Summary: US research reveals a significant relationship between university STEM (science, technology, engineering or mathematics) disciplines and the development of students’ religious or spiritual characteristics and interfaith competencies. Yet, in the UK, as university applications for STEM disciplines hit a record high, little research has considered belief diversity (defined as the diversity of religious, spiritual or non-religious traditions, positions or worldviews, including unbelief) in STEM, despite disparities in the number of STEM student applicants from religious backgrounds.

To promote meaningful university STEM opportunities for underrepresented belief groups, we must better understand how to foster STEM environments inclusive of belief diversity. This project will achieve this by addressing four research questions:

1. How do UK STEM students’ lived experiences of belief intersect with their identities as scientists?
2. How do UK STEM students’ attitudes and behaviours in relation to belief diversity change during one academic year in comparison to US STEM students?
3. How do different aspects of UK and US university life impact STEM students’ interfaith learning and development?
4. What are the implications of our learning for fostering STEM university experiences inclusive of belief diversity?

We will conduct 20 semi-structured interviews with UK university STEM students, providing a first of its kind contextualised analysis of how lived experiences of belief intersect with students’ identities as scientists in UK universities (RQ1). This data will be complemented by a comparative statistical analysis of secondary data representing over 6,500 UK and US university students’ perceptions of campus climate and attitudes to belief diversity (RQ2&3). The UK secondary data represents 4,500 UK STEM and non-STEM university students from a current project on which the PI is Research Fellow, IDEALS UK. This will be compared with US secondary data analysis representing 2,191 US STEM university students (a sub-dataset from the IDEALS project, the US research upon which IDEALS UK is based).

Four outputs will target academic and non-academic audiences: a 12,000 word research report, an academic journal article, an online webinar and a conference presentation. Outputs will further audiences’ understanding of how UK STEM university experiences a) influence students’ belief identities, b) empower or impede positive relationships among students of different belief perspectives, and c) compare with US STEM students’ experiences. Leveraging shared international learning and research networks, we will create and widely disseminate recommendations for improving STEM experiences of students from diverse belief backgrounds, widening participation and retention of these students in STEM disciplines.