Who's who

The Forum on Religion was brought to being by the following individuals, who comprise its ‘steering committee’.

Professor Eileen Barker, Professor Emeritus, Department of Sociology
Professor Eileen Barker is Professor Emeritus of Sociology with special reference to the study of religion. Professor Barker’s main research interest over the past 30 years has been, and continues to be, 'cults', 'sects' and new religious movements - and the social reactions to which they give rise; but since 1989 she has spent much of her time investigating changes in the religious situation in Eastern Europe. She is also the Chair and Honorary Director of Inform, an NGO based at LSE which supplies information on minority religions. See INFORM for more information.

Professor Kevin Featherstone, Director, Hellenic Observatory, European Institute
Professor Featherstone's research interests cover the politics of the European integration process and contemporary politics in Greece. He has a keen interest in the relationship between religion and policymaking in the UK and in Europe. He has recently headed a new research project, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council of the UK, examining the position of the Muslim/Turkish minority in Western Thrace in the 1940s.

Dr Effie Fokas, Research Fellow, Hellenic Observatory, European Institute
Dr Fokas’ research interests include the relationship between religion, national identity and nationalism; immigration and the welfare system; and the sociology of religion in a European perspective, with a special focus on Islam. She is co-editor (with Aziz al-Azmeh) of Islam in Europe: Diversity, Identity and Influence (2007 CUP), and co-author (with Peter Berger and Grace Davie) of Religious America, Secular Europe? A theme and variations (forthcoming, Ashgate).

Fr Alexander Fostiropoulos, LSE Chaplaincy
Fr Alexander is Orthodox chaplain of the University of London. He is a priest in the Russian Orthodox Church and maintains an active presence in the academic life of the LSE as well as of King’s College. He is also an active participant in interfaith events and maintains close contact with leaders of a broad range of faith communities.

Professor Conor Gearty, Director, Centre for the Study of Human Rights
Conor Gearty has published widely on terrorism, civil liberties and human rights. His books include Terror (Faber, 1990) and two books with K D Ewing, Freedom under Thatcher (1989) and The Struggle for Civil Liberties (2000). One of his more recent books, Principles of Human Rights Adjudication, is a study of the place of the Human Rights Act in Britain’s constitutional order. His Hamlyn lectures in 2005, Can Human Rights Survive?, have been published by Cambridge University Press. His latest book, Civil Liberties was published by Oxford University Press this September.

Dr Simon Glendinning, Forum for European Philosophy, European Institute
Dr Glendinning’s research focuses on the philosophy of Europe as a geographical, political and cultural region and he is seeking to understand the role of philosophical movements, Christianity, Judaism and Islam in shaping Europe’s identity. Recently he organised a seminar series and large conference at LSE on the theme of secularism.

John Madeley, Government Department
John Madeley’s principal research interests and expertise relate to church-state relations in Europe, the relationship between religion and politics, in Europe in general with a special focus on the government and politics of Nordic countries. His publications include the reader Religion and Politics (Ashgate, 2003) and Church and State in Contemporary Europe: the Chimera of Neutrality (co-edited with Z Enyedi, Cass, 2003).

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