Warwick Hawkins and Jenny Kartupelis
Warwick Hawkins, Lord Khan and Shaheen Akhtar
Message from the Directors, Faith in Society Ltd.
As we welcome 2025, Faith in Society continues to foster interfaith dialogue and cooperation. The past year saw significant developments in the UK’s interfaith landscape, with the Midlands Interfaith Conference standing out as a pivotal event.
This conference, organised by Warwick Hawkins under the banner of United Religions Initiative UK (URI UK), brought together diverse faith leaders and activists to reinvigorate interfaith activities in the Midlands. Lord Khan, the Minister for Faith, addressed the gathering, underscoring the region’s importance in promoting interfaith relations.
In a notable development, URI UK welcomed international members from Europe and the USA to the UK. This visit included high-profile figures such as Preeta Bansal, former senior policy advisor to President Obama. The delegation engaged in discussions about URI’s work and shared new ideas, aiming to expand their network beyond existing memberships in the Midlands and London.
Faith in Society Director Warwick Hawkins was pleased to be also be invited to participate in a meeting in Birmingham on 10th December 2024 about the future of interfaith dialogue with Lord Khan of Burnley and fellow United Religions Initiative UK Trustee Shahin Akhtar.
As we enter 2025, the momentum generated by these initiatives promises to foster greater social cohesion and interfaith cooperation across the United Kingdom. With organisations like URI UK stepping up to host conversations and galvanise interfaith activities, we look forward to an impactful Inter Faith Week in November 2025 that will further strengthen relationships between people of different faiths and beliefs.
British Ugandan Asians at 50
Faith in Society has been working closely with the India Overseas Trust to tell the story of the expelled Ugandan Asians and those who helped them when they arrived penniless in Britain 50 years ago.
On 18th September 1972, the first evacuation flight of Asians fleeing from Uganda landed at London’s Stansted Airport. A few weeks earlier, on 4th August 1972, the Ugandan dictator, General Idi Amin, had served 90 days’ notice on around 70,000 Asians to leave the country. Each family was permitted to take only £55 and one suitcase per individual. 28,200 of those who held British passports were admitted to the UK.
To commemorate the expulsion, we have conducted over 50 oral history interviews with former residents of reception camps set up to accommodate Ugandan Asian refugees on their arrival in Britain in 1972, and with those who volunteered at the time. Faith in Society has also run events alongside high-profile partners such as the National Archives, the School of Oriental and African Studies, the Curve Theatre in Leicester and the British Asian Trust, who hosted an event at Buckingham Palace in the presence of the King. We helped to curate a Touring Exhibition which has so far visited 18 venues around the country. More details of the programme and recordings of all the interviews can be found at bua50.org.
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Expertise and experience are at the heart of our business. Our consultants come from a wide variety of backgrounds with a broad range of skill sets and experiences.
We are always looking for creative and collaborative personalities to join our consulting team. You’d be working alongside experienced faith-based professionals, and have plenty of opportunities to collaborate on exciting and challenging projects.
If you have a project idea or specific skills that could benefit our work, we are happy to chat further.
Please contact us.
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Our News
Midlands Interfaith Conference
The Government’s new Minister for Faith, Lord Khan of Burnley, addressed an evening conference of inter-faith activists at Coventry University on Tuesday, 12th November 2024. Lord Khan highlighted the Midlands’ role in encouraging
Faith and Belief Policy Collective’ open letter
Faith in Society welcomes the Open Letter which has been sent by the ‘Faith and Belief Policy Collective’ to an incoming Government, setting out its hopes for the Government’s future engagement with faith groups in the United Kingdom.
Holocaust Memorial Day 2023
Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) was marked this year with thousands of activities involving hundreds of thousands of people. Individuals, families, and communities come together to remember people affected by the Holocaust,
The Adventures and Struggles of a British Asian Refugee
Faith in Society organised a successful event in the Oasis Hub at Waterloo, London, to launch the autobiography of “My Silk Road” by the businessman Ram Gidoomal CBE,
Together We Can Stop Hate Crime
What We Do
With Warwick’s support, we were able to develop a number of projects and identify suitable funding. Warwick understood FODIP’s values and aims very well. His continued support enabled a successful funding application, which will allow us to continue our much-needed work. Warwick was splendid to work with.
Faith in Society has been an invaluable partner in a large AHRC project exploring how research on lived religion and lived belief can feed into better policy. Their extensive networks and practical experience at the highest level of national and local government have ensured that our consultations been both innovative and effective.
We are so grateful to Faith in Society for securing funding for our project. Warwick has also been able to link us to other groups and individuals who can help this work develop momentum. His advice and support has been invaluable.
I just wanted also to express my sincere and deep gratitude for Warwick’s efforts, help and support in organising the Celebration Barnet, Unity in the Community Festival, We could not have planned this success without your involvement.
Warwick assisted the charity in successfully securing several grants – all providing much-needed funds to help the UK Jewish community at large. Warwick’s help and guidance was immense and without him, we would have not secured the support. JBCS is enormously thankful for all his help.
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