Early career research projects

The Early Career Awards stream supports contributions from early career researchers to the task of advancing our empirical understanding of the array of phenomena commonly labelled unbelief. In October 2017 we awarded funding to 10 research projects. Our early career researchers come form a range of disciplinary backgrounds including psychology, cultural studies, cognitive science, sociology, religious studies and anthropology. They will explore dimensions of unbelief in over 30 countries; and across an array of groups and contexts including minority millennials, post-Marxist societies, and a number of non-Abrahamic religious cultures that have not previously been considered in the study of unbelief.

Follow the links below to learn more about the projects.


Life Stories of the Unbeliever: Existential Narratives of Living and Dying
PI: Dr Katie Aston, Anthropology, Newman University,  Birmingham UK

Understanding unbelief among culturally Muslim people in Sweden
PI: Dr Ann af Burén, Religious Studies, Uppsala University, Sweden

Minority Millennials and the Rise of “Religious Nones”: A Comparative Analysis
PI: Dr Aprilfaye Manalang, Sociology and Cultural Studies, Norfolk State University, US

Understanding Unbelief in Japan
PI: Dr Yutaka Osakabe, Independent Researcher, Tokyo Japan

Kernels of Doubt: A Cross-Cultural Examination of the Ubiquity and Form of Religious (Non)Commitment
PI: Dr Benjamin Grant Purzycki, Anthropology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany

Understanding unbelief in Estonia
PI: Dr Atko-Sulhan Remmel, Religious and Cultural Studies, University of Tartu, Estonia

Accurately measuring belief in God around the world
PI: Dr Azim Shariff, Psychology, University of British Columbia

Jewish Unbelief in Contemporary Britain
PI: Dr Ruth Sheldon, Sociology, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK

Unholy Catholic Ireland – Unbelief, Morality and the Rejection of the Church
PI: Hugh Turpin, Cognitive Science of Religion, Queen’s University, Belfast

Exploring the Belief Replacement Hypothesis: What secular beliefs do non-believers have, and what psychological functions do they serve?
PI: Dr Valerie van Mulukom, Psychology, Coventry University, UK

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