Abby Day

Abby Day joined the department in September 2013 to teach about the sociology of religion and develop future programmes and research projects. Abby is currently Principal Investigator on an ESRC project exploring the role and sociological impact of women’s labour in churches and related communities, and recently completed an AHRC-funded project on ‘Belief in Cultural Relations’, investigating the dynamic of ‘belief’ in recent transitions in the Arab world.

Abby's work includes building capacity and representing sociology of religion outside universities: Abby chairs the Sociology of Religion study group within the British Sociological Association, am a member of the ESRC Peer Review College, a Governor and Trustee of INFORM: the Information Network on Religious Movements and recently served as a Member, Office for National Statistics, Academic Advisory Board for 2011 Census Questionnaire Development, Ethnicity, Identity, Language and Religion questions. Abby maintains strong links with other academic institutions, as a lecturer and research fellow at the University of Kent, Department of Religious Studies and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Sussex, Department of Geography and frequently give talks and lectures at other institutions.

With international colleagues in the UK, Canada and Nordic countries Abby is developing a research network in what we are loosely describing as ‘northern’ approaches to the sociology of religion. In 2012, Abby was a Visiting Lecturer at Uppsala University, Sweden and in October 2013 Abby was a Visiting Lecturer in Anthropology of Religion at Helsinki University, Finland.

Abby's early career was spent as a writer and editor in educational publishing. In 1999, Abby returned to university to pursue study and research in the social scientific study of religion. Abby's background in publishing informs my teaching and publications about how to get research published and funded.

Abby convenes the weekly workshop on the new BA Social & Political Sciences, an inter-disciplinary programme between Anthropology, Political Science and Sociology, and will also teach on the MA in MA Gender, Media and Culture.