About
About The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion
The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion is a Cambridge-based interdisciplinary research and dissemination institute improving public understanding of science and religion, and their interactions.
The Faraday Institute aims to shed new light on life’s big questions through academically rigorous research in the field of science and religion and dissemination of related resources, training and outreach to schools, colleges, the scientific community, religious institutions and the general public.
Founded in 2006 (as part of St. Edmund’s College), it is now an independent charitable organisation with membership of the Cambridge Theological Federation, an affiliate of Cambridge University.
To find out more about The Faraday Institute, visit their website: here.
About The Faraday Institute Youth and Schools Programme
What we do, and why.
Research, and experience, show that the majority of children and young people have important ‘Big Questions’ about the interactions of different disciplines and ways of exploring the world (notably including science and religion), but that these often go unexplored as it isn’t always easy for teachers, parents and others to find time and material to help. We aim to provide opportunities and resources to equip children, young people and those who influence them to explore these questions well. Engaging with ideas from science and religion, and how they interact with one another, can give young people understanding, wisdom and other vital tools to help them consider their own worldviews, and engage with the range of views, challenges and opportunities present in today’s scientific, technological and multi-cultural society.
The Faraday Institute’s work has always included outreach to young people, and since 2013 we have been developing a wide-reaching and successful programme, providing opportunities for thousands of young people of all ages to explore positive science-faith interactions through accessible interactive sessions, and providing training for those in positions of influence.
Visits for young people
We love to run fun, hands-on, question-based sessions for young people of all ages, all over the UK (and beyond!). These opportunities to explore positive science-faith interactions are tailored to whatever you might need for your setting and group of young people.
See our visits page for more information.
Training
We run training for teachers, trainee teachers, youth workers, science and/or faith communicators and others who have the opportunity to help young people explore science-faith interactions.
See our training page for more information.
Resources
We create, share, and collaborate to support, a range of online and in-print resources.
The ‘Faraday Kids’, ‘Faraday Teens’ and ‘Faraday Educators’ websites you’re looking at now are outputs of our programme – tailored to suit children, young people, and their influencers, respectively.
On these sites you can find helpful science-faith content and links to helpful resources (books, videos, podcasts, lesson plans, science-faith activities and session materials) produced by ourselves and others to support kids, teens and educators.
How do we do what we do – our ethos
The aim of our programme is to help and encourage everyone to use reliable information and well-thought-through ideas to explore and talk about big questions. An important part of this is equipping young people to engage thoughtfully and respectfully with different people, ideas and beliefs.
Some of our work and resources focus particularly on the relationship between science and the Christian faith. This is, in part, due to the high proportion of questions asked regarding science and Christianity and also reflects the fact that our Youth and Schools team members each hold a Christian faith, so are particularly well-equipped to contribute to this discussion from a place of personal experience. This approach is consistent with the wider outlook of The Faraday Institute which draws on a Christian ethos whilst encouraging engagement with a wide diversity of opinions and perspectives concerning interactions between science and religion.
Whilst we do sometimes have a particular focus on the Christian faith, the aim of the programme is not to advocate any one particular viewpoint, but to encourage informed, accurate and respectful engagement with a wide diversity of opinions concerning interactions between scientific and religious thinking. We love to engage with people with any or no religious background, and have had great success doing so in a wide variety of schools and other contexts. Through our work, young people from a whole range of different faiths and worldviews have the chance to explore their questions with those who have spent many years thinking about these ideas, and are well respected within the mainstream scientific and theological communities.
Please get in touch if you have questions about how our ethos influences our work.
Meet the team
We are Steph, Lizzie, Cathy, Cara and Ana, the Youth and Schools team of The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, based in Cambridge, UK. Click here to meet the team.
Lizzie Henderson
Youth and Schools Programme Director
Cathy Priest
Youth and Schools Programme Training Lead
Cara Parrett
Youth and Schools Programme Assistant Director
Ana Jones
Youth and Schools Programme Research and Communications Assistant
More information – our past newsletters
Please click on the links below if you are interested in browsing past newsletters from the Youth and Schools programme at The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion. To sign up to receive newsletters, please visit our ‘Get in Touch‘ page.