University of Derby to lead on study looking at attitudes and experiences of different religious and non-religious groups

The University of Derby is leading a new three year c. £400,000 academic study investigating how attitudes and experiences of different religious and non-religious groups in England and Wales have evolved since 1999. The research will look at events including the 7/7 bombings and the “War on Terror”, and the effects they have had on discrimination and ways of tackling it.

The project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Economic and Social Research Council, will include academics from the University of Oxford and the University of Manchester on a three-year study entitled: Religion and Belief, Discrimination and Equality in England and Wales, Theory, Policy and Practice, 2000-2010.

Paul Weller, Professor of Inter-Religious Relations at the University of Derby, said “The new project will consider legal and policy developments on religion and human rights in which the category of ‘religious discrimination’ has become more widely accepted, while modified by reference to ‘belief’ and an emerging policy focus on shared values, social cohesion and “Britishness”.

“It will also take into account the ‘social policy shock’ of the 7/7 London bombings and their impact on the discourses, policies and practices of ‘multi-culturalism’. In addition, it will consider the effects on these issues of the ‘preventing violent extremism’ initiatives to counter the threat of religiously justified terror.

“Put simply, the work and results of this project will go to the heart of debates about how to move forward with a multi-cultural and multi-faith society, and how challenges of social cohesion can be overcome.”

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