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PODCAST

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast

International Research Network for the Study of Science & Belief in Society

A podcast covering the latest research in the social study of science and belief, hosted by Dr Will Mason-Wilkes, Dr James Riley, Dr Rachael Shillitoe, and Dr Richard Grove, Research Fellows at the University of Birmingham. Each episode features Will, James, Rachael and Richard chatting to expert guests about their current research, how their disciplinary approach contributes to our understanding of science and belief in society and their sometimes meandering journeys into the field of science and

science social sciences

All Episodes

00:36:35

The complex relationship between science and religion...

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2025/11/25

Bernard Lightman, a Distinguished Professor of Humanities at York University, in Toronto, Canada, who is best known for his work on the Cultural History of Victorian Science and Religion, talks about some of the highlights of his career and his current international correspondence project digitizing the letters of the Irish physicist, John Tyndall.

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00:31:51

What do Muslims think about science?

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2025/10/28

Sociologists Dr Saleema Burney and Dr Stephen Jones, now at the University of Keele, were both part of the ‘Science and Religion: Exploring the Spectrum’ project at the University of Birmingham. In this episode they talk about their research exploring what Muslims think about science, drawing from their recent research project ‘Science and British Muslim Religious Leadership’. Taking a straightforward approach centered on asking Muslim religious leaders what they think about science, they talk about

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00:30:51

Where is the global in the history of science?

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2025/10/07

Dr Alexander Hall, an Assistant Professor at McMaster University in Canada who studies the history ofbiology and environmental science in popular media, and Dr Sarah Qidwai at the University of York in the UK who researches science and Islam in the 19th century, discuss the importance of widening the scope of the history of science and religion.

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00:33:47

Are scientists allowed to be religious at work?

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2025/09/23

In this episode, Dr Carissa Sharp, a social psychologist at the University of Birmingham, Dr Renny Thomas, a sociologist at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in Bhopal, and Dr Arturo Fitz Herbert, from the Communications Department of the Universidad Austral in Buenos Aires in Argentina join Deborah Cohen to discuss what scientists really believe in, and crucially what the public thinks they 'should' or 'do' believe in!

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00:30:47

Exposing the oft overlooked historical connections...

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2025/09/09

In this episode, Peter Harrison, Professor Emeritus of History and Philosophy at the University of Queensland, talks about his latest book, Some New World: myths of supernatural belief in a secular age, which explores the relationship between the natural and the supernatural across time, from Aristotle to the end of the 20th century.

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00:33:24

How do students reconcile their beliefs with their...

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2025/08/26

Rachael Shillitoe is a sociologist and a senior social scientist in the British civil service. She was previously a Leverhulme Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham where she studied what primary school age children think about religion. Dr Elizabeth Barnes is an Assistant Professor of Biology Education at Middle Tennessee State University, who explores how to teach culturally controversial topics.

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00:37:45

What do religious and spiritual Australians think...

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2025/08/12

Dr Anna Halafoff, an Associate Professor of Sociology and coordinator of the Spirituality and Wellbeing (SWell) Research Network, SWELL, based at Deakin University in Melbourne, and Dr Tom Aechtner, Associate Professor at the University of Queensland where he researches Australian-specific sources of vaccine hesitancies around COVID-19 and other diseases and their relationship with religious beliefs, join Deborah Cohen to discuss their research.

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00:30:49

How do religious views affect abortion policies in...

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2025/07/29

Dr Amy Adamczyk, Professor of Sociology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, part of City University of New York, and Dr Reynaldo Rivera and Dr Maria Sol Barbera, from the School of Communications at the Universidad Australin Buenos Aries in Argentina, discuss their research on how different contexts and personal religious beliefs shape people’s health-related attitudes and behaviors, in particular medical interventions such as abortion and assisted conception, at the beginning of life. Amy

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00:31:39

What do non-religious scientists think about their...

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2025/07/15

In the third episode of our new series, Dr Rebecca Catto, Associate Professor of Sociology at Kent State University (USA) who was for a decade a Principal Investigator on the Science and Religion, Exploring the Spectrum projects, talks about her research into science and non-religion.

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00:28:12

What role does morality play in the relationship...

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2025/05/27

John Evans, Tata Chancellor’s Chair in Social Sciences, Professor of Sociology, and Co-Director of the Institute of Practical Ethics of the University of California San Diego, talks about how his research shows that the religion and science debate should increasingly focus on moral conflict between religion and science, rather than on facts.

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00:34:40

The Successes of the INSBS with Prof. Fern Elsdon-Baker

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2025/05/21

Fern Elsdon-Baker, Professor of Science, Knowledge and Belief in Society at the University of Birmingham, looks back at the successes of the network she founded in bringing together researchers from all over the world and from awide variety of disciplines, from psychology to politics and theology to sociology, to gain a deeper understanding of the relationships between science and belief in peoples’ lives.

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00:52:08

Emerging Trends in the History of Science and...

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2023/09/29

In the final episode of the season, James and Will are joined by Dr Adam R. Shapiro, an historian of science, whose work focuses on public understandings and misunderstandings of science and the relationship between science and religion. Adam provides an overview of some of the emerging trends in the history of science and religion and situates his own work within this wider disciplinary movement. The discussion ranges from the development of and public controversies surrounding two space telescopes

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01:03:53

Psychology of (non)Religion with Dr Carissa Sharp and...

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2023/08/03

In the penultimate episode of the season, Will and Rebecca are joined by Dr Carissa Sharp, Assistant Professor in Psychology of Religion in the School of Theology and Religion at the University of Birmingham, UK and Dr Carola Leicht, Reader in Organisational Behaviour at the University of Kent, UK. Carissa and Carola discuss their almost decade-long collaboration, using social psychological methods to explore questions of science-religion conflict and how religious and nonreligious social identities

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00:55:12

Religious Identity, Political Orientation and Vaccine...

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2023/07/05

In this episode Will is joined by a new co-host Dr Rebecca Hughes, a social psychologist at the University of Birmingham. Will and Rebecca welcome Renate Ysseldyk, Associate Professor in the Department of Health Sciences at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada specializing in Social and Health Psychology, and Emily Tippins, a PhD student at the University of Ottawa, who recently completed her Masters of Science working with Renate at Carleton University. Renate and Emily discuss how

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00:56:43

Abortion, Religion & Liberalism with Professor Amy...

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2023/06/20

In this timely episode James and Will welcome Amy Adamczyk, Professor of Sociology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and The Graduate Center, City University of New York. Amy discusses her sociological exploration of attitudes towards abortion, in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) and other assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs), and the role that religious and other socio-demographic factors play in shaping these attitudes. Amy presents the results of a comparative quantitative analysis of

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00:56:37

Science and Religion in Argentina with Professor...

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2023/05/22

In this episode James and Will welcome Professor Reynaldo Rivera, Full Professor in the School of Communication and Design, post-doctoral researcher Dr Arturo Fitz Herbert and researcher Sol Barbera from Austral University (Argentina). Reynaldo, Arturo and Sol discuss there work as project partners on the Science and Religion: Exploring the Spectrum of Global Perspectives project, which sees teams of researchers in 8 countries investigate the relationship between science and religion using diverse

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00:49:54

STS and Religion in Conversation with Dr Thokozani...

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2023/04/04

In this episode James and Will welcome Dr Thokozani Kamwendo, post-doctoral researcher at Durham University, and Dr Caroline McCalman, post-doctoral researcher at the University of Birmingham, for a roundtable discussion on the relationship between scholarship in Science & Belief and Science & Technology Studies (STS). Thoko is the editor of a collection exploring this relationship, with Caroline providing a single-authored and a co-authored contribution. As well as hosting the podcast, both

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00:55:30

Science & Meaning: From 'Cultured Meat' to the March...

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2023/02/21

In this episode we welcome Dr Neil Stephens, Associate Professor in Technology and Society at the University of Birmingham. Neil discusses his 15+ year study of ‘cultured meat’; the processes of its scientific and technological development, how religious authorities have been involved in these processes, and the broader epistemological, ontological and sociological implications of his research. We go on to discuss the March for Science, the value of borrowing concepts from different disciplines, and

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00:53:59

Reflections on the History of Science & Religion with...

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2022/12/13

In this episode (our first recorded in-person) we talk with distinguished historian of science Professor Bernard Lightman. We discuss his wide-ranging contributions to the historical study of science and religion, from his early work on the origins of agnosticism, to his views on more recent shifts and trends in the field - and the differences between T.H. Huxley and Richard Dawkins.

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00:44:06

The End of the World with Dr Hauke Riesch

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2022/10/31

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast is back - but for how much longer? In this opening episode of Season 3, James and Will welcome Dr Hauke Riesch, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Brunel University, London, to talk about the end of the world...Narratives of the apocalypse - stories of how the world will end, and humanity's fate before, during and after these variously prophesied cataclysms, have been a central feature of many global religions. From the threat of nuclear war via global

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42 results

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