Dr Suzanne Newcombe

Professional biography

I joined the Religious Studies Department at the OU as a central academic in 2016, having previously been an Associate Lecturer for the university (since 2008). I spent a long period of mentorship under Professor Eileen Barker at the London School of Economics, being a researcher with an organisation she founded, Inform from 2002.

I became fascinated by religion growing up in Kansas, my experience of the landscape strongly affected by the passion and religious beliefs of the people who live there. Religion became a formal focus of study while I was an undergraduate at Amherst College in Massachusetts. In order to explore living religion further, I completed for an MSc in Religion in Contemporary Society in the Sociology Department of the London School of Economics. My PhD study was in the Faculty of History at the University of Cambridge where I researched the popularisation of yoga and ayurvedic medicine in Britain.

Research interests

I have active research interests in the sociology and social history of religion (broadly understood) and extensive specialist knowledge in new and minority religious movements in modern and contemporary Britain and the modern history of yoga. I am particularly interested in the interfaces between religion, health and healing. I am also interested in how to better understand and negotiate relationships with beliefs and practices that are at tension with wider society.  

I am committed to making accurate and evidenced based information on minority religions accessible. I have also researched topics related to assessing the security threats posed by minority religions, conspiracy theories, hate speech and the harm caused by minority religions. I also have a long-term interest in prophecy, millenarianism and apocalyptic groups.

Teaching interests

I currently chair A227: Exploring Religion: Places, Practices, Texts and Experiences and have formally chaired and taught on A332: Why is Religion Controversial?. I wrote the material on Buddhism in Practice for A111: Discovering the Arts and Humanities and co-edited Block 3 of D113: Global Challenges: social sciences in action. I am currently working on the replacement module for A332: Why is Religion Controversial? - AD332: Religion and Global Challenges past and present which will be offered for the first time from October 2025. I am the editor for the first block entitled Being Human: Religion, the Body and Inequalities and author Unit 1 entitled 'Yoga - religion, spirituality and health'

I am also interested in pedagogy of Religious Studies teaching and creating links between Religious Education in schools and university-level studies of religion as a vital element of contemporary global societies. Between 2021-2022, I collaborated on a project exploring the Religion and Worldviews proposal for the teaching of religion in UK schools (CoRE 2018) together with Inform and the Faith and Belief Forum which is funded by Culham St Gabriel's.  I was also an advisor and collaborator on David Lewin's After Religious Education project (2022-2023).

PhD Supervision

Lucy May Constantini (2024) "The Internal Body in Movement in Kaḷarippayaṟṟ ̆, a South Indian Martial Art: practice, context and text." Full-time OOC-DTP Funded Studentship. 

I am currently supervising:

Rose Parkes (Since 2020 with Deborah Drake) "Mobilisation: Neoliberal Yoga, Lived Religion, and Prison Abolition - A Study of Prison Yoga Teachers." Part time.

Vishal Sangu (Since 2021 with Professor Graham Harvey) "​Decolonising Sikhi: A Critical Approach to Decolonise the Study of Religion." Full-time OOC-DTP Funded Studentship. 

Adriana Maldonado Galarza (Since 2023 with Nichola Kentzer and Paul-François Tremlett) "The Role of Absorption: The Key to Spirituality in Modern Postural Yoga." Part time. 

Jack Saxelby-Smith (Since 2024 with Maria Nita) "Exploring adverse effects of spiritual and meditative practices: the contemporary phenomena of 'kundalini syndrome." Full-time OOC-DTP Funded Studentship. 

Impact and engagement

I am the Honorary Director of Inform an independent charitable organisation which provides information about minority religions and sects which is as accurate, up-to-date and as evidence-based as possible. It was founded in 1988 by Professor Eileen Barker at the LSE and is now based in Theology and Religious Studies at King's College London.  Inform's impact takes several forms including helping individuals and organisations with due diligence, facilitating networking around new and minority religions, collaborating with other organisations on projects and organising public events.

I have a passionate interest in making complex and controversial subjects intelligible for the general public and have often given talks to A-level students and to the media, writing for The Conversation, writing blog posts as well as participating in podcasts and public-facing events.

External collaborations

In May 2023, I co-organsied a British Academy and Wellcome-funded conference with Karen O'Brien-Kop entitled 'Public Health after COVID: Beliefs, Religion and Competing Epistemologies' at King's College London. 

Between 2021-2022, I collaborated on a project exploring the Religion and Worldviews proposal for the teaching of religion in UK schools (CoRE 2018) together with Inform and the Faith and Belief Forum which is funded by Culham St Gabriel's.  I was also an advisor and collaborator on David Lewin's After Religious Education project (2022-2023).

I am on the Editorial Board of an open-access academic journals, the Journal of Yoga Studies (2017-present) as well as a new academic book series Religion at the Boundries with Bloomsbury Academic. I am a co-editor of the Oxford Bibliographies subsection on Yoga within Indian Religions and book reviews editor for the journal Religions of South Asia (2011-present).

International links

I am a founding manager of the Yoga Research website an emerging international society for the academic study of yoga. I was on the organising committee for both international Yoga Darśana Yoga Sādhana (YDYS) Conferences held at Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland in 2016 and 2022 and a forthcoming conference in Paris which will be held 27-29 May 2026.

I am a Steering Committee member for the Yoga in Theory and Practice group within the American Academy of Religion (2022-2027).

Between 2015-2020 I was part of a European Research Council (Horizon 2020) grant entitled ‘Medicine, Immortality and Moksha: Entangled Histories of Yoga, Ayurveda and Alchemy in South Asia’ where I explored overlaps between yoga, ayurveda and Indian alchemy in the modern period. Some of my reflections on my AYURYOG research can be found in the OpenLearn courses Life After Death and Exploring Immortality.