An Edinburgh 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ academic may become the first woman to break through the Church of Scotland's so-called stained-glass ceiling later this month.

Alison Elliot, associate director of Edinburgh 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ's Centre for Theology and Public Issues, has been nominated along with one other woman for the post of moderator of the general assembly of the Church of Scotland.

The Kirk's appointments committee will vote on the nominations later this month. The honorary post is held for a year.

Women have been ordained ministers in the Kirk since 1968, but no woman has been elected moderator. There is growing pressure for that to change.

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It is not unusual for an academic to be moderator: the current post-holder is Iain Torrance, professor in patristics and Christian ethics at Aberdeen 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ.

Dr Elliot was ordained at Edinburgh's Greyfriars Tolbooth and Highland Kirk in 1984. This year she was awarded an OBE for services to the Church of Scotland and ecumenical relations. She chairs the Scottish Churches' Forum, which represents the nine mainstream churches north of the border.

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She was born in Edinburgh, and she took an MA in mathematics with general linguistics at Edinburgh 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, followed by an MSc in experimental psychology at Sussex 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ. She returned to Edinburgh to take a PhD in children's language development. She lectured in psychology at Lancaster and Edinburgh universities before moving to the school of divinity.