The crucial role played by religion within different socio-political and cultural environments at local, national and international levels is the focus of this international joint PhD programme on Religion, Culture and Public Life (ReCuPL). It is designed as an innovatively interdisciplinary programme with a research agenda on religious diversity, cultural pluralism and inclusion of religious and secular actors into public debates and interactions considering their ongoing reciprocal impact.

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The ReCuPL programme has four principal objectives:

• to offer high-quality interdisciplinary research and training on religious diversity, cultural pluralism and inclusion of religious/secular actors and repertoires into public debates considering their reciprocal impact on national societies. The innovatively interdisciplinary training and research across the disciplines of sociology, political science, history, law, and education suggest the opportunities to enhance the expertise in the sphere of management of religious diversity in public life, religious freedom, and cultural awareness of diverse ethnoreligious groups in society. It encourages students to apply a broad array of quantitative and qualitative methods of research and integrate various theoretical approaches across the disciplines dealing with public dimensions and conditions of religious and cultural pluralism;

• to guide doctoral students to approach the topic of religion, сulture, and public life from a comparative perspective considering various religious/secular traditions and local, regional, national, and international dimensions of religious and cultural processes in societies. This includes traditions which originated in and spread out from the classical world, India and South Asia (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism), China (Taoism and Confucianism) and Japan (Shinto), as well as monotheistic traditions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) and non-traditional and non-institutional forms of religious and secular life. The capacity of religious and secular actors to participate in the process of reciprocal production of meanings in public sphere is considered at the background of a cross-national perspective and is going to be addressed within a variety of courses offered within the ReCuPL programme;

• to enhance research and expertise of doctoral students on the topic of the programme through collaboration with research teams at other Universities. ReCuPL programme offers competitive and internationally collaborative research environment providing opportunitiesto exchange ideas and participation in seminars and national and international conferences for students. Collaborative mentoring and co-supervision of PhD research will include sharing of research methodologies, access to international scientific networks, and engagement of PhD students with publication projects in national and international academic ambits. PhD students will benefit from international experiences thanks to opportunities of mobility within the network of Universities involved in the PhD programme, research collaboration and getting access to institutional resources within the network. Each doctoral student will be required to spend at least three months abroad in a Partner foreign University;

• to offer policy-oriented training in the field of inclusion, multiculturalism, religious freedom, and cultural and religious pluralism in media, organisations, educational sector, and social service. Doctoral students will have the possibility to get practical knowledge in managing cultural and religious pluralism within a framework of various social, political and legal environments including private and public sectors. ReCuPL programme proposes training on evidence-based scientific support to policymaking process and development of problem-solving and decision-making skills within national and international ambits. The challenges of cross-cultural organisational environment and pluralistic workplaces along with the importance of bilingual/multilingual competences and intercultural awareness are considered within the suggested professional training.

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The language of the ReCuPL programme will be English. Students will have to complete postgraduate courses and PhD seminars at the UniPd or Partner University for a period of at least two semesters (30 ECTS). They will spend at least three months in one or more Universities attending qualified courses or seminars. The training programme will be set forth by the Academic Board and agreed with each student.

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