The next Principal of the Scottish Episcopal Institute will be the Rev Dr Michael Hull.

Dr Hull will start in his new role at the beginning of July upon the retirement of the current Principal, the Rev Canon Dr Anne Tomlinson.

The SEI Principal is responsible for strategic leadership in the training and formation of candidates for ministry.

Dr Hull, the current SEI Director of Studies, was appointed following an open recruitment process which saw a short-list of applicants invited to interview.

The successful candidate said: “I am delighted to be entrusted with the principalship of the SEI by Bishop Andrew Swift and the Institute Council. SEI’s students and staff are superlative. It is a privilege to pray, study and work with them as the Director of Studies. It is an honour to be sure of their support as I take on my new role among them.

“My especial thanks go to Anne Tomlinson whose tenure as Principal has been so fruitful and from whom I have learned so much. Anne’s leadership and industry are a model for us all. Her innate goodness, reflective practice and selfless example of diaconal service have made SEI a formation-led ministry training course second to none. I look forward to the SEI’s continued growth and development in the years that lie ahead.”

Bishop Andrew Swift, Acting Convener of the SEI Council, said: “We had a superb field of candidates, all of whom I thank wholeheartedly for being willing to take part in this discernment process.  I am delighted that, following that process, Michael has accepted the panel’s offer to become the next Principal of SEI.  His years of experience as Director of Studies and in theological education and pastoral ministry prior to that will equip him very well indeed to lead the SEI through our next season of development.

“I look forward to working with and supporting Michael in his new role.”

Dr Hull has been the SEI Director of Studies and a Tutor since 2015. In addition to teaching and coordinating the academic timetables, he started the SEI Journal in 2017 and serves as its Editor, and delivered the Sixth Annual SEI Lecture at Glasgow University in 2021. He has offered popular webinars in Advent and Lent for lay learning and is presently offering ‘Teach Us to Pray’. He writes a monthly column in Inspires Online and he has had recent articles and book reviews published in the SEI Journal, Theology in Scotland and The Expository Times. He also serves as an Assistant Priest at St Vincent’s Chapel in Edinburgh.

Dr Hull came to Scotland after holding a teaching post at the Mercer School of Theology, Long Island, New York. Before being received into The Episcopal Church, he served for 20 years as a Roman Catholic parish priest and, from 1998, as Professor of Sacred Scripture and later as Dean of the formation programme at St Joseph’s Seminary, Yonkers, New York. He earned his doctorate in Biblical Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome.