Chrissie Thwaites

Visiting Fellowship Research

As a LAHRI Postdoctoral Visiting Fellow, my focus is on disseminating and further developing insights from my PhD for both academic and public audiences.

My PhD was in sociology of religion, and explored the impact of evangelical Christian ‘purity culture’ on young women in Britain. It was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) via the White Rose College of Arts and Humanities (WRoCAH), and supervised by Dr Al McFadyen, Dr Caroline Starkey and Professor Rachel Muers.

Through my fellowship, I am working on developing this research into a monograph, and publishing a portfolio of accessible writing for public audiences on evangelical Christianity and purity culture in Britain. During my PhD, I also developed an interest in researcher wellbeing when conducting sensitive research; I’m therefore also further developing my work on supporting emotionally demanding research, through conceptual innovations and publications.

Profile

More broadly, I’m interested in the intersections between religion and contemporary society, especially in relation to identities, inequality, meaning-making, and digital spaces. Prior to my PhD at Leeds, I gained a BA (Hons) (First Class) in religion and ancient history, and MA (Distinction) in theology and religion, from the University of Exeter. Additionally, I maintain a keen commitment to university access and outreach, having previously worked as a Widening Participation Graduate Teaching Assistant, and in a university-facing role at an education charity. Outside of my fellowship, I work as a Research and Policy Officer for a social mobility charity supporting disadvantaged young people. I am also a Research Assistant for Inform (an educational charity providing information on minority religions and sects) on their Religious History Project.

Qualifications

PhD, University of Leeds, MA Theology and Religion, University of Exeter, BA (Hons) Religion and Ancient History, University of Exeter 

Conferences and Presentations

Presentations

Habituating Purity: Negotiating Sexual Ethics, Gender, and Christian Identity in Evangelical Purity Culture in Britain’, Centre for Religion and Public Life Seminar Series, February 2026

Conference contributions 

Panel chair, ‘Re/assessing approaches to sensitive research in religious studies’, British Association for the Study of Religions Annual Conference (BASR), University of Leeds, September 2024  

Keynote roundtable panellist, ‘Reckoning with the Past in Student Education in the Study of Religion: Increasing Tensions for the Discipline’, British Association for the Study of Religions Annual Conference (BASR), University of Leeds, September 2024 

Co-organiser, Researching Religion and Abuse Workshop for PGRs and ECRs, University of Leeds, 14-15 November 2022 

Organiser, BIAPT Doctoral Student Conference, British and Irish Association for Practical Theology, online, April 2022 

Organiser, BIAPT Doctoral Student Conference, British and Irish Association for Practical Theology, online, April 2021 

Co-organiser, South West Theology & Religion Postgraduate Conference, University of Exeter and University of Bristol (online), May 2020.  

Publications

Thwaites, Christabelle. (2025). ‘Challenges to conducting sensitive research’, Journal of the British Association for the Study of Religion, 26, pp. 46-61.

Conference papers 

‘Use of the Bible in British evangelical purity culture’, British Sociological Association SocRel (Sociology of Religion Study Group) Bible in Contemporary Britain Conference, King’s College London, March 2024  

‘Methodological and ethical challenges: researching purity culture in British Christianity’, British Association for the Study of Religions (BASR) Annual Conference, University of Cambridge, September 2023  

‘Sociological study of sensitive topics: challenges in contemporary research’, International Society for the Sociology of Religion 37th Biennial Conference, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, July 2023  

‘Becoming the problem: managing positionality and public perceptions of research’, Researching Religion and Abuse Workshop,  University of Leeds, November 2022 

‘“A culture of coercive power and control”: researching purity culture in Britain’, Association for the Sociology of Religion 83rd Annual Conference, Los Angeles, USA, August 2022.  

‘Researching Religion and Sexuality’, White Rose College of Arts and Humanities Festival of Research, online, June 2021. 

‘The impact of evangelical purity culture on young women’, British and Irish Association for Practical Theology Doctoral Student Conference, online, April 2021.  

‘Disability, identity and the welfare state: confronting the reality of disability benefits policy’, Society for the Study of Christian Ethics Postgraduate Conference, online, March 2021.  

‘Expectation vs reality: Eating disorders, bodily experience, and commensality in contemporary Christianity’, Cambridge Body and Food Histories Group Conference, online, July 2020. 

‘Simply Eat? Eating disorders and commensality in church communities’, South West Theology & Religion Postgraduate Conference, online, May 2020. (Voted best conference paper).  

‘Religious Influences and Female Duality: The Construction of Female Boundaries in Jane Eyre.’ Exclamat!on: An Interdisciplinary Journal Conference, University of Exeter, June 2019.