Facilitating Inter-Faith and Inter-Cultural Dialogue

A former textile capital of the world, Bradford has a long history of immigration through the ages and has become one of the North's most culturally and ethnically diverse cities as a result.

 For the University's  vision of `Positioning itself to be at the heart of its local communities' is to be realised it is essential the institution facilitates sometimes difficult conversations on faith, culture, ethnicity and diversity. Below are some examples of the way the University approaches this work.

Example 1 - Programme for a Peaceful City

Programme for a Peaceful City (PPC) is a knowledge exchange network building thinking and practice about public conversations and peacebuilding in the UK context.  The PPC network, which includes academics, practitioners and activists facilitates conversations that explore disagreement and encourage deep listening alongside developing knowledge exchange spaces about dialogue and deliberation.  It also hosts some big conversations, such as an audience with Kenan Malik in 2010 and pre and post Copenhagen reflections on climate change.  Alongside this we work with academics from across the School of Social and International Studies and external partners on supporting a range of conferences and events.

The PPC along with external facilitation partners (Tariq Bashir and Huw Illingworth) has developed innovative work in intercultural dialogue and deliberation for organisations such as the Intercultural Leadership and Communication School and the British Council.  Work with the British Council included tailoring and facilitating a programme for a group of 30 very diverse local participants exploring citizenship and experiencing dialogue in order for them to develop their own social action as part of a global network in 2010.

The PPC is committed to creating spaces for academics and practitioners (at local, regional and national levels) to share learning and ideas from theory and practice and as such host a Thinkspace for people to come together four times a year to reflect on dialogue, deliberation and peacebuilding. 

If you would like further information on any of the PPC activities or are interested in working in partnership with them please contact Lisa Cumming.

Example 2 - Faith and the City

In partnership with Bradford District Faiths Forum, the University's School of Lifelong Education and Development (SLED) established the 'Faith and the City' programme in 2008. A series of hard hitting, thought provoking and intellectually challenging talks and performances aimed at sparking dialogue, discourse and debate amongst the communities of Bradford. The programme is led by speakers who are critiques in the broad field of religion, faith and politics such as Shami Chakrabarti, William Darlrymple,  Professor Ludi Simpson who discussed whether Bradford was `sleepwalking to segregation' and in October 2010 Fatima Bhutto.

The purpose of `Faith and the City' is to raise the level of debate amongst all communities and to encourage us to collectively think about difficult issues around cohesion, faith, politics, values and their relevance to the District.

Dean of SLED at the University of Bradford, Nadira Mirza, said: "Interfaith issues are of paramount importance to both the School and the University of Bradford. We have a commitment to open up programmes like these to all of its communities, in and beyond Bradford. We are delighted that over 1500 people have attended the talks over the past 18 months and we hope this success continues with future events".

The partnership between the University of Bradford and Bradford District Faiths Forum has grown in success since 2008. In 2009 a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the partners to formalise their strong collaborative approach and sustained intentions to continue to work together on interfaith dialogue.

Nasar Fiaz from Bradford District Faiths Forum says "The partnership reaffirms the University's expertise, coupled with the grassroots support enjoyed by the Faiths Forum, to continue to attract excellent speakers to the Faith and the City Programme and ultimately to Bradford".