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The case study looks at interreligious engagement made possible by an `axis' between Heythrop College and the multicultural world of Southall, West London. The impact falls mainly into two types. The first is generated by the activities in and around Southall, focused on developing new forms of religious expression and the potential for change in religious practice and interreligious understanding in the local area. The second flows from a project that brought together a number of individuals from different religious traditions to learn how to practise the skills of interreligious relations. The impact includes personal and professional development as well as the processes of learning with and between persons from different religious communities in a variety of contexts.
This impact case study relates to the development of a public theology for peace-making. Public theology concerns Christians engaging in dialogue with those outside church circles on various issues of common interest and involves urging Christians to take the opportunity to participate in the public domain in modern secular democracies. In the course of, and as a result of, his research on the public engagement of theology in the modern and post-modern societies of India, Korea and the UK, Professor Sebastian Kim has developed methodologies which enable theology to make a public contribution to peace-making.
The researcher's work on Roman Catholic attitudes to other religions, socially and theologically, has impacted civic life, influencing associations between religious people and groups to illuminate and challenge cultural values and social assumptions. This impact has been mediated locally (Clifton diocese web media), nationally (through the Catholic Bishops' Conference and their officers, and through the Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations Board curriculum), and internationally (through Georgetown University web resources for Christian-Muslim relations). Stakeholders in these three zones report cultural and social impact throughout the period of assessment through the researcher's work on non-HEI groups and individuals.
LSE research has contributed to institutional capacity building and to the renewal of the study of religion in the former Soviet Union. More specifically, the LSE anthropologist Mathijs Pelkmans has contributed to the training of a new generation of local scholars in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia; he has helped introduce these scholars to contemporary research and to innovative methodologies, and has mentored them in critical social science. As stated in one of the testimonials: "the ultimate value of Mathijs' engagement has been to intensify dialogue between different research, educational, and broadly scholarly traditions, and thereby to facilitate our own efforts to develop a discipline which is relatively new in Central Asia".
Professor Richard Norman's research has led to an improvement in the public awareness of humanist thought and value, both at national and international level. This impact was generated through articles written for a non-academic audience; public lectures and conference presentations; a report on humanist issues as the centrepiece of parliamentary debate in the House of Lords; and an appearance to discuss humanist perspectives on BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze.
Sara Haslam's research on Ford Madox Ford has contributed significantly in the last decade to the public re-discovery and resurgent interest in his life and work. She has been the chair of the Ford Society since 2008, and has published a monograph, an edited essay collection, and critical editions of two of Ford's novels. Haslam's research and cultural networking has informed the recent dissemination of his work to a broad popular audience through the acclaimed BBC/HBO adaptation of Parade's End (August-Sept, 2012) and the BBC Culture Show special, `Who on Earth was Ford Madox Ford?'
Enshrining 24 moral and spiritual dispositions, the 2007 Birmingham Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education, the outcome of years of Marius Felderhof's research into educational principles, marks a dramatic departure from previous RE syllabuses. It has been officially adopted by Birmingham City Council, welcomed by civic leaders, endorsed by Birmingham faith leaders, and implemented in nearly 400 Birmingham schools. In addition, it has stimulated debate on RE provision nationally and internationally, and has been the subject of studies and conference debates in the UK and elsewhere. Shifting the focus of RE teaching from imparting information to moral and spiritual formation, it is acknowledged as introducing the most radical changes to RE in decades.
The Panacea Society was an inward-looking religious community formed in Bedford in 1919. In 2001 a few reclusive members remained — some of the last representatives of a religious sub- culture dating back to the 1790s. Since 2001, members of the Oxford Faculty of Theology have been instrumental in advising and enabling this Society to evolve from a closed religious group into a charity funding social and educational initiatives and a public museum explaining apocalyptic religion to general audiences. Oxford-based researchers have produced notable academic outputs through discoveries in the Panacea Society archives; findings which shaped and informed the new museum.
Max Saunders' case study is based on his work on the critical edition of Ford Madox Ford's tetralogy of novels Parade's End (1924-8). This edition was used for the BBC/HBO series, adapted by Tom Stoppard. Saunders was literary consultant for the series, wrote about it in the media and gave the creative team advice. The adaptation has been watched by 2.5m viewers many of whom will not previously have been aware of Ford or his novels. BBC2 drama doubled its normal viewing figures for drama. The impact of the edition and of Saunders' wider scholarship on the adaptation is demonstrable in statements by the producer and director of the series.
Adam Dinham's work on religious literacy in secular contexts plays a substantial role in challenging and enabling policy makers, educators and publics to engage with religion and belief identity and plurality. He established the Religious Literacy Programme (RLP) to address the poor quality of conversation about religion and belief amongst policy-makers and professionals which his work has observed. It began with substantial funding from HEFCE to research and respond to approaches to religion and belief in universities in the context of extremism. This drew attention to religion and belief as significant but poorly understood and addressed identities. The programme then translated findings into practice-focused training which has been extensively delivered. RLP now also works with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and the Government Equalities Office (GEO) on religious literacy for employers, trades unions, and service providers, following the same intentional cycle of research translated in to training, and is part of a very senior initiative, led by EHRC, to review law and policy at a strategic level. The RLP entered in to partnership with Cambridge University in 2011 and the Coexist Foundation (based in London and Washington) in 2012 with the goal of founding a permanent public home in a purpose built centre in London. This is being taken forward in ways described below.