Religions and development
Convenors
Emma Tomalin (University of Leeds)
Dr Jennifer Philippa Eggert (independent researcher/practitioner)
Join our mailing list
Sign up to the study group mailing list for this study group if you are interested in religion and development issues.
If you’re not already, please do consider becoming a member of the DSA before joining a study group or once you are a regular attendee of the study group’s activities.
Forthcoming meetings
The Religious and Development study group will convene an online roundtable on arts-based methods for religions and development at the 2025 DSA conference. The roundtable will gather researchers, practitioners and civil society actors from around the world. Please check the general conference call for information on how to propose a contribution as a speaker. If the deadline has passed, you can still join us as a regular participant.
Previous meetings
June 2024, DSA conference, hybrid
The Religious and Development study group convened a roundtable on the roles of local faith actors in peacebuilding, sharing initial findings from the British Academy-funded ‘Hidden Peacebuilders’ research project in Burundi, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines. The roundtable speakers included researchers and practitioners from Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America.
June 2023, DSA conference, hybrid
The Religious and Development study group convened a roundtable on the state of the evidence in religions and development and a workshop on LGBTQ+ and faith in international development, bringing together researchers, activists and practitioners from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America.
July 2022, DSA conference, online
The Religious and Development study group convened a workshop on ‘Faith-sensitive, creative and decolonial research and learning’, bringing together researchers and practitioners from Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
June 2021, DSA conference, online
The Religious and Development study group convened three roundtables on ‘Decolonisation, Development and Faith’, which brought together researchers and practitioners from Africa, Asia, Europe and North America.
June 2020, DSA conference, online
The Religion and Development study group convened two panels on ‘Faith Leadership for Global Challenges’ at the DSA Conference 2020. The panels included papers that explored the breadth of faith leadership, including local and ‘a-typical’ leaders who are often marginalised from global decision-making processes due to their sex, caste, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or their traditional or indigenous identity.
June 2019, DSA conference, The Open University
The Religion and Development study group convened a panel on ‘Religions and Climate Action’ at the DSA Conference 2019.
June 2018, DSA conference, University of Manchester
The Religion and Development study group convened two panels:
● ‘Intervention in ‘Chaos Zones’: Humanitarian Assistance and Peacebuilding. This was a joint panel with the NGOs in Development Study Group.
● The Role of Faith Identities and Actors in Combating Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking.
June 2017 DSA conference, University of Bradford
The Religion and Development study group convened a panel on ‘The Increasing Space for ‘Moral Economies’ in the Light of Global Inequality: The Role of Religions and Faith Perspectives’
February 2017, workshop, University of Bath
The Religions and Development Study Group organised a one-day workshop on ‘Methodological Challenges of Researching Religion in Marginalised Development Contexts’ at the University of Bath in February 2017. It saw the coming together of researchers and representatives of faith-based organisations from various faith perspectives including Christian and Muslim traditions.
June 2016, DSA conference, University of Oxford
The Religion and Development study group convened a panel on ‘The Role of Religion in Defining and Realising the SDGs’.
April 2016, launch workshop, SOAS
The DSA Study Group on Religions and Development was launched at a full-day workshop at SOAS University, London. The event reflected on previous research on religions and development and brought together academics, NGO researchers and practitioners from a range of different universities and NGOs, including CAFOD, World Vision, Islamic Relief and the Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities.