Professor Jagbir Jhutti-Johal BA (UCL), DPhil (Oxford)

I studied in the Department of Anthropology and History at University College London where I completed my undergraduate degree in Ancient History and Social Anthropology.  I then went to Oxford University where I completed my DPhil in Social Anthropology entitled A study of changes in marriage practices among the Sikhs of Britain.

Before coming to Birmingham in 2002, I was working at the University of Oxford has a Research Assistant on a project commisioned by the Department of Constitutional Affairs (now Ministry of Justice) looking at public law proceedings concerned with the care and protection of children focusing, in particular, on race and ethnicity in the Family Justice System.

Undergraduate:

• Introduction to Sikhism
• Lived Religion Birmingham and Beyond A and B
• Dharmic Religions and Traditions
• Placement ModuleReligion in Contemporary Society

I have supervised a thesis on
• Issues of Religious Diversity affecting Visible minority ethnic personnel in the workplace
• A historical and theological evaluation of the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925
Currently supervising
• Religion and Development – Faith-based organisations in Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Sikh Identity and practice: Re-examining the reconstruction of Sikh Identity and practice during 1880-1886
• ‘Dharam Nibhoana: The Duty of a Sikh’

I am happy to supervise in a range of topics:

Sikh Studies
Ethnic Minorities, Religion and Law
South Asian Diasporas
Gender Studies
Religion, Racialization and Mistaken Identity
Religion in Contemporary Society
Religion and Peacebuilding

Find out more - our PhD Theology and Religion  page has information about doctoral research at the University of Birmingham.

My main research areas:

• Sikhs and the Law, especially with reference to the impact on identity
• Gender Studies and Sikhi - focus on gender inequality and contemporary issues of such as female foeticide, sexual abuse and domestic violence
• Racialization and mistaken identity post 9/11.
• Sikhi and Science, especially questions about scientific advances in reproductive technologies, cloning and genetic engineering, but also how the body is viewed, especially within Sikhism.

National  

• Co-Founder  Women’s Faith Forum
• Steering Group Member of UK FORB Forum
• Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology – Women’s Network
• Trustee of Faith for the Climate
• Interfaith Advisory Board Member for Ozanne Foundation
• Sikh presenter on BBC Radio 4 Thought for the Day
• British Sikh Report - Academic Advisor and Writer
• Appointed Commissioner on the Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life: community, diversity and the common good) convened by The Woolf Institute, Cambridge (2013-15)
• Board member - ‘The European Society for Intercultural Theology and Interreligious Studies’
• Faith Advisor for the Faith in Birmingham Gallery Exhibition
• Auckland Castle Faith Galleries Advisory Panel (County Durham)
• West Midlands Area Ethnic Community Engagement Board Advisory Member
• Family Justice Council Domestic Violence Working Group Was Working Group Member

International

• Expert on Panel of Experts on Freedom of Religion and Belief - OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)
• Editorial Board Member Journal Sikh Formations: Religion, Culture, Theory
• Editorial Board Member Journal Sikh Research Journal
• Board member - ‘The European Society for Intercultural Theology and Interreligious Studies’