People in the Faiths and Civil Society Unit
Meet the staff involved with the Faiths and Civil Society Unit.
Primary page content
Professor Adam Dinham, Director
Adam Dinham is Professor of Faith & Public Policy and Director of the Faiths and Civil Society Unit, Goldsmiths, University of London. He is a leader in interdisciplinary religion and society work, focusing on faith communities and civil society in policy and practice.
With degrees in Theology & Religious Studies (BA, MA Cambridge University), Applied Social Studies and Social Work (MA Brunel University), and Politics (PhD, Goldsmiths), his work focuses on religion through the lens of community engagement, social policy, professional practice and publics.
Lord Tyler of Linkinhorne, Chair
Paul Tyler comes from a long line of Cornish Anglican clergy, including Bishop Jonathan Trelawny. He was elected Liberal MP (with a majority of 9) in February 1974 but in the October election his increased vote was not enough to resist the swing. He was elected Chairman of the Liberal Party 1983-6; awarded the CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in 1985.
Professor Abby Day
Abby Day’s work is focused on building capacity and representing sociology of religion both inside and outside universities, nationally and internationally, through teaching, research, publishing and supervision. Abby leads the BA Religion, a unique interdisciplinary programme offered jointly with Sociology, Anthropology and Politics & International Relations.
Dr Naomi Thompson
I am a sociologist of youth and religion with research specialisms covering young people, youth work, religion and crime. I am experienced in mixed methods research with a preference for qualitative narrative methods. I am currently working on a 3 year evaluation of a Women’s Project for the ACAA, a local charity in Deptford.
Professor Chris Baker
Christopher Baker is William Temple Professor of Religion and Belief in Public Life and Director of the William Temple Foundation. He has degrees in both English Language and Literature (BA Hons, Manchester University), Theology (B.Th, the M.Th University of Southampton and University of London) and Religion and Urban Planning (PhD, Manchester University).
Panagiotis Pentaris
Dr Pentaris has been researching and publishing about death, dying and bereavement for over 14 years, with a particular focus on the socio-political conceptions and contestations of death, as well as the intersections of religion, faith and non-belief with death and dying. His work has a wider scope and is underpinned by social work, as well as social policy foundations.
Fellows
| Name | Position |
|---|---|
| Prof. John Graham | School of Social Work, University of British Columbia, Canada |
| Nick Spencer | Theos Think Tank, UK |
| Dr. Jasjit Singh | University of Leeds, UK |
| Dr Rebecca Catto | Coventry University, UK |
| Angus McCabe | Third Sector Research Centre, University of Birmingham, UK |
| Lucy Vickers | School of Law, Oxford Brookes University, UK |
| Roger Bolton | Fellow of the Royal Television Society. BAFTA award winner BBC, UK |
| Professor Beth Crisp | School of Health and Social Development, Deakin University, Australia |
| Dr Francesca Cadeddu | Fondazione per le Scienze Religiose Giovanni XXIII, Italy |
| Dr Martha Middlemiss Le Mon | Director CRS, Dept of Theology, Uppsala, Sweden |
| Dr Lori Beaman | Dept of Classics and Religious Studies, University of Ottawa, Canada |
| Julie Siddiqi | Director Sadaqa Day. Co-Chair Nisa-Nashim, UK |
Post-Doctoral Fellows and Research Students
Dr Nora Khalaf Elledge, Post-Doctoral Fellow
Nora’s research explores the intersection of religion and gender within international development policy and practice. Her PhD was specifically focused on the role religion plays during the gender analysis phase of government-funded development programmes.
Nora holds a Master’s degree in ‘Gender and Development from the Institute of Development Studies and a Bachelor’s degree in ‘Anthropology and Development Studies' from the University of Sussex.
Martha Shaw, Doctoral Fellow
Martha Shaw read French with African & Asian Studies at Sussex before completing a Masters in Social Anthropology at University College London where she researched the public reaction to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. She then joined Church Urban Fund where she worked on faith based community development. She is a qualified teacher in Social Science and spent 4 years as Head of Sociology at a London secondary school and has also taught at undergraduate level. She is a trained facilitator and has presented on the use of participatory methods in formal education and community work. She has worked on a number of faith based research and practice projects both within the Faiths and Civil Society Unit and the Church Urban Fund and has published on the role of faith communities in areas of urban disadvantage. Martha is completing a PhD in beliefs and values in education at the VID Specialised University, Oslo. She is Senior Lecturer in Law & Social Sciences at London South Bank University.
Dr Timothy Stacey, Post-Doctoral Fellow
Tim's research explores the theoretical and practical grounds for social solidarity in an age of religious and ideological diversity. He has a special interest in what he calls "the ideological transformation of the public sphere", from religious to secular, and the impact that this change has had on politics and economics. With a background in Philosophy & Theology (BA and MA), his methods straddle philosophy, theology and social science, seeking ways to make deep theory empirically explorable. Tim is post-doctoral fellow at the Department of Classics and Religious Studies at the University of Ottawa, Canada. Tim's monograph 'Myth and Solidarity in the Modern World: Beyond Religious and Political Division (2018) is published by Routledge and available here.