I am a sociologist of religion, gender and higher education. I have taught on undergraduate and postgraduate sociology and theology programmes at several institutions and supervised many PhD students to successful completion. I have led many externally funded research projects, including by the AHRC, the European Commission, The Leverhulme Trust, the Office for Students and the Church of England.

At Regent’s Park College, I lead research projects on religion and society.

My MA research investigated single women’s marginalisation in the contemporary church and inspired my PhD, at King’s College London, on how evangelical Christians negotiate gender. I wrote and edited books and journal articles on religion, gender and feminism. Two decades since my PhD, I remain fascinated by how Christians navigate ideas about gender, and I’m leading a new project, ‘New Christian Masculinities’, funded by the Sir Halley Stewart Trust about the reputed rise in young men identifying with Christianity.

The second strand of my work concerns religion and higher education. I explore how universities and colleges can create environments where their members are free to express and explore belief and identity and learn to relate well across religious difference. Our project ‘Building Student Relationships across Religion and Worldview Difference’ (IDEALS UK), carried out with Durham University, North Carolina State University and The Ohio State University, uncovered that when universities are diverse, create spaces for religious expression and help students have critical conversations across difference – what we term ‘provocative encounters’ – good interfaith relations are more likely to result.

Beyond the college I am Editor-in-Chief of the journal Religion and Gender, Honorary Professorial Fellow in the Department of Sociology at the University of Warwick and Visiting Professor of Religion and Higher Education at Loughborough University.