Log in
In research on religion and society, Professor Woodhead has argued for an updated, expanded understanding of `religion' and `belief' in the UK today. In part by leading to Woodhead's direction of the AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society Programme, the research has led to major impacts throughout 2008-13. In particular it has influenced the Equality and Human Rights Commission's handling of new equalities legislation, and it has significantly enhanced public discussion about religion through the high-profile Westminster Faith Debates, co-organised by Woodhead and the Rt Hon Charles Clarke. The Debates have reached millions, increasing recognition of religion's ongoing presence in public life and generating further policy impacts. The many beneficiaries include policy-makers in equalities issues, politicians, journalists and the general public.
This research, on (i) Britain's refusal to intervene militarily in Bosnia between 1992 and 1995 and (ii) the history of humanitarian interventions in general, has received considerable attention from policy makers and attentive publics. It has contributed to the questioning in British political circles of the `conservative pessimism' which in the past often led to an unwillingness to act over humanitarian disasters. It has also contributed to the wider emergence of the norm of a `responsibility to protect', whereby governments qualify the classical presumption of non-intervention with a degree of commitment to protect a people when it is under attack from its own government.
Research by Dr Angela Bartie and Dr Eleanor Bell on the 1962 Edinburgh International Writers' Conference initiated a major global literary conference series in 15 countries, involving 262 writers and engaging thousands of audiences at events and online in a major debate about literature and its role in contemporary life. The 2012-13 Edinburgh World Writers' Conference was conceived after Bartie and Bell contacted the Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival (EIBF) early in 2010 to propose collaborative events to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1962 Conference. This has resulted in over £700,000 in extra funding to the EIBF, the re-introduction of a multiple writer format (opening up new channels of communication amongst writers), and further underlined Scotland's status as a major player in global literary culture through its worldwide events.
Research on ecclesiology undertaken by Revd Dr Alison Milbank:
This case study refers to the development of strategic public affairs management and associated research on political risk and the regional economy at the University of Chester. It demonstrates both impact on business strategy at international levels and influence on government policy. The Bank of America (MBNA) case is evidenced as an example of effective public affairs research. The business is the largest service based centre in the region, accounting for 3% of Cheshire's GDP (2011). The research has informed both strategy and policy for business and government resulting in the retention of a major international business in the North West.
Nigel Biggar's recent research has developed novel Christian ethical analyses of a range of overlapping issues of public concern regarding the ethics of killing - specifically physician-assisted suicide and war. Articles written for the press have been frequently quoted by journalists and politicians; a wide audience has been reached through participation in radio debates and lectures to members of the public. Collaboration with public policy bodies and colloquia involving senior civil servants and other opinion-formers have provided further platforms in which advice is sought and given.
From 2002 the Centre for the Study of World Christianity (CSWC), formerly Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World (CSCNWW), at the University of Edinburgh established an action research process which culminated in the establishment of nine international study groups from 2008-10 leading to the international conference `Edinburgh 2010', a major ecumenical conference with delegates from 115 Christian denominations. This conference, livestreamed around the world, marked the centennial of the Edinburgh World Missionary Conference 1910 (EWMC 1910). Drawing on its research on EWMC 1910, CSWC established an international process of knowledge co-creation involving and benefitting churches, church leaders, clergy, laity, ecumenical and mission organisations, as well as scholars of Christian mission and Christian history. The project has led to increased understandings of Christianity as a religion of the global South as well as North, and a reinvigoration of global ecumenical partnership in mission reflecting this understanding, as evidenced in form of impacts on theological education at the global level.
Kim's research has had significant impact on global discourse on theology of mission across the world's churches mainly through the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Edinburgh 2010 project. In particular her research helped to establish the pneumatological framework for mission theology evident in the Common Call of Edinburgh 2010 (6 June 2010) and the new World Council of Churches' statement on mission and evangelism, Together Towards Life (5 September 2012), which may be summarised as `finding out where the Holy Spirit is at work and joining in'.
Research on participation in governance and related policy instruments, with a particular focus on interest organisations and groups, with strategic orientation of research publications towards impact, and evidence of use at the highest level in public policy reviews and public discourse/debate, as well as deliberations of advocacy groups.
Lincoln's research treats historical, literary, theological and hermeneutical issues in New Testament studies. Aiming to be accessible in its presentation, it has an impact throughout the English-speaking world on leaders in churches, teachers and sixth formers in schools and a broad audience interested in the interpretation of the Bible. In particular, it has contributed to bridging the gap between academic biblical studies and popular understanding in the church and society, as readers turn to his work on New Testament texts and issues to find ways to integrate the challenges of critical reading with an appreciation of the contemporary significance of the Bible for theological thinking and the religious imagination.