News in brief - November 2025
Also circulated as an email bulletin, this is the round up of news from Cambridge Interfaith Programme, providing the briefest of updates on our activities. Similar updates are issued monthly. (We do not publish all bulletins online.)
Greetings all,
We are entering UK Inter Faith Week, one of two occasions in the year when I reach out beyond the Cambridge Interfaith Programme's core mailing lists to share word with wider Faculty of Divinity networks (with consequent apologies for crossposting).
With support from the organisers, we sent 5 Cambridge students along to the national launch event in London and will be hearing what they made of it and what they imagine #InterfaithFutures look like over the coming week.
We’ve also recorded a teacher-friendly webinar on Food & Faith, premiering on YouTube at 16:00 today and promoted as part of the national Inter Faith Week for Schools resources (see ifw4schools.co.uk).
What else is happening? For events in and around Cambridge, see yesterday’s news roundup.
For upcoming CIP events in and beyond the current week, see below:
Inter Faith Week and beyond
11 November @ 14:00 | Training: How to facilitate Scriptural Reasoning | An interactive session for those interested in learning how to facilitate Scriptural Reasoning, including tips on how to introduce a text effectively. More info & register for training.
25 November @ 16:15 | New Spirituality and Psychology reading group. Meeting in the Faculty of Divinity. Register to receive a trio of readings, one academic, one literary, one scripture, all on the topic of Anxiety.
26 November @ 17:30 | Online book launch: Decoding the Cosmos | Celebrating the publication of a new book from Dr Emily Qureshi-Hurst—Decoding the Cosmos: God, physics and the search for deeper explanation. With Oxford Interfaith Forum. More info & register for Decoding the Cosmos.
In the public square
Three Research Forum members have published opinion pieces in the past fortnight—from royal visits, to RE funding and curriculum review. Read more in our website news: www.interfaith.cam.ac.uk/news
Out and about
Forum members are sharing their expertise at IFWeek events this Monday: Hannah Peterson & Dr Marietta van der Tol will be speaking about flags and Christian Nationalism, and Geneva Blackmer is among guest speakers at a URI/Coventry University conference on preventing violence against women.
Details of Monday's events and more.
Looking for the moon?
Divinity PhD student Imad Ahmed is taking moonsighting to another level, thanks to a collaborative grant from the UKRI Science & Technology Facilities Council, working with the Institute of Astronomy & the University of Leeds. Moonsighters Academy offers a multidisciplinary 9-month astronomy course for Muslim community leaders—if you know someone who may be interested, send them to www.interfaith.cam.ac.uk/moon.
Notices from friends
From Ruth Adam: Cambridge Friends of Standing Together & the UK Friends of the Parents Circle – Families Forum hear from bereaved Israeli and Palestinian peacemakers. Witness the remarkable strength it takes to transform grief into a commitment to peace, rather than revenge. 18 November, 16:30. More details of this Bridging Divides event via ActionNetwork.org.
From Leo Taylor at the Woolf Institute:
(1) Leo is leading a research project on religious hate incidents and would like to hear about students’ experiences and understanding of incidents on campuses. £15 Amazon gift cards are offered by way of thanks for participation in a ~1-hour interview. For more information including consent process, contact lt598@cam.ac.uk.
(2) UK undergraduate and masters students are invited to submit a 1,500-word response to this year’s essay competition. Shortlisted writers will be invited to present at an event in early 2026. Winner receives £250. Deadline: 10 January 2026. More competition details via woolf.cam.ac.uk.
Inter Faith Week is a UK-wide initiative.
To find out what's happening near you, visit www.interfaithweek.org.
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