Rt Revd Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani was born in 1966 in Isfahan, Iran where she lived for the first fourteen years of her life. Following the effects of the Islamic Revolution, she moved to England with her family and has, to date, been unable to return to Iran. Completing her schooling in Bedfordshire, she graduated from the University of Nottingham with a BA Hons in Music. In 1989 she began working for the BBC, first as a Studio Manager at World Service Radio and later a Producer in the Religious Department of domestic radio. After leaving the BBC, in 1994, Guli completed an MA in Religious Studies at the University of Bristol and soon afterwards began working on her PhD, which she was awarded in May1999. She was ordained in the Church of England in 1998 and has served in a variety of parish, chaplaincy and wider church roles, often working part time whilst raising three young children. She has contributed to various publications especially in the area of interfaith studies and religious feminism and is a contributor on Radio 4’s Thought for the Day. Her book, Cries for a Lost Homeland: Reflections on Jesus’ Words from the Cross is published by Canterbury Press. Guli is vice president of the Conference of European Churches, vice Chair of the Church Army, and the Church of England’s Lead Bishop for Housing. Guli was appointed as the Bishop of Loughborough in 2017 and has been the Bishop of Chelmsford since March 2021. She is married to Lee, also ordained, and they have three children.