At a standing room-only event, the Boniuk Institute presented sociologist Tariq Modood with the 2025 Senior Scholar Award in honor of his prolific academic scholarship and commitment to public engagement promoting knowledge and understanding--particularly of minority faith communities--of religious tolerance and pluralism.
Professor Tariq Modood is a Professor of Sociology, Politics, and Public Policy and the Founding Director of the Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship at the University of Bristol. His numerous publications span the fields of political philosophy, sociology, and public policy. Most recently, his scholarship has focused on the sociology of multiculturalsm, interculturalism, secularism, and Islamophobia. He has served as an Adviser to the Muslim Council of Britain, the Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain, the National Equality Panel, and the Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life.
As the 2025 Boniuk Institute Senior Scholar, Modood not only received this distinguished award, but participated in a full slate of Institute activities over the course of his three days at Rice University. He spent time with Rice University faculty and fellow experts in relevant fields at a faculty breakfast in his honor, joined the Reading Religion Salon to discuss his most recent work The New Governance of Religious Diversity with Salon Scholars, met individually with Institute graduate students for some professional mentorship, and was interviewed for the Religion Unmuted podcast.