Goldsmiths - University of London

Martha Shaw, Research Assistant

Martha Shaw read French with African & Asian Studies at Sussex before completing a Masters in Social Anthropology at University College, London where she researched the public reaction to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. She then joined Church Urban Fund where she worked on faith based community development. She is a qualified teacher in Social Science and spent 4 years as Head of Sociology at a London secondary school and has also taught at undergraduate level. She is a trained facilitator and has presented on the use of participatory methods in formal education and community work. She has worked on a number of faith based research and practice projects both within the Unit and in Church Urban Fund and has published on the role of faith communities in areas of urban disadvantage.

Matthew Francis, Research Assistant - Religious Literacy Leadership Programme  

Matthew graduated from Leeds with a joint-honours degree in Philosophy and Theology and Religious Studies. He subsequently undertook a Masters by Research, where he examined the ideas of Georges Bataille in relation to the problem of meaning in death in contemporary society. He came to university via a career in the private sector and has previously worked as a researcher and consultant for a number of local authorities and charitable bodies. Matthew is the Postgraduate Officer for the Sociology of Religion study group (SocRel) of the British Sociological Association (BSA). He has taught on undergraduate and postgraduate modules on subjects including the Sociology of Religion and Religion in Modern Britain.

Matthew recently completed an AHRC-funded PhD, which investigated the move to violence in the beliefs of groups. He is the editor for RadicalisationResearch.org, an AHRC/ESRC funded website which provides a resource for policy-makers and the media on radicalisation and extremism.

Fellows