Workshops

Utilizing Quantitative Data in Religious Therapy Associations

Date: March 31, 2025
Time: 3-5pm (GMT)
Moderators: Stephen Christopher and David Johnson

Workshop Overview

The aim of this workshop is to integrate the experiential knowledge (and therapeutic gaps) of spiritual therapists from varied backgrounds into the questions that will constitute the New Religiosities Poll. These associations are on the global front line of making psychological data about well-being actionable for specific religious communities.

Through a lightly moderated discussion about values, gender, health and finances, we will strive to find commonalities between data useful for religious therapists and scholars of religion alike. In Year 3, we will have a follow-up workshop to share preliminary project findings.

Schedule

Participants

• Kathy Spooner
  C.E.O., The Association of Christians in Counselling and Linked Professions

• Shannon Hood
  Australian Counselling Association

• Fiona Brandon, MA, MFT
  Director, Compassion-Based Resilience Training
  Core Faculty, Embodied Psychotherapy Program
  Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science

• Joseph J. Loizzo, M.D., Ph.D.
  Academic Director, Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science
  Assistant Professor, Weill Cornell Medicine Division of Epidemiology

• Connie Svob
  Division 36 President
  Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology (in Psychiatry), Columbia University

Project Team Members

• Suzanne Newcombe
• Sarah Charles
• Sarah Harvey

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‘New Religiosity Poll’ Creation Workshops

The New Religiosity Poll is being developed through a series of collaborative workshops. We began this work by holding a series of sessions with experts on specific themes, topics and traditions coming from diverse disciplinary backgrounds and areas of study. These workshops and one-on-one discussions worked towards developing consensus about group inclusion criteria and definitions. We also began to consider how to frame poll questions that are both generic enough to encompass the diversity of global traditions as well as specific enough to be able to potentially test relevant hypotheses about new religiosities.

Hybrid Brainstorming Workshops Dates: 1-3 April 2025 Moderators: Stephen Christopher and Suzanne Newcombe

Workshops Overview

Participants

• Lucy Clarke PhD Candidate in Theology and Religious Studies, University of Kent
• Susannah Crockford Senior Lecturer in Anthropology, University of Exeter
• Daniel Nilsson DeHanas Reader in Politics and Religion, King’s College London
• Ros Downing
• Inform Affiliate Researcher
• Ethan Doyle White Tutor in Religious Studies, City Lit London
• Leslie Fesenmyer Associate Professor in Social Anthropology and African Studies, University of Birmingham
• Matthew Francis Professor of Security and Resilience, Coventry University
• Manon Hedenborg White Associate Professor of History of Religions, Malmö University, Sweden
• David Lehmann Emeritus Professor in Social Science, University of Cambridge
• Martin Lindhardt Associate Professor, Department of Political Science and Public Management, University of Southern Denmark
• Hizer Mir Lecturer in Sociology and Social Policy, University of Leeds
• Karen O’Brien-Kop Lecturer in Modern Asian Religions, King’s College London
• Ruth Westoby Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Jaina Studies, Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies

Advisory Board Members

• Eileen Barker
• Veronika Huta
• David Paul Johnson
• Todd Kashdan
• Yusuf Ransome
• David Robertson
• Prakirati Satasut
• M. Afzal Upal
• Joar Vittersø

Project Team Members

• Sarah Charles
• Stephen Christopher
• Sarah Harvey
• Suzanne Newcombe
• William Noseworthy
• Edward Slingerland