Erin Clark

Profile

I began my PhD in October 2025, shortly after completing my MA in Religion in 2024.

My thesis is an investigation into the practical applications of class studies within conversional motives, specifically when applied to the contemporary British Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Motivated by my own working-class positionality, I intend to acheive this through employing extended ethnographic fieldwork in my home county of the West Midlands. This project will involve a significant consideration of historical and scoiological studies of class in both a British and American context, and further investigations into classist notions of religious ‘legitimacy.’

Most recently, I have presented my work at the XXIII World Congress of the International Association for the Study of Religions at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. I have also presented at the British Association for the Study of Religions Annual Conference, and the INFORM (Information Network Focus on Religious Movements) annual seminar, both taking place in 2024. Additionally, I currently work as an associate researcher and social media manager for the London-based educational charity INFORM, and I have worked across several widening participation schemes through the Linacre Institute, and the Education Outreach team at the University of Leeds.

Research interests

• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• New religious movements and ‘cults’
• Religion and popular culture
• Working class religion and religious ‘legitimacy’
• Religion online/online religion
• Irreligion, atheism and secularism

Qualifications

• MA Religion
• BA Philosophy, Ethics & Religion

Research groups and institutes

• Centre for Philosophy of Religion and Theology
• Centre for Religion and Public Life