The research considered the ways that faith is experienced and negotiated by seafarers on board cargo ships as well as the provisions for faith/welfare made by charitable organisations based in ports ashore. In order to understand these areas, we used a combination of qualitative research methods, specifically, observation and interviews. Fifty-five shipboard semi-structured interviews with seafarers were carried out (representing all of those seafarers who were present while the researcher was on board). Interviews were conducted with reference to a flexible interview guide and they were digitally recorded and transcribed. Transcripts were analysed and thematically coded using Nvivo 12. Shipboard research was complemented by research in two seafarers’ centres ashore. These UK-based centres have been assigned the pseudonyms Riverside and Porton. Both centres supplied services to more than one port within their locality and were run by different faith-based charities. They were chosen with reference to the size and cargoes of the ports concerned and the organisations running them. An interview guide provided the framework for semi-structured interviews with chaplains and volunteers in these two ports. Five formal interviews were carried out with paid staff, and ten formal interviews were carried out with volunteers, at the two centres. We supplemented our research in the two ports with nine interviews with representatives from the main charitable bodies connected to seafarers’ welfare (3 in the UK and 6 based outside the UK) and with seven additional chaplains/volunteers providing welfare services for seafarers in both UK (1) and non-UK (6) ports. Chaplains were selected with reference to gender and nationality to ensure an appropriate mix. Interviews with non-Filipino seafarers and port-based centre staff and volunteers were undertaken in English. Interviews with Filipino participants were undertaken in Tagalog and were subsequently translated by the fieldworker. All seafarers on board the two ships where observational work was conducted were included in the research resulting in a full representation of all ranks on board. All seafarers on board were male which is common in the cargo shipping sector where less than 1% of the workforce is estimated to be female. Interviews were of between one and two hours duration.In increasingly secular societies the significance of religion could be regarded as waning. However, with increased population mobility and the tendency for some conflict to be cast around religious difference it is critical that the social sciences return to religion as a centrally important tenet. This project considers religious difference alongside spiritual need in relation to the case of global seafaring. The research will make an important contribution to our understanding of how multi-faith groups peacefully co-exist and what factors may disrupt/threaten social harmony in religiously diverse populations. The project will focus upon seafarers from different countries and of multiple faiths living and working together on ships and in ports. In the context of the challenging social circumstances where they live and work (confined in relatively small spaces on board working cargo ships and largely isolated from wider society) it will explore how they understand their own spirituality and that of colleagues and how they manage/experience religious needs/expression. Traditionally ports in the UK and US have provided chaplaincy/welfare services to international seafarers of multiple faiths in an effort to meet a variety of spiritual/social needs. These past and present services will also be a focus for the research. Archive data will be collected charting the historical development of chaplaincy in ports in the UK/US. In addition, contemporary chaplains will be included as participants in order to understand how they shape and practice their respective religious beliefs, alongside their vocation for ministry, and how their organisations have changed over time in relation to their objectives and practices in funding such ministry. This combination of research concerns will provide the opportunity for us to analyse seafarers' own religious perspectives and attitudes towards other faiths; seafarers' spiritual needs; available support for seafarers' spiritual needs within the confines of ports; access and experiences of such port-based welfare/religious services (from the point of view of seafarers) the objectives of organisations providing chaplaincy in ports and their associated plans for the future. Three aims guide the project 1) We aim to inform better welfare/spiritual provision by organisations working in ports to seafarers calling at them 2) We aim to gain a better understanding of how traditional/non-traditional religions/spirituality are expressed, experienced, and negotiated in ports and in multinational residential workplaces (i.e. ships). 3) We will explore the evolution of religion in limited but important situations outside congregations and formally designated religious sites. In this we aim to add to academic understandings of contemporary 'religion' and its diversity and to study religion/spirituality beyond expected locations (e.g. churches/religious communities). The study has 4 main components. 1) Historical examination of archive material relating to the development of welfare and religious services in US/UK ports 2) A series of semi-structured interviews with key stakeholder organisations, which fund/manage current port-based ministry and welfare 3) Port-based ethnography focussing on observation of chaplaincy 'in action' and interviews with key participants/providers 4) Shipboard ethnography focussing on seafarers and their spiritual/religious practices/needs/expression. This bi-national case study will be conducted by a multi-disciplinary team of sociologists and theologians. It will assess continuities/discontinuities between ports in terms of provision and the diverse ways religion is present on cargo ships. This will be of practical value to seafarers and those attempting to meet their spiritual/religious needs, of academic value to scholars of religion and the workplace, and of general value in raising awareness of a vital but neglected area of modern economic life.

Fifty-five shipboard semi-structured interviews with seafarers were carried out (representing all of those seafarers who were present while the researcher was on board). Interviews were conducted with reference to a flexible interview guide and they were digitally recorded and transcribed. Transcripts were analysed and thematically coded using Nvivo 12. Semi-structured interviews were carried out in two seafarers’ centres ashore. An interview guide provided the framework for semi-structured interviews with chaplains and volunteers. Five formal interviews were carried out with paid staff, and ten formal interviews were carried out with volunteers. Nine interviews were conducted with representatives from the main charitable bodies connected to seafarers’ welfare (3 in the UK and 6 based outside the UK) and with seven additional chaplains/volunteers providing welfare services for seafarers in both UK (1) and non-UK (6) ports. Chaplains were selected with reference to gender and nationality to ensure an appropriate mix. Interviews with non-Filipino seafarers and port-based centre staff and volunteers were undertaken in English. Interviews with Filipino participants were undertaken in Tagalog and were subsequently translated by the fieldworker. All seafarers on board the two ships where observational work was conducted were included in the research resulting in a full representation of all ranks on board. All seafarers on board were male which is common in the cargo shipping sector where less than 1% of the workforce is estimated to be female. Interviews were of between one and two hours duration.