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Featured Findings

Here we showcase interesting findings from particular projects and events organised.

Since projects have been commissioned in three phases between 2007 and 2009 and are of a varying duration, new findings are posted here as and when they become available.

Religion and Change in Modern Britain: Conversations with the Authors

2012-02-16 00:00:00

Listen to podcasts with contributors to the book Religion and Change in Modern Britain edited by the Programme Director and Research Associate and featuring Religion and Society research.

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Young, British and Muslim: Academic Research and Real Lives

2011-11-22 00:00:00

Read the report from this one-day conference bringing researchers, young people, youth workers, police and others together to discuss the value of research in this area.

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Does‘Changeless’ Shari’a Change?

2012-01-03 00:00:00

Read about a research network on Islamic law, funded by Religion and Society, which Professor Robert Gleave ran at Exeter University.

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Workshop on 'New Spiritualities'

2011-12-17 00:00:00

Listen to and read about presentations from this workshop organised in Glasgow May 2011 by Chris Philo and his team and co-funded by the Religion and Society Programme.

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Fitna and YouTube

2011-12-15 00:00:00

Read about the findings from a project researching YouTube responses to Dutch far-right MP Geert Wilders' anti-Islam video.

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Religion in Education: Findings from the Religion and Society Programme

2011-10-25 00:00:00

Read about and listen to presentations from this conference held July 2011 in Warwick.

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Survival and Success on Medieval Borders

2011-10-18 00:00:00

New, innovative study finds that Cistercian monasteries on the frontiers of Scotland and Germany were active agents in the brokering of worldly and other-worldly relations.

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Mediating Modesty: Fashioning Faithful Bodies

2011-06-15 00:00:00

Read abstracts and access podcasts from a symposium organised by Religion and Society project 'Modest Dressing'.

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Young People and Religion Event

2011-05-18 00:00:00

On 18th May 2011 over 130 people including academics and practitioners gathered to discuss findings from the latest research about young people and religion in Britain conducted by Religion and Society funded projects and its practical implications.

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Religion Adds Value to the Happiness Hypothesis

2011-07-04 00:00:00

John Atherton and Elaine Graham have led a research network funded by Religion and Society which has found areas in which religion can 'add value'.

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Spiritual Progression in Economic Recession?

2011-03-17 00:00:00

Read a report and access podcasts from this event in March 2011 co-organised by the Religion and Society Programme at Chester debating religion and the economic downturn.

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How do British Muslims transmit the faith to their children?

2011-06-07 00:00:00

Read about the findings from a project addressing this question in Cardiff funded by the Religion and Society Programme and led by Jonathan Scourfield.

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Faith-based services for homeless people do not ‘bible bash’

2011-05-19 00:00:00

So finds a study led by Sarah Johnsen and funded by the Religion and Society Programme. Learn more about the project here.

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Traditional practice may be down, but media coverage of religion is up

2011-05-03 00:00:00

Read about the findings of a re-study into media portayals of religion led by Professor Kim Knott at Leeds University.

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Hindu Schools in S.India are more interested in success than militancy

2011-04-18 00:00:00

Read about the findings from a Religion and Society funded project looking at teaching in a range of Hindu schools in Karnataka, India.

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Police-Community Engagement and Counter-Terrorism: Developing a hub

2010-12-09 00:00:00

This UK-US workshop was held at the University of Birmingham and supported by the AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society Programme.

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From Earth to Earth

2011-04-04 00:00:00

Read about the findings from a PhD investigating an English woodland burial site funded by the Religion and Society Programme.

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Methodist Central Halls - a mission with ambition

2011-03-22 00:00:00

Read about the findings from Angela Connelly's PhD funded by the Religion and Society Programme investigating this British religious architectural phenomenon.

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Secularism means very different things in different times and places

2011-03-06 00:00:00

Read the findings from the Religion and Society funded network led by David Lehmann and Humeira Iqtidar at Cambridge University.

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Opting out of RE could and should be easier

2011-02-18 00:00:00

Alison Mawhinney and her team from Queen's University Belfast find that the ability opt-out from Religious Education in schools in Northern Ireland is not working effectively to protect human rights.

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Trail of a deadly cult...

2011-01-31 00:00:00

Medieval historian Professor Miri Rubin, already famous for books like ‘Mother of God’ (a history of Mary), led a research network funded by the Religion and Society Programme in order to investigate the first known ritual murder accusation.

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Shrines in India and Pakistan demonstrate shared practices of Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims

2011-01-17 00:00:00

This research project conducted between 2008 and 2010 by Dr Navtej Purewal, Dr Virinder Kalra and their interdisciplinary team, funded by the Religion and Society Programme, shows that despite Partition and the clear separation of Hinduism, Islam and Sikhism in modern scholarship, many holy places, shrines and tombs of saints (pirs) are regularly used by Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs.

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Child Abuse in the Catholic Church - what can be learned?

2010-11-04 00:00:00

The AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society Programme co-hosted with Heythrop College London this one day closed workshop to bring experts together to discuss this serious and pressing issue within the Catholic Church.

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Anxiety about ‘religious academies’ is nothing new

2010-12-06 00:00:00

In some ways our forebears were more tolerant of ‘radical’ religion than we are.

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Faith and Policy

2010-07-01 00:00:00

The AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society Programme organised with the Faiths and Civil Society Unit, Goldsmith’s, a one day conference asking 'Faith and Policy - Where Next for Religion in the Public Sphere?' at the British Library Conference Centre, London, UK 1st July 2010 and here is the report from this event.

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Innovative Methods in the Study of Religion

2010-08-02 00:00:00

Over two days over 80 people from a range of UK and international universities and disciplinary backgrounds gathered for fresh reflection on methods in the study of religion. The growing interest in religion, growing academic recognition of its complexity and changing forms and yet relatively little discussion of methods made this conference timely and welcome. It was co-organised by the AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society Programme and Norface ‘Relemergence of Religion’ research programme. Presenters included members of projects funded by both programmes.

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British Religion in Numbers unveils online treasure-chest of data

2010-05-18 00:00:00

A great leap forward in accessing facts and figures on religion in Britain has been made possible by a project funded by the Religion and Society Programme. Leading scholars David Voas and Clive Field with a team based at the University of Manchester this month [April 2010] launched a new free-to-use website which will be of immense value to academic researchers as well as to government, private enterprises, journalists, and anyone wanting authoritative and up-to-date data on British religion.

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Religion, identity, and violence in Kaduna State Nigeria

2010-01-29 00:00:00

Dr Colette Harris and her team find that participatory action research contributes to a reduction in tensions and violence.

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Partnerships Between Muslim Groups and Police

2009-11-26 00:00:00

Criminologist Basia Spalek finds that successful community policing in a counter-terrorism context requires the building of trust between police officers and community members. The Metropolitan Police's Muslim Contact Unit has managed to do this.

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Christian Ethos Schools

2009-11-26 00:00:00

Dr Mark Pike finds through a combination of ethnography, interviews and surveys across five British state-funded schools of a Christian ethos that the schools encourage their students to engage critically with 'religious truth claims'.

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From Hijab to Jilbab

2009-11-26 00:00:00

Dr Kaye Haw from the University of Nottingham and her team met again 10 years on a group of young Muslim women in Britain and found out how their lives and ideas had changed in that time for the Phase 1 Small Grant 'The Myth of British Identity and the Failure of Multiculturalism? From hijab to jilbab'.

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