Due to circumstances outside our control, this event has been postponed to Thursday 9 December.

In this new series, Humanists UK Chief Executive Andrew Copson hosts unscripted, one-on-one discussions over the course of 60 minutes with philosophers, scientists, campaigners, entertainers, and historians.

In conversation with Rumy Hasan

Rumy Hasan is a senior lecturer at Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU), University of Sussex, and a Visiting Professorial Research Fellow at Civitas. His core specialism was the political economy of the former Eastern bloc countries, and he later began to teach and research the East Asian economies, including China; and also transnational corporations.

Since the events of 7 July 2005 ('7/7'), Rumy's work has focused more on issues relating to multiculturalism, 'multifaithism', and social cohesion, and on the nexus between religion (especially Islam), identity, and society. He is also interested in the rise of Islamic radicalism, and how it can be tackled.

Hailing from a South Asian Islamic background with parents who left India for Pakistan soon after partition, the bulk of Rumy's upbringing was in Scotland and the North East of England. Hostile to sectarianism, he has become highly critical of the separatism and separate identities that have arisen under policies inherent in multiculturalism and multifaithism, and he stresses the vital importance of secularism and humanism in bringing people from different backgrounds together.