Radicalism in Britain, blasphemy, the history of religion, the history of atheism, the history of shame and the cultural history of law and crime.
Research interests
Blasphemy, history of shame, blame and culpability, links between religion and crime, history of secularisation, history of atheism, history of radicalism and the affinities all these have with cultural history.
Research group membership
Professor Nash is a member of the History of Crime research group in the School of History, Philosophy and Culture.
Professor Nash is a member of the Religion and Belief research group in the School of History, Philosophy and Culture.
Research grants and awards
2012 Marie Curie Fellowship grant of 309,000 Euro.
2018 Co-Investigator on Humanism in Britain Project (with Callum Brown) awarded £68,000 for Humanism in Britain volume.
Research projects
Immediate research projects
Completing monograph (with C.Brown, and C. Lynch), The Humanist Movement 1896-2021: Ethicists, Humanists and Rationalists in Modern Britain. Bloomsbury, 2022. In press.
Completing edited book (with E.Bouwers) eds. Blasphemy and Violence (De Gruyter) 2022. In press. Contributing a chapter to this volume
Completing edited book with J. Wettlaufer and J. Frode Hatlen) Shame and Honor in Europe (Routledge) 2022. In press. Contributing two chapters to this volume.
Forthcoming projects
Also researching for a project on 'blackmail' and an extension of the 'Stories of Belief' project to now include secular stories of unbelief.
Research impact
Impact Statement submitted with 2014 REF ‘Seeking Blasphemy Repeal in Ireland’ (rated 4*). Impact statement continued as ‘Achieving Blasphemy Repeal in Ireland’ to be submitted for REF 2020. This outlines my direct involvement in the repeal of the 2009 Blasphemy law in Ireland which was removed after a referendum vote in October 2018. Again this has been internally audited as 4* top rated Impact Statement.
Have commenced Impact statement for 2026 ‘Engaging Public Awareness of Humanist and Secular History’ currently writing popular anniversary history of the movement and working with the Humanist Heritage Project on their committee. Planning a series of events around archive holdings and the eventual launch of the book 2022 onwards.
Further information
For full details of my Impact Case study on Blasphemy repeal in Ireland see
https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/items/0540d341-f156-43a8-8978-03e1b4c58e2f/1/
For the full text of my article for History Ireland on Ireland's blasphemy laws and their history:
https://www.historyireland.com/everyone-knows-what-blasphemy-is/
For the full text of my article for History Today on the Gay News Blasphemy Case of 1977 see:
https://www.historytoday.com/miscellanies/blasphemy-trial