Garbin researches the role of religion in political participation among South Asian, Caribbean, and African communities. Song has researched not only second-generation ethnic identities, such as those of British Chinese young people but has also written about various measures of ‘integration’.

Extending the research on identity and belonging, several staff members have researched aspects of religious affiliation and identifications. Ray investigates Jewish diaspora, memory and identity. Cottee’s research has investigated the experiences of self-described Muslim apostates, and what this process entails. He is also examining the ways in which people, especially young people, perceive and respond to ISIS online propaganda. The experiences of British ethnic minorities, racisms and racial inequality are also key themes, as shown in Ray’s writings on racial violence, and Mitton’s research on the experiences of Black Africans in Britain, and more recently, the kinds of barriers that BME students in higher education may encounter.

Mapping one major demographic change in Britain in recent years, Song leads in research on ‘mixed race’ people and their families in Britain, by focusing on the intergenerational transmission of ethnic/racial identities by multiracial people onto their children. Another aspect of ‘mixing’ concerns Kirton’s work on trans-racial adoption, and child welfare and child protection policies, which has been important in shaping policies in these areas.