Rebecca Catto

Biography

I am a qualitative sociologist. I began my career in the UK as a sociologist of religion and am interested in religion; nonreligion; science in society, and cultural conflicts.

I am delighted to work with graduate students.

I am also Faculty Advisor for Kent State's Sociology undergraduate organization The Sociology Collective. Please get in touch if you're a student interested in being involved.

Education

Ph.D. Sociology, University of Exeter
MA. Anthropology and Sociology of Religion, King's College London
BA. Theology, University of Oxford

Expertise

Religion
science and religion
secularity
belief
Inequalities (class/gender/race/ethnicity)

Publications

Catto, Rebecca (2024) 'FORUM article', Cultural Studies of Science Education. Vol. 1, 15-22.
Catto, Rebecca, Rachael Shillitoe, Stephen Jones, Tom Kaden, and Fern Elsdon-Baker (2023). 'The Social Imaginary of Science and Nonreligion: Narrating the Connection in the Anglophone West', Secularism & Nonreligion.
Catto, Rebecca, James Riley, Fern Elsdon-Baker, Stephen Jones, and Carola Leicht (2022). 'Science, religion, and nonreligion: engaging subdisciplines to move further beyond mythbusting', Acta Sociologica, online first
Catto, Rebecca (2021). 'Glocal Power and the Sociology of Religion: How Robertson’s Theory of Globalization Helps Us to See beyond Secularization'. In Globalization/Glocalization: Developments in Theory and Application, edited by P. Beyer. Leiden: Brill.
Jones, Stephen, Fern Elsdon-Baker, Rebecca Catto, and Tom Kaden (2020). What science means to me: Understanding personal identification with (evolutionary) science using the sociology of (non)religion. Public Understanding of Science.
Catto, Rebecca, Stephen Jones, Tom Kaden, and Fern Elsdon-Baker (2019). Diversification and internationalization in the sociological study of science and religion. Sociology Compass.
Jones, Stephen H., Rebecca Catto, & Tom Kaden (editors). (2019) Science, Belief and Society: International Perspectives on Religion, Non-religion and the Public Understanding of Science. Bristol University Press, Bristol.
Jones, Stephen, Rebecca Catto, Tom Kaden, and Fern Elsdon-Baker (2019). ‘That’s how Muslims are required to view the world’: Race, culture and belief in non-Muslims’ descriptions of Islam and science. The Sociological Review. 67(1): 161-177.
Catto, Rebecca (2020). Science as Secular: Dynamics of Reflection, Tolerance, and Contestation in British and Canadian Scientific Workplaces. In Identity in a Secular Age: Science, Religion, and Public Perceptions edited by F. Elsdon-Baker and B. Lightman
Kaden, Tom, Stephen Jones, Rebecca Catto, and Fern Elsdon-Baker (2017). Knowledge as Explanandum: Disentangling Lay and Professional Perspectives on Science and Religion. Studies in Religion. Online first.
Catto, Rebecca (2017). Islam in Europe and the Amman Message: Overview, Challenges and Potentials. In Muslim Identity in a Turbulent Age: Islamic Extremism and Western Islamophobia, edited by M. Hardy, F. Mughal and S. Markiewicz. London: Jessica Kingsley
Eccles, Janet and Rebecca Catto (2017). The significance of sacred secular space in the formation of British atheist identities. In Materiality and the Study of Religion: The Stuff of the Sacred, edited by T. Hutchings and J. McKenzie. London and New York
Davie, Grace, Rebecca Catto, and Linda Woodhead (2016). Secularism and Secularization. In Religions in the Modern World: Traditions and Transformations, edited by L. Woodhead, C. Partridge, and H. Kawanami. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 551-570.

Affiliations

University of Birmingham

Awards/Achievements

2020 - 2024 Co-Investigator ‘What's next? Developing novel quantitative tools to address conflicting evidence in temporal ecology’ (PI: Christie Bahlai, Biological Sciences, Co-I: Bridget Mulvey, Education) funded by the National Science Foundation
2022 - 2023 Center for Teaching and Learning Faculty Fellow
Fall 2022 Research and Creative Activity Appointment
June 2022 Invited to become a Fellow of the International Society for Science and Religion (ISSR)
2014 -2022 Co-Principal Investigator on the £3.4 million "Science and Religion: Exploring the Spectrum, Global Perspectives" project funded by the Templeton Religion Trust.
2020 'How do you know? A podcast exploring the numbers behind our beliefs, and everything in between’, Co-Investigator, $12,0000, Mozilla Foundation
2014 - 2017 Science and Religion: Exploring the Spectrum, Co-Investigator, £1.9 million, Templeton Religion Trust

Documents

Catto Curriculum Vitae Feb 2025_0.pdf

Research Institutes and Initiatives

Global Understanding Research Initiative