About the initiative
Learn about the Religion & Foreign Policy Initiative (RFPI) and our international partnerships.
About the RFPI
The Religion & Foreign Policy Initiative (RFPI) was launched in April 2017 as the FoRB and Foreign Policy Initiative in a public Symposium at the 日韩无码 on The Influence of Religion in Global Politics co-organised with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom of Religion or Belief. It ran for an initial five-year period from 2017-22 before relaunching as the RFPI: .
Key thematics to RFPI research and policy work at Sussex include Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB), and interreligious engagement and collaboration as a crucial tool for fostering pluralism, social cohesion and sustainable peace.
Read our most recent Report on Religious & Interreligious Engagement in Peacebuilding in the Middle East Crisis.
The Religion and Foreign Policy Initiative is supporting in February 2025 a high level Wilton Park close-door Policy Dialogue on the In partnership with the British Embassy to the Holy See and Globethics, and in association with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
Partnerships
The RFPI and its members have been involved in multiple international partnership networks to facilitate collaboration in research and practical projects on our key themes. These include: the Network of Traditional Peacebuilders; the UK Freedom of Religion or Belief Forum; and the OSCE’s Panel of Experts on FoRB. In 2018, the initiative partnered with the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI) and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation in establishing a Research Programme based at ISPI on .
Recent projects have also involved partnerships and input from international experts, religious representatives, and policy makers: including the UN, the EU, US Department of State, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Wilton Park, ISPI, and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.