Research Projects
Funded research projects
Pilot Research in Asheville, N. Carolina: £3,337 British Academy, Small Grant for exploratory research on religion in Asheville, N. Carolina, July 2006. With Helen Berger, West Chester University, USA.
This project involved locating and ‘mapping’ Christian and non-Christian forms of religious activity in Asheville, and carrying out interviews with key informants. Asheville was chosen because of its rich diversity of religious expression. We discovered a surprisingly large range of both Christian churches and forms of alternative spirituality. The former ranged from ultra-conservative to ultra-liberal, the latter from health-and-wellbeing focused practice to neo-pagan communities. One of the most interesting findings was the discovery of a number of sites in which Christianity and spirituality are fusing in interesting new ways. We are currently applying for a large grant to develop this project.
The VEIL Project: Values, Equality and Differences in Liberal Democracies. Debates about Female Headscarves in Europe (2005-2008). A Sixth Framework Project of the EU, €1,204,440 in total, €180,000 (approx) to Lancaster. Lead UK Researcher, Linda Woodhead. Research Assistant, Dr Sevgi Kilic.
An EU project looking at the political and public policy debates surrounding the Muslim headscarf in eight European countries. Preliminary findings and more information:
http://www.univie.ac.at/veil/Home3/index.htm
The Kendal Project: Patterns of the Sacred in Contemporary Society. £97,000 from the Leverhulme Trust. October 2000 - July 2002. Paul Heelas (PI), Bronislaw Szerszynski (Co-I), Linda Woodhead (Co-I).
A locality study using qualitatative and quantitative methods to investigate contemporary religious belief and practice, which has led to a number of publications, including The Spiritual Revolution (2005). Further information and findings:
http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fss/projects/ieppp/kendal/
Young Muslims in Lancaster: £7,900 from Lancaster University Small Grants Fund. January - July 2005. Linda Woodhead (PI) Research assistants: Mammad Aidani and Sevgi Kilic.
A small interview-based project investigating the sense of identity and belonging of young Muslims in Lancaster, and looking at the methodological challenges posed by such research.