Religion and public life in the Philippines: Equipping a new generation of scholars

We propose to develop a programme that will create and equip a new network of young scholars who wish to pursue a scholarly and publicly engaged agenda on religion and public life in the Philippines. The network is intentionally interdisciplinary, bringing together Filipino postdoctoral students and early career scholars in religious studies, theology, textual studies and the social sciences. Through needs-based interventions, the programme will consist of three workshops at which participants will develop competencies in: (a) designing interdisciplinary projects, (b) producing scholarly publications that offer fresh perspectives on religion and public life, and (c) communicating research findings to the public and other non-academic audiences. While religion has a strong influence in politics and society in the Philippines, young academics are poorly supported to develop research careers in this area. The programme will advance religion and public life as a credible scholarly agenda in the Philippine academe and public sphere.

Workshop team: Professor Emma Tomalin, University of Leeds; Dr Jayeel Cornelio, Ateneo de Manila University.