Research expertise in the study of religion, belief, non-belief and faith at the intersection with society, politics, policy and professional practice.
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Social, Therapeutic and Community Studies (STaCS) is home to internationally renowned scholars in the study of faith and society.
The focus of the work in this area is divided into three areas:
Politics and policy – how decision-makers engage with religion and belief and shape social action in the public realm
Sociology and society – focusing on how we should talk about and engage with religion and belief
Professional practice – specifically how religion and belief are negotiated in practice
Researchers
Professor Adam Dinham
Professor Chritopher Baker
Professor Atlas Torbati
Dr Panagiotis Pentaris
Dr Naomi Thompson
Dr Siddhesh Mukerji
Partners
Highlighted projects
Keeping the Faith: Faith-based partnerships with Local Authorities during and beyond the pandemic
A Trussell Trust and Nishkam funded project commissioned by APPG on Faith and Society that has mapped the experience of deepening partnership-working between faith and secular bodies as a response to COVID-19, and its implications for future policy.
The project produced two reports in 2020 and 2022 which can be The key findings suggested an appetite to develop a new policy space for discussing the contribution of religion and belief to resilience planning for future world events such as further pandemics, growing social and economic inequality and climate emergency.
Many key elements of the research and its recommendations (for example the creation of the Office of the Faiths Commissioner for England) were picked up by the recent HM Government into Religion and Belief in the UK.
Discussion with key policy makers and funders is ongoing to further implement the insights and recommendations of these two reports.
More on the project:
Spiritual capital, resilience and post-traumatic growth in women enrolled on development programmes encountering global precarity
The project explores factors leading to resilience, and growth from trauma amongst women experiencing precarity who attend development and self-empowerment programmes offered by a leading US international development agency Convoy of Hope.
The aim of this data is to shape policies and approaches that will enhance the experience of care, support and flourishing offered to women recovering from trauma in highly precarious settings associated with poverty, climate change and domestic and communal violence and abuse that are run in partnership with other providers by Convoy of Hope, a major US international development provider.
The project combines longitudinal data gathering with credible sampling volumes into a bespoke survey that measures the impact of policy changes to enhance the ability of programme participants to deploy their existing resources (including spiritual capital) in their own self-care and wellbeing.
The impacts measured include indicators of mental and physical wellbeing and positive religious coping, as well as indicators of resilience and PTG. Findings will be published in international development and therapeutic literatures in 2023 and 2024.
Faith in Funerals: The use of religious resources in ‘secular’ funerals – challenging narratives of religious decline
The research project addresses the following issues:
How is growing use of independent funeral celebrants changing the way funeral ceremonies are conducted in the UK?
Does a content analysis of funerals led by independent celebrants challenge the debate around secularization?
Has the Covid-19 pandemic impacted on choices about the use of religious and non-religious resources in funerals?
This project uses a variety of different methods to build up the picture of how religion and belief is used in a fast-changing field. They include:
a content analysis of at least 1000 celebrant-led funerals
a survey of funeral directors, and interviews
focus groups with families, celebrants and funeral directors
The content analysis covers time periods before, during and beyond the Covid-19 pandemic. Interviews with families explore their wishes and expectations and how they navigate their spiritual needs. Interviews with the funeral industry explores their understandings, expectations, traditions and flexibility when arranging funerals.
A resource pack for funeral directors, religious leaders and celebrants will share understandings of what families want in designing funerals for their relatives, the range of options available as well as common misunderstandings, and examples of popular religious and non-religious resources.