Faith and society

The project produced two reports in 2020 and 2022 which can be downloaded from faithandsociety.org. 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 Bloom Review 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:

• GOV.UK news story
• Project reports

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.

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.