Statements and Policies

As we all know, our subject area is facing significant challenges and uncertainty about its future. A combination of factors has put our subject area under considerable pressure: including, declining undergraduate admissions, changes in university structures and priorities, changes in the research and disciplinary make-up of the subject area, changes to school-level teaching and examining, challenges to religious literacy, changing demographics, and a global health pandemic.

TRS-UK, as the representative body for those working in the TRS subject area in higher education, will host a 1-day online symposium in part to take stock of the current situation and the challenges facing our subject area, but primarily to share visions of the future for our subject and how it can thrive in the university setting.

We propose to bring together emerging leaders in our subject area to present their visions of a flourishing future for TRS in the UK and to discuss ways of ensuring that the next 10 years will see the growth of our subject at university level.

More details to follow.

As the executive officers of TRS-UK, the UK’s national association for Theology and Religious Studies, we register our deep sadness and concern about racial injustice, as highlighted by the ‘Black Lives Matter’ campaign and by the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on the BAME population of the UK. We regret the ethnic and racial imbalances and inequalities within our own professional community. TRS-UK is committed to working with UK TRS Departments and Subject Associations to oppose racism in all its forms, and to work toward more just practices in our own contexts. This includes fostering and disseminating good practice in ethnic diversity and equality, in recruitment, teaching, and research. We firmly believe in the power of good-quality teaching and research in religion and theology, from early education onwards, in combatting racial inequality and in challenging the systems of thought on which it is based.

TRS-UK Code of Conduct for Conferences Template

This template statement below may be of use to organisers who wish to develop a code of conduct to address issues of unprofessional behaviour and harassment at conferences. It is freely adaptable for local conditions and does not need to be adopted in full. An acknowledgement of TRS-UK is not required, however it would be appropriate to include the citations which appear at the bottom of this template. TRS-UK recognises that it is increasingly considered good practice to have a dedicated person or persons at conferences to whom delegates can be directed should there be any support they require.

Code of Conduct Statement

The conference organizers are committed to making this event accessible and productive for everyone, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership and pregnancy and maternity. We will not tolerate harassment of participants in any form. Please follow these guidelines:

• Be constructive in your questions and discussions. Do not insult or put down other attendees.
• Behave professionally. Harassment and sexist, racist, or exclusionary comments or jokes are not appropriate. Harassment includes sustained disruption of talks, inappropriate physical contact, sexual attention or innuendo, deliberate intimidation, stalking, and photography or recording of an individual without consent. It also includes offensive comments related to gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race or religion.
• All communication should be appropriate for a professional audience including people of many different backgrounds.

Participants asked to stop any inappropriate behaviour are expected to comply immediately. Attendees violating these rules may be asked to leave the event at the sole discretion of the organizers without a refund of any charge.

Any participant who wishes to report a violation of this policy or to seek support is asked to speak, in confidence, to the conference Equality and Diversity Officer/anyone with a committee badge/named person as appropriate.

This template code is adapted from codes authored by @JowitaAThor and @1752Group

Report produced by Matthew Guest, Sonya Sharma, and Robert Song on gender and career progression in TRS UK (2013).