Abuse in Religious Settings

Abuse in Religious Settings is a two-and-a-half year project, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, which will end in June 2024.

Initial scoping for this project will take place from March 2022, with the main research projects taking place in the academic year 2022-23. More information on getting involved in the research projects will be uploaded on to this site by September 2022.

The project will be structured around seven main pieces of work, with cross-cutting themes and issues between them also being studied.

  1. Abuse and the cultures and structures of religious organisations (literature-based study led by Gordon Lynch)
  2. Abuse in new religious movements: forms and organisational responses (secondary data analysis led by Sarah Harvey)
  3. The role of religious texts in relation to abuse (workshop-based study led by Johanna Stiebert)
  4. International comparisons of legal and policy frameworks in relation to safeguarding and abuse in religious settings (review led by Richard Scorer)
  5. Exploring relationships between faith communities and safeguarding professionals in statutory bodies (survey and interview-based study led by Justin Humphreys)
  6. Survivor responses and resilience to abuse in religious settings (interview-based study led by Linda Woodhead and Jo Kind)
  7. Disclosures and non-disclosures of abuse (photo-elicitation study led by Lisa Oakley)

In addition, the project will also involve activities and events which will build new relationships between individuals and groups working in this field both within the United Kingdom and internationally.