The National Jewish Student Survey

The National Jewish Student Survey, published in October 2011 and entitled Home and away: Jewish journeys towards independence, is a major research initiative designed to examine the identities of Jewish students in Britain today.  Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, it investigates Jewish students’ values, beliefs, affiliations and practices, and the data is intended to inform the way in which the Union of Jewish Students, Hillel and a range of other student providers work with and support Jewish students in the future during their university years.

The research was commissioned by Pears Foundation and UJS, and funded by Pears Foundation with additional support from UJIA, the Rothschild Foundation (Hanadiv) Europe and the Maurice Wohl Charitable Foundation. 

» The National Jewish Student Survey programme page

Jewish Life in East-Central Europe

The project on Jewish Life in East-Central Europe: Achievements, challenges and priorities since the collapse of communism is designed to examine how Jewish community life has evolved and developed in four different countries – Hungary, Poland, the Ukraine and Germany – since the collapse of communism.  Using mainly qualitative methods, it explores a range of issues in each country, including Jewish education, culture, religion, care and social welfare, leadership development and work with young adults.  It is intended to provide a unique overview of each contemporary Jewish community, and to offer a series of policy recommendations to all those with an interest or stake in the communities’ future.

The research is a being managed by JPR and conducted in partnership with researchers based in each country.  It is being funded by the Rothschild Foundation (Hanadiv) Europe.  The reports on Hungary and Poland are now available to download, and the reports on Germany and the Ukraine are expected to be published in mid-2012.

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The Community Research Initiative: Census 2011 and the National Jewish Community Survey

The Community Research Initiative (CRI) is comprised of two distinct projects: analysis of the data on Jews in Britain from the UK 2011 Census, and the National Jewish Community Survey (NJCS).  The UK 2011 Census included a question on religion which allowed respondents to self-identify as Jews.  By analyzing all Jewish responses, JPR intends to paint a highly-detailed portrait of Jews in Britain based on the questions included in the Census.  JPR also plans to compare data from the 2011 Census with those obtained from the 2001 Census to assess how the Jewish community has changed over the course of the past decade.   NJCS is a nationwide study of Jews living in Britain, designed to investigate Jewish-specific issues not included in the Census.  It will be constructed in partnership with a range of community charities and designed to generate data that can feed directly into the policy debates taking place within community organizations.  It will be built to complement the Census data and be used alongside it.

The project is funded by a range of community charities, foundations and individual donors.  It will be launched in September 2011, and we anticipate that the first releases of data will take place in early 2013.

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The attitudes of Jews in Britain towards Israel

Following JPR's report, Committed, concerned and conciliatory: the attitudes of Jews in Britain towards Israel (2010), the JPR research team is conducting further analysis of the dataset to generate more detailed insights about how Jews in Britain relate to Israel.  This work is intended to provide a more nuanced understanding of this essential component of British Jewish identity, and to inform community discourse and policy about how Jews do and should relate to Israel.

The research is being supported by Pears Foundation, the sponsors of the original report, and we expect to release further data during the course of 2012.

»  programme page

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