 2026

Registration is now open for The Wesley Centre’s inaugural Theology & Culture: Gendered Violence conference to be held in Melbourne from 11-13 Feb, 2026.

This conference brings together researchers, practitioners, and those with lived experience to talk about the role theology plays in helping or contributing to the harms associated with gender-based violence. We’ll be asking how religion, theology, and culture contribute to, or help combat, gendered violence? And, what we can do together to advocate for change within churches and wider society?

Participants will be able to choose between research papers or interactive workshops. Research papers will showcase the latest research on gendered violence putting various disciplines in conversations with one another.

The workshops are aimed to meet the needs of ministers, chaplains, youth workers, and practitioners, making it an excellent professional development opportunity for those who would like to increase their pastoral skills, or think more deeply about the intersection of theology and gendered violence.

Confirmed speakers include theologians and biblical scholars like Geoff Thompson, Monica Melanchthon, Naomi Wolfe, Cath McKinney, and Emily Colgan; sociologists like Rosie Clare Shorter, Ruth Powell, Farjana Mahbuba, and Prof. Sarah Wendt, as well church leaders, practitioners, and experts like Maree Crabbe who works on the impact of pornography and how we talk with young people about consent.

Register before the end of October to get the early bird rate!