Building Community in Polarised Times
On 22 May 2025, LSE Faith Centre, Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity and Facing History are hosting a panel event on building community in polarised times. Community can have a double edge—while it creates a sense of identity and belonging, a lack of connection between communities can deepen divisions and drive groups apart. The panel discussion will look at examples of how we can create space for healthy dialogue, build empathy and foster a greater sense of shared humanity both within communities and across them. Panelists will examine ways to address complex societal issues while contributing to greater unity.
The panel will comprise LSE academics, sector experts and educationalists working in this space. Together, they will discuss the broader impact of polarisation on community building and share several case studies from a range of communities.
The event is co-hosted by the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity, the LSE Faith Centre, and Facing History.
Speaker
Revd Canon Prof James Walters
Jim Walters is the founding director of the LSE Faith Centre and its Religion and Global Society Research Unit. He leads the team in the centre’s mission to promote religious literacy and interfaith leadership through student programmes and global engagement, along with research into the role of religion in world affairs. He is a Professor in Practice in the Department of International Relations and an affiliated faculty member at the Department for International Development. He has published a number of books including Baudrillard and Theology (2012), Religion and the Public Sphere: New Conversations (2018), A Christian Theology of Chaplaincy (2018), Religious Imaginations and Global Transitions (2018) and Loving Your Neighbour in an Age of Religious Conflict (2019). He was educated at Cambridge University and ordained priest in the Church of England in 2008 within which he is now a canon of Chichester Cathedral.
Speaker
Mari Williams
Mari Williams is a Deputy Headteacher in a secondary school in Haringey, North London. She has had a long involvement with Facing History since the organisation first began in the UK 20 years ago. She is passionate about how young people learn about the decisions people made in the past and how considering these decisions can influence those they make in their own times. Mari leads on Teaching, Learning and Curriculum, and attendance in her school, and teaches History and Citizenship.
Speaker
Joey Hasson
Joey Hasson is an Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity and a Senior Programme Officer for Human Rights at Sigrid Rausing Trust. He has spent over a decade working with grassroots movements and political campaigns that challenge systemic inequalities, in both South Africa and the UK.
Chair
Professor Armine Ishkanian
Armine Ishkanian is the Executive Director of the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity programme and Professor in the Department of Social Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her research examines the relationship between civil society, democracy, development, and social transformation.