The School of European Culture and Languages (SECL) is pleased to announce a new fully funded Collaborative Doctoral Award PhD studentship between the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Kent and the John Templeton Foundation, for a PhD studentship entitled ‘Understanding Unbelief’.
The Understanding Unbelief programme is the first major scientific research programme to address the nature and variety of religious ‘unbelief’, with particular attention to (i) the different beliefs and other phenomena associated with the broad folk category of ‘unbelief’ and ‘unbelievers’, and (ii) the ways in which these beliefs vary according to demographic factors (such as age, gender, ethnicity, religious background, etc.) and regional cultural context. The programme has several elements, including international grant competitions (to generate research into diverse forms of unbelief across demographic groups and cultural settings), and core interdisciplinary research (working across these forms, groups, and settings to build a more integrated understanding of unbelief).
Overall, programme activities aim to produce the first scientifically coherent account of ‘unbelief’ and of what it means to be an ‘unbeliever’, as well as laying the groundwork for future research into the causes of unbelief and the impact of unbelieving on outcomes such as personal wellbeing and social cohesion.
The doctoral studentship will provide funding for a research project that will contribute to the aims of this programme. The programme is a broad and ambitious one, and projects might focus on any region(s) of world, social grouping(s) or way(s) of thinking about ‘unbelief’ (e.g. as ‘atheism’, or as meaning systems such as materialism or agnosticism). There is wide scope therefore for applicants to pursue research that reflects their own particular interests, whilst also making an important contribution to the Understanding Unbelief programme. Projects must involve empirical research, and use sociological, anthropological or religious studies methods.
The appointed researcher will work with a supervisory team lead by Dr Lois Lee, Research Fellow in the Department of Religious Studies, and be an active member of the Understanding Unbelief programme team.
For more details on the award, including how to apply, deadlines and award details, please see: www.kent.ac.uk/secl/postgraduate/funding.html?tab2=understanding-unbelief