Can academia handle my religious faith?

"But, as we'll learn later in the episode, religious faith is a fundamental part of many academics' identities, And denying this complexity can negatively impact not just the researchers themselves, but also wider society. And the challenges can be especially severe when a researcher is from a religion. This is the case for Maisha Islam. Maisha is a research culture lead for equality, diversity and inclusion at the University of Southampton in the UK,"

"I didn't really have a connection to education when I was, you know, at school. So, you know, in the UK, we go through primary school, secondary school, GCSEs, A-levels, and it wasn't until I did my A-level in sociology that, you know, when, like a, you know, you turn on a light and things just start clicking and making sense in your head."

Research and religion are often presented as incompatible, yet religious faith forms a core part of many academics' identities. Denying or erasing that complexity harms individual researchers and broader society. Challenges intensify for researchers who practice a religion. Maisha Islam, a British–Bangladeshi Muslim and research culture lead for equality, diversity and inclusion at the University of Southampton, describes feeling like an outsider in academia. Early schooling offered little connection to education and conveyed low expectations for British–Bangladeshi pupils. An A‑level in sociology illuminated possibilities and changed her trajectory. She has investigated similar experiences faced by others navigating academic careers.

Read at Nature