Projects

The Living and Dying Well in Old Age: Spiritual Needs in a Non-Religious Future is a Leverhulme Trust funded research project run by Dr Joanna Malone. 

The study is designed to explore what it means to live a ‘good life’ or to ‘flourish’ in later life. This study also wants to understand what forms of emotional, pastoral, and/or spiritual care older adults wish to experience as part of ‘living’ and dying ‘well’. This study is particularly interested in older adults who are non-religious or not-traditionally-religious (e.g. this might be those who are spiritual, Pagan, or something else).

This research project, awarded a British Academy International Fellowship, is led by the Principal Investigator, Dr Metin Koca.

In Turkey, state efforts to promote a 'pious generation' paradoxically coincide with youth turning away from inherited religion. Moving beyond (post-)Christian models, the project examines everyday ambivalence, moral struggle, and ethical experimentation, opening new perspectives on religious deconversion and secularisation in Muslim-majority social and political contexts. Combining digital ethnography, interviews, and conversational journals, the study explores how social class and gender mediate youth cultures and deconversion. 

Becoming Citizens of ‘Post-Secular’ Britain: Religion in Primary School Life was a three year project funded by the Leverhulme Trust exploring religion, values, and the politics of belonging in everyday school worlds. The research team are Anna Strhan (PI) and Joanna Malone from York, Peter Hemming from the University of Surrey, and Sarah Neal from the University of Sheffield. 

Selected publications

Hemming, P. J., Strhan, A., Malone, J., & Neal, S. (2025). Schooling citizenship and character in a therapeutic society. The Sociological Review, 0(0).

Strhan, A., Malone, J., Hemming, P., and Neal, S. (2025). Affective engagements with religion and citizenship in English primary schools. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 1–19.

Malone, J., Strhan, A., Hemming, P. and Neal, S. (2025). Exploring Religion and Citizenship in Primary School Worlds. REtoday.

The Becoming Non-Believers: Atheism in Childhood project was funded by the Explaining Atheism research programme. Anna Strhan at the University of York and Lois Lee at the University of Kent are the PIs. This project examines the major causal mechanisms which sustain and strengthen non-belief in God in middle childhood (7-11 years old) and shape beliefs and worldviews over the life course. 

Selected Publications

Strhan, A. and Shillitoe, R. (2025) Growing Up Godless: Non-Religious Childhoods in Contemporary England Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Strhan, A., Lee, L., and Shillitoe, R. (2024) Becoming Humanist: Worldview Formation and the Emergence of Atheist Britain Sociology of Religion 85(4): 454-481.