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The Vibe Shift is a podcast of the Gen Z Role Models Project, based at King’s College London. We explore the fast-changing spiritual lives of the first smartphone generation—diving into original research on religion, influencer culture, and the search for meaning in a digital age. From lifestyle gurus to papal TikTokers, we’re tracking the saints and cynics shaping Gen Z’s world. Featuring fresh voices and participatory research methods, each episode invites you into conversations that matter.
10 Episodes
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Send us a text In this episode, Edward sits down with Claire, Communications Officer at the University of Oxford, to talk about her role as collaborator on the Gen Z Role Models Project. They discuss the rewards of doing collaborative research and explore the lessons that Claire is taking forward. They also discuss Gen Z religion in light of what Edward and Claire learnt at the European Academy of Religion in Vienna. They talk about: The aspirations and tensions involved in participatory rese...
Send us a text In this episode of The Vibe Shift, Edward talks with Noah, a theology graduate and study participant who reflects on the power of asking big questions—and finding simple but profound answers. Noah shares how reading the medieval theologian, Saint Thomas Aquinas, transformed his understanding of religion, why our study's Simple Faith Narrative resonated with him, and how teaching with stories helps students navigate their own life journeys. From thirteenth-century questions to c...
Send us a text In this episode of The Vibe Shift, we sit down with Mollie, a undergraduate student in the UK, to reflect on what it means to be young, questioning, and spiritually curious in today’s world. Mollie shares how she encountered our Gen Z Role Models study, why she connected with the Self-help Narrative, and what it’s like to be a co-researcher exploring faith in partnership with academics. From TikTok religion to participatory methods, this episode gives a vivid portrait of how on...
Send us a text In this final episode of The Vibe Shift mini-series, Edward brings the essay to a close—an essay that shaped the theoretical foundation of the Gen Z Role Models Project. Building on narrative theology, moral philosophy, and the method of reflexive thematic analysis, the episode explores how exemplarist narratives appear across religious and cultural traditions. Drawing on thinkers like Linda Zagzebski and Alasdair MacIntyre, Edward reflects on why moral meaning unfolds in story...
Send us a text In this episode of The Vibe Shift, Edward continues reading from the foundational essay that shaped the theoretical framework of the Gen Z Role Models Project. Written early in the analysis phase, the essay brings theological reflection into dialogue with qualitative research methods—especially story completion and reflexive thematic analysis. This episode explores the theological claim that humans are not just storytellers but also story-hearers—created in the image of a God w...
Send us a text In this episode of The Vibe Shift, Edward—lecturer at King’s College London and research lead on the project—steps back to share the theoretical foundation that shaped how the research team approached the story data. At the heart of the study is a method called story completion, which asks participants to finish a fictional narrative involving Jesse, a Gen Z character encountering a spiritual or religious role model online. To interpret these submissions, the team used re...
Send us a text In this episode of The Vibe Shift, Claire and I speak with Grace, an international student from Malaysia whose family is part of the Chinese diaspora there. Now based in the UK, Grace took part in our study and connected with what we’ve called the Simple Faith Narrative—a story in which Jesse, a fictional Gen Z character, finds peace and meaning through a sacred text shared by a religious influencer. Together, we read and reflect on a Simple Faith submission from our story arch...
Send us a text In this episode of The Vibe Shift, Claire speaks with Saadadden, a former research assistant on the Gen Z Role Models Project with a background in both law and theology. Drawing on the Islamic tradition, Saadadden reflects on the importance of moral exemplars—and why face-to-face encounters are so central to understanding them. He explains how online interactions often strip role models of their values and context, reducing them to mere image or fragmentary sound bites. In cont...
Send us a text Episode 2: Faith Under Fire and the Urgency of Connection In this episode of The Vibe Shift, Claire sits down with Mariia, a young professional from Ukraine and one of the participants in the Oxford workshop of the Gen Z Role Models Project. Mariia opens up about the role of faith in times of challenge—how it sustains not just individuals, but whole communities facing daily uncertainty. She shares how the quiet strength of a local priest became a spiritual anchor for her family...
Send us a text In this first episode of The Vibe Shift, we sit down with Iris—a London-based student from Southeast Asia and one of the first participants in the Oxford pilot of the Gen Z Role Models Project. The project uses a research method called story completion to surface the unspoken beliefs young people hold about religion and spirituality. Together, we explore stories of “divine disillusionment”—moments when religious figures and institutions fail to live up to expectations, and when...
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