Dr Simon Nolan, O.Carm has been appointed as the new Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy. He comes to SPPU with over sixteen years of experience in teaching, administration, and research at third level, most of this at our sister institution, Maynooth University, where he has been teaching in the Department of Philosophy since 2008. Born in Dublin, after studies at University College Dublin, he entered the Carmelite Order. Having fulfilled the roles of Director of Formation and Director of Vocations, he is currently Prior of the Carmelite Church and Priory at Whitefriar Street in the centre of Dublin City.

Dr Nolan holds degrees in theology, with a master’s degree in spirituality. His studies in philosophy culminated in his being awarded a doctoral degree in philosophy (DPhil) at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University. His main interests in philosophy are medieval thought, philosophy of religion, philosophy of the human person, philosophy of knowledge, metaphysics, and aesthetics. He has published numerous articles on philosophy, medieval and modern, and his Brill Companion to Richard FitzRalph (1299-1360), former Archbishop of Armagh and Chancellor of the University of Oxford, (co-edited with Professor Michael Dunne) has gone to press and will appear later this year in the prestigious Brill Companions to the Christian Tradition series. A graduate of the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dr Nolan has published a book on music and the Carmelite Order as well as articles on spirituality and art.