Dr Lucy Potter
Research Fellow

Profile

Career

Lucy Potter is an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Sociological Studies at the University of York. She is a qualitative sociologist whose research specialises in studies of forced migration and non-religion. Her research explores the dynamics between human rights, religion, identity, coloniality and asylum.

She completed her PhD at the University of Sheffield in July 2025 with a thesis titled, ‘Blasphemy and Apostasy in the UK Asylum System: Policy and Practice in Asylum Cases Submitted Under Grounds of Non-Religiosity’. This research was funded by a collaborative PhD award, working in partnership with a third-sector organisation, Humanists UK and its support programme Faith to Faithless. This work explored the experiences of ‘apostate’ refugees - individuals who face fear of persecution for leaving their religion - and their asylum claims in the UK.

Following her PhD, Lucy was awarded the University of Sheffield’s Publication Scholarship, a prize aimed at producing a publication from her thesis. She joined the University of York in October 2025 with an ESRC funded fellowship under mentorship of Dr Anna Strahn.

Lucy is currently acting as the Early Career Researcher and Postgraduate Liaison Officer for the Sociology of Religion (SocRel) study group within the British Sociological Association (BSA). She has served as the Communications Manager for IMISCOE’s PhD Network Committee (2023-2024) and was also a member of IMISCOE’s PhD Academy (2023-2025).

Alongside her PhD studies, Lucy worked as a network administrator for the University of Sheffield’s Migration Research Group (2022-2024) as well as working as a Research Assistant on an ESRC-funded project (2022). Lucy has taught on sociological modules including, the Sociological Imagination, Classical Sociological Theory and Migration and Race, gaining recognition as Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA, 2024).

Through her connection with Humanists UK, she is a regular contributor in the UK FoRB's forum and has engaged with UK parliamentary officials. She draws on her research in advocacy work; she has spoken at the 55th Session of the UK Human Rights Council (2024) to recognise the rights of non-religious people. She has also contributed specialised expert evidence to the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief's interim report to the General Assembly (A/80/205) on the Freedom of religion or belief of people on the move (2025).

She also holds a BA in philosophy and an MA in sociology (both from the University of Sheffield), and was awarded the Prize for Best Dissertation in her MA (2020).

Lucy is a member of:

• The UoY Migration Network,
• The Centre for Applied Human Rights
• The Culture, Values and Practices Research Cluster
• The Religion and Spirituality in Society and Culture (RASSC) Lab

Research

Overview

Lucy’s research interests encompass both forced migration and non-religion studies. She frequently integrates these two areas, which are often examined separately, to enhance sociological understanding of identity, belonging and meaning-making.

Her PhD findings shed light on how asylum bureaucracies play a role in shaping apostate identities and how colonial perspectives continue to affect the evaluation of non-religiosity. In her postdoctoral work, she continues to explore this subject, under mentorship of Dr Anna Strhan, by furthering understandings of non-religion through the lenses of (de)coloniality and lived religion.

Her ESRC Fellowship aims to consolidate her PhD research via publications and dissemination, maintaining collaboration with Humanists UK, and aims to be among the first sociological studies of apostate asylum cases in the UK. 

Publications

Selected publications

• Potter, L. (under review). Becoming Non-Religious: Navigating the Emotions of Apostasy and Seeking Asylum in the UK, Special edition for the Journal of Secularism and Nonreligion.
• Potter, L. (2024). Many asylum seekers are persecuted for what they believe in – but what about those who don’t believe? The Conversation.
• Non-Religious Persecution in the UK Asylum System (2023), Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network Blog

Book Reviews

• Potter, L. (2022). Refuge: How the State Shapes Human Potential, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 46(13), 2978–2979.