Dr Damian Breen

• Whiteness
• Critical Race Theory
• Racialisation of religious groups
• Muslims as civic stakeholders in the UK context

• PG Cert in Higher Education Teaching and Learning (Keele)
• PhD in Education (Warwick)
• MSc in Social Research (Leicester)
• BA Sociology (Leicester)

• CRI4046-Crime Punishment and Society
• CRI5090 Crime in the City
• CRI5092 Race and Crime
• CRI7XXX Inequalities in Contemporary Britain

Damian led as Principal Investigator on the ESRC funded research project entitled Religious community organisations' interventions around the impact of Coronavirus on Muslims in Birmingham in post-Covid Britain (£160,000; ES/W001039/1). The project was funded through the UKRI BAME Special Highlight call and was one of only four awards funded under the second round of the scheme. The project focused on disparate impacts of the pandemic within Muslim communities within the context of wider social marginalisation, and captured narratives around confidence in national leadership, national government responses, the role of local government, lockdowns, the mandating of mask wearing and covid ‘passports’ and attitudes on the vaccination strategy.

He is also currently working as Co-Investigator on the BA-Leverhulme funded project ‘The UK Crime-Terror Nexus: Threats to Security and Community Safety’ (SRG2425\250712), led by Dr Mohammed Rahman.

PhDs supervised to completion:

Azad, Mikahil. 2025. Mosques, Islamophobia and religious organisations as stakeholders in security, PhD thesis, Birmingham City University

Duke, Ben. 2017. Student learning through work placements, PhD thesis (HEA Studentship), Keele University

Current PhD students:

Leon Skerritt (Birmingham City University) - The State, The Right, The Problem: State responses to the far-right since 1945

Je-Nice Harris (Birmingham City University) - Policing and Black Communities: an exploration of how contemporary policies and policing practices have impacted the cohesion between the local Police and Black communities in The West Midlands region, 2020-date

Craig Pinkney (Birmingham City University) - Internet Beef’ – Making sense of Social Media, Gangs and Youth Violence Within West Midlands

Anne Kairu (Birmingham City University - The Role and Perceived Impact of Prison Chaplains on the Mental Health and Wellbeing of Prisoners: A Focused Ethnography

Liberty Ralphs (Birmingham City University) - An Exploration of How Case Knowledge of Deaths in Police Stations and Custody Cells and Deaths After Police Contact derived from News and Social Media Reports Influence Public Perceptions of Police

Professional doctorate completions:

Gwilym, Hefin. 2016. The declared political identity of social workers in a neoliberal era. Prof Doc thesis (Social Work), Keele University

Journal articles:

Kairu, A., Dyson, J., Breen, D., Skinner, J., Jarrett, M., & Brooke, J. (2026). ‘Experiences of prisoners living with mental health conditions and seeking or receiving mental health support in prisons: An integrative review’, Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, accepted 16th July 2026

Breen, D. & Awan, I. (2025). ‘Muslims and the Covid-19 pandemic: Myth-busting the demonisation of Muslim communities’, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2025.2582667  

O’Sullivan, A. Breen, D. & Kerrigan, N. (2025): ‘A retort to Hodgkinson et al’s “critical appraisal” of the Black Lives Matter Movement’, Justice, Power and Resistance, doi: https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journals/jpr/aop/article-10.1332-26352338Y2025D000000033/article-10.1332-26352338Y2025D000000033.xml

Awan, I. & Breen, D. (2024): ‘Islam and faith in times of crisis: Religious observance and Muslim communities in the pandemic’, Identities, doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/1070289X.2024.2432797

Glynn, M. & Breen, D. (2024) ‘Towards a Critical Race Criminology – decolonising criminological practice’, Critical Criminology, doi: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10612-024-09758-4

Breen, D. (2023). ‘From securing whiteness to securing publics? Marginalized communities and differential stakeholdership in domestic security in the UK’, Journal of Global Faultlines, 10 (1), pp. 58-70, DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/jglobfaul.10.1.0058

Breen, D. and Meer, N., (2020). ‘Securing whiteness?: Critical Race Theory (CRT) and the securitization of Muslims in education’. In Whiteness and Nationalism (pp. 95-113). Routledge.

Breen, D. & Meer, N. (2019). ‘Securing whiteness?: Critical Race Theory (CRT) and the securitisation of Muslims’, Identities, (special issue),26 (5), pp.595-613, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1070289X.2019.1589981

Breen, D. (2016). 'Critical Race Theory, policy rhetoric and outcomes: the case of Muslim schools in Britain, Race Ethnicity and Education, 21 (1), pp. 30-44, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2016.1248828

Breen, D (2009): 'Religious diversity, interethnic relations and the Catholic school: introducing the responsive approach to single faith schooling', British Journal of Religious Education, Vol. 31, No. 2 pp. 103-115

Books:

Kerrigan, N. Breen, D. & Bakkali, Y. (2025) Liquid racism: Brexit, Education and Road Culture, Bristol: Bristol University Press

Breen, D. (2018). Critical Race Theory, Muslim Schools and Communities: Faith Schooling in Islamophobic Britain? London: Palgrave-Macmillan

Book Chapters:

Breen, D. Kerrigan, N. & Bakkali, Y. (2026). ‘On racism in Zygmunt Bauman’s liquid modernity.’ In: M. H. Jacobsen, D. Brzezinski, M. Davis & J. Palmer (Eds). The Routledge International Handbook on Zygmunt Bauman, London: Routledge, pp. 392-402, doi: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003688747  

Meer, N. & Breen, D. (2018). 'Muslim schools in Britain: between mobilisation and incorporation', in: M. Abu Bakar (Ed.) Rethinking Madrasah education in a globalised world, Routledge-Falmer

Breen, D. (2014): ‘British Muslim Schools: Institutional isomorphism and the transition from independent to voluntary-aided status’, In: R. Race (Ed.): Advancing ‘Race’ and Ethnicity within Education, London: Palgrave-Macmillan

Breen, D. (2013): 'State-funded Muslim schools and the public sphere: Stakeholders and legitimacy in the UK context’, In: J. Miller, K. O'Grady, U. McKenna (Eds.), Religion in Education: Innovation in international research, London: Routledge-Falmer

Breen, D (2010): 'A qualitative narrative of the transition from independent to voluntary aided status: a problem for the concept of the Muslim School', In: A. A. Veinguer, G. Dietz, D. Jozsa, and T. Knauth (Eds.), Islam in Education in European Countries Pedagogical Concepts and Empirical Findings, Waxmann, pp.95-112

Reports:

Breen, D. Awan, I & Begum, H. (2022). Muslim communities and Covid-19: A report on the impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic on Muslims in Birmingham, Centre for Security and Extremism, Birmingham City University, available at: https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/16215/

Vorley, T. Rogers, P. & Breen, D. (2011): AMCER – Project: Component 1 – East of England, Report for the Advanced Monitoring and Coordination of EU R&D Policies at Regional Level project, European Spatial Planning Observation Network, August 2011

Toolkits:

Breen, D., Awan, I. & Begum, H. (2021): Lessons from the pandemic: A toolkit for coordinating public health interventions in Muslim communities in post-Covid Britain, Centre for Security and Extremism, Birmingham City University, available here: https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/16217/1/Toolkit_1_Lessons_from_the_pandemic.pdf

Breen, D., Awan, I. & Begum, H. (2022): Lessons from the pandemic: community engagement toolkit: A short guide for policy makers, third sector and charity organisations, Centre for Security and Extremism, Birmingham City University, available here: https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/16216/

Breen, D., Awan, I. & Begum, H. (2025): Stories from Brum - Lessons from the Pandemic: Muslims as stakeholders in public health, Centre for Security and Extremism, Birmingham City University, available here: https://pure.bcu.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/51062743/Stories_from_Brum.pdf

Other outputs:

Breen, D. (2011): Book review of: ‘Faith in Education: A tribute to Terence McLaughlin’, International Journal of Lifelong Education, Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 282-284

Breen, D (2008): 'Reflections on the positionality of the white, male non-Muslim researcher in Muslim primary schools: The realities of researching Muslim women', Papers of the Warwick SUMINER Group 4, July 2008, pp. 1928-115

Twitter - @damianbreen