Newsletter – July 2025

As you know by now, announcements of upcoming CRPL events (alongside archived records of recent/past CRPL events) are posted on the University’s CRPL site, which you can access here.

This is our final newsletter of the 2024-2025 academic year. We will be back in action in October 2025, kicking off our CRPL seminar series on Thursday 9 October. Seminars will again take place in person, in the Botany House seminar room (1.03) on alternate Thursdays during teaching weeks, from 11:30-13:00. (On the other Thursdays there will be seminars in the same location, at the same time for  PoRT, our second research centre, the Centre for Philosophy of Religion and Theology).

Here is whom we have lined up for the Semester 1 CRPL seminar series:

9 October 2025 Rabbi Dr. Barbara Thiede (University of North Carolina, Charlotte, USA)

23 October 2025 Dr. Zaynab Ango (Visiting Research Fellow, University of Leeds)

6 November 2025 ***CRPL Meeting***

20 November 2025 Dr. Halyna Teslyuk (Ukrainian Catholic University, Lviv, Ukraine)

4 December 2025 Dr. Kate Adams (Leeds Trinity University)

Full details of all seminars will follow and will be posted on the CRPL site closer to the time.

NB: the CRPL meeting on 6 November is for all members of the CRPL community. This meeting is intended for discussion, publicising and for development of in-progress research and grant applications. It was decided at the last Annual General Meeting in May that it is important for us to balance visiting speakers, seminars and discussions, with opportunities for finding out more about research-in-progress in our midst. There will be a second such meeting in Semester 2. In the second semester, CRPL will be in the capable hands of interim director Aled Thomas.

 

Other announcements – mark your calendars!

Save the Date! on Wednesday 8 October there will be a range of activities on the topic of religion and violence on the campus of Leeds University. These will include displays, panels, presentations and a campus walk. There will be many visitors from near and far. The event is organised by Gregorio Alonso (History) and Johanna Stiebert (CRPL). Details to follow. (For an earlier announcement, see here).

Save the Date! on Tuesday 21 October, starting at 7pm, is the annual Hook Lecture at Leeds Minster. This lecture is co-sponsored by CRPL. This year’s speaker is Jon Kuhrt, Chief Executive of Hope into Action, a national Christian charity partnering with churches to provide homes for the homeless. To sign up for this free event, see here.

Save the Date! on Thursday 13 November at 18.00 CRPL’s Professor Jasjit Singh will give his inaugural professorial lecture. Venue and further details will be announced nearer the time. This will be a wonderful occasion to honour and celebrate Jas and his recent promotion.

Congratulations!

We congratulate newly minted Drs. Yannis Ng and Christabelle Thwaites who have passed their PhD vivas.

We also congratulate Mustapha Sheikh who was recently promoted to full Professor.

We are thrilled to announce three new appointments to join CRPL as Visiting Fellows: Dr. Edward Graham-Hyde, Dr. Yannis Ng, and Dr. Tamanda Walker.

Recent Publications

CRPL Visiting Fellow Ann Gillian Chu has published an article: “Dechurched Christians in Hong Kong: A Study,” Religions 16/4 (2025). The publication is available online: : https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/4/531.

CRPL PhD candidate James Russell has had an article published in the Journal of Yoga Studies: "Sūryanamaskār: Tracing the Origins of Yoga's Sun Salutation" (https://journalofyogastudies.org/index.php/JoYS/article/view/126).

Hannah Tolson, has published an article in the journal Religion and Gender, based on her MA dissertation at the University of Leeds. The article is titled "Strategic Ambivalence: How British Evangelical Women Navigate Male Headship." It can be found here: https://brill.com/view/journals/rag/15/2/article-p163_4.xml.

CRPL Visiting Fellow Nduka Udeagha has published an article with the title “African Belief Systems, Ember Months, and Demonic Forces in Nigeria,” in Journal of Religion in Africa (see here).

Coming soon, at the end of this month, is the second volume of two, Abuse in World Religions: Towards Solutions, edited by Johanna Stiebert (Routledge, 2025). The volume, like its predecessor (Abuse in World Religions: Articulating the Problem) is open access. It contains a chapter co-authored by CRPL PhD candidate Rabiha Hannan.

Podcasts

CRPL PhD candidate Rabbi Robyn Ashworth-Steen is one of the hosts of the wonderful podcast, Rabbiting On.

Johanna Stiebert featured on the podcast Daughters and Fathers, produced by film producer and academic Dr. Patricia Meyer.

Visiting Fellow Tamanda Walker co-hosts her own podcast, Rigour and Flow – highly recommended.

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We have such a lot of good stuff happening in our Centre. Thank you all for such a vibrant year.

So… those of us in the Global North now move into the summer. Some of you will be going to conferences, some of you will be going on holiday, or finding other ways to relax and recharge, some of you will be busy with work and the great juggling act of life. Whatever lies in store for you over the next months as things at the University become a bit quieter, I hope you have a happy and restful time.

Let’s hope for another good CRPL year ahead. I’ll be sending out reminders and welcome messages as Semester 1 approaches.

For now, all good things.

Do keep sending me contributions for the next newsletter. Please follow us on Instagram (crpl_leeds)!

Until soon,

Johanna (Stiebert)

Director of CRPL, the Centre for Religion and Public Life