Details of forthcoming and past NSRN events can be found on this page. If you have missed any NSRN events and want more information, please see below. We also maintain Events Listings for relevant events happening worldwide. Looking to the future, the NSRN is open to sponsoring, or possibly funding, relevant events. Please get in touch if you have a proposal.
2023
Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network Conference
Towards Substantive Understandings of Nonreligion and Secularity
University of Ottawa, Canada, 6-9 June, 2023
The 2023 NSRN conference will be delivered using a hybrid virtual and in-person format. For those who can travel, we strongly recommend you join us in person at the conference venue at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, Canada from 6-9 June 2023. However, for those who cannot join in person, there will be at least one hybrid session room (out of two session rooms in total) throughout the days of the conference where participants can present virtually, listen to other virtual and in-person presentations
and ask their questions. There will be no fee to attend the 2023 NSRN conference either in person or virtually.
Deadline for session and paper proposals: 16 December 2022
2022
Annual Lecture
Studying Nonreligion in a Nonreligious Environment
In this virtual lecture, presented by the Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network in partnership with the Nonreligion in a Complex Future Project, Atko Remmel (University of Tartu) discusses his findings on nonreligion in Estonia, often considered one of the least religious countries in Europe. The lecture touches on the impact of Soviet “forced secularization” on the situation today, the intersections of nonreligion, nationalism and environment(alism), the perceptions of (non)religion among the different generations of the nonreligious, and finally, what all of this tells us about the study of (non)religion in such a context.
To view the poster click here.
To view the lecture click here.
2021
NONRELIGION AND SECULARITY RESEARCH NETWORK CONFERENCE
16-18 June, 2021, co-hosted with the Nonreligion in a Complex Future Project.
University of Ottawa, Canada.
2021 NSRN conference programme
Registration for the conference is now open, and free of charge. Please register using this link.
The Call for Papers can be found here
2020
Annual Lecture
Going Godless: Black Feminism, Humanism, and Anti-Racism
Dr. Sikivu Hutchinson
10 December, 2020. 13:00 – 14:00 EST. This is an online event, free and open to all. Click here for further details.
You can view the lecture here.
2019
NSRN Conference 2019
Cultures of Unbelief
May 28-30, Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, Italy
2018
NSRN Conference 2018
Worldviews in World View: Particularizing Secularism, Secularity and Nonreligion
5-6 July 2018, King’s College London
NSRN 2018 Conference Schedule.
Annual Lecture
Secular powers and heretic undercurrents
Samuli Schielke, Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO) research institute.
Click here for more information.
2017
Annual Lecture
Ancestor Worship amongst Today’s Unbelievers
Abby Day, Goldsmiths, University of London.
2016
NSRN Fourth International Conference
Approaching Nonreligion: Conceptual, methodical, and empirical approaches in a new research field
7-9 July 2016, co-hosted with the ‘Diversity of Nonreligion’ Research Project.
University of Zürich, Switzerland.
Conference web-page and call for papers.
Annual Lecture
Is atheism a religion? Psychological & Anthropological Perspectives.
Dr Miguel Farias, Coventry University; Professor Christopher French, Goldsmiths College, University of London; Dr Jonathan Lanman, Queen’s University Belfast; Dr Lois Lee, UCL (chair)
2015
Annual Lecture
Outline of a Theory of Religious-Secular Competition
Prof. Dr. Jörg Stolz, University of Lausanne.
Thursday 12 November 2015, University of Zurich. See here for further details.
2014
NSRN Third International Conference
Explaining Nonreligion and Secularity in the US and Beyond
19-20 November 2014, Pitzer College, Claremont, USA.
Annual Lecture
‘In the Name of a Draconian Conception of State Neutrality’: Law’s Affirmation that You Can’t be Good without God
Lori Beaman, University of Ottawa.
November 19th, Pitzer College, Claremont, USA.
Secularism and Nonreligion (NSRN and ISSSC Journal) Sponsored Panel Session
31 October-2 November 2014, Society for the Scientific Study of Religion Conference, Indianapolis, USA.
See here for Call for Papers. Further details to follow.
Sponsored Roundtable Discussion
Do categories such as ‘nonreligion’ and ‘secularity’ help or hinder empirical research?
12-14 May 2014, European Association for the Study of Religions Conference, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Chair: Lois Lee. Discussants: James Cox, Matthew Engelke, Lois Lee, Anna Strhan and Teemu Taira
See here for conference programme.
Sponsored Conference Panels
Nations and Nonreligions – Case Studies from Europe II
12-14 May 2014, European Association for the Study of Religions Conference, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Chair: Lois lee. Panellists: Christiane Königstedt, Cora Schuh, and Atko Remmel.
See here for conference programme.
Nations and Nonreligions – Case Studies from Europe III
12-14 May 2014, European Association for the Study of Religions Conference, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Chair: Lois Lee. Panellists: Tatjana Schnell, Ann af Burén, Janne Kontala, Lois Lee.
See here for conference programme.
Conference Panel
On the Right and Wrong Trees: Do ‘The Critical Religion Association’ and ‘Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network’ Have Overlapping Agendas?
8-11 May 2014, Modern Goverment, Sovereignty and the Category of Religion Conference, Uppsala, Sweden.
Panel with Timothy Fitzgerald, Trevor Stack, Naomi Goldenberg, Lois Lee, Stacey Gutkowski Susanne Schenk and Teemu Taira. See here for Conference Programme and Panel Abstract.
2013
Annual Lecture
The Sociology of Irreligion: Past and Present
Colin Campbell and Lois Lee in conversation on The Sociology of Irreligion: Past and Present.
5 December 2013, Conway Hall, London, UK.
See here for further event information. Podcast of event to follow.
2012
Annual Lecture
In spite of Christianity: Humanism and its others in contemporary Britain
Matthew Engelke, London School of Economics
8 November 2012, Conway Hall, London, UK.
See here for a Podcast and the Full Text of the Lecture.
Conference
Nonreligion and the Secular: New Horizons for Multidisciplinary Research
4-6 July 2012, Goldsmiths University, London, UK.
2011
Virtual Conference
Terminology for Nonreligion and Secularity Research
27 April – 18 May 2011, Worldwide.
Annual Lecture
Atheism Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Atheistic Thought
Jonathan Lanman, University of Oxford
5 April 2011, St Mary’s University College, Twickenham, London, UK.
2010
Methods Workshop
Qualitative Methods in the Study of Nonreligion
14 December 2010, University of Cambridge, UK.
A one day workshop for researchers engaged in the qualitative study of non-religion and secularity. See here for a report on the event (by Christopher R. Cotter).
2009
Conference
Non-religion and Secularity: New Empirical Perspectives
11 December 2009, Wolfson College, University of Oxford, UK.
See here for Welcome, Conference Timetable, Paper Abstracts and details of Parallel Sessions.
NSRN Online 