The Vibe Shift – Details, episodes & analysis

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In this first episode of The Vibe Shift, we sit down with Iris—a London-based student from Southeast Asia and one of the first participants in the Oxford pilot of the Gen Z Role Models Project. The project uses a research method called story completion to surface the unspoken beliefs young people hold about religion and spirituality.

Together, we explore stories of “divine disillusionment”—moments when religious figures and institutions fail to live up to expectations, and when faith begins to unravel. Iris shares her spiritual context back home and explains why Gen Z needs better, braver ways to talk about religion, doubt, and belief. She reflects on the power of fiction to say what can’t always be said out loud—and how the story completion method offered a safe space to process what felt unspeakable. She also shares what it was like to engage face-to-face with other participants—some on completely different ends of the religious spectrum—and still find meaningful common ground.

This episode dives into:

• What spiritual disillusionment looks like for Gen Z
• Why fictional storytelling can offer a kind of catharsis
• How to have honest conversations across deep differences
• The power and complexity of role models in today’s secular age

If you’ve ever wrestled with religion—or struggled to put your spiritual questions into words—this episode’s for you.

This is The Vibe Shift. And this is just the beginning.

Visit us at oxfordexemplars.org.

Music: 'Find Yours Dreams' by Art Flower. CC0 1.0 Universal License.

Copyright: The Vibe Shift, 2025.

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Episode 2: Faith Under Fire and the Urgency of Connection

In this episode of The Vibe Shift, Claire sits down with Mariia, a young professional from Ukraine and one of the participants in the Oxford workshop of the Gen Z Role Models Project.

Mariia opens up about the role of faith in times of challenge—how it sustains not just individuals, but whole communities facing daily uncertainty. She shares how the quiet strength of a local priest became a spiritual anchor for her family, and how young Ukrainians are turning to faith as a source of resilience. Drawing on her experience co-analysing stories with other Gen Zers, Mariia reflects on the power of listening and the importance of community in a hyper-connected, high-speed world.

This episode explores:

• How faith helps young people find hope in the face of challenge
• Why spiritual role models matter in moments of crisis
• What Gen Zers can learn when they listen across difference
• Why this generation needs space for deep connections

If you're curious about what faith looks like in a time of crisis—and how young people are forging meaning in a fractured world—this episode offers both insight and hope.

This is The Vibe Shift. And the conversation keeps unfolding.

Visit us at oxfordexemplars.org.

Music: 'Find Yours Dreams' by Art Flower. CC0 1.0 Universal License.

Copyright: The Vibe Shift, 2025.

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In this episode of The Vibe Shift, Edward—lecturer at King’s College London and research lead on the project—steps back to share the theoretical foundation that shaped how the research team approached the story data.

At the heart of the study is a method called story completion, which asks participants to finish a fictional narrative involving Jesse, a Gen Z character encountering a spiritual or religious role model online. 

To interpret these submissions, the team used reflexive thematic analysis—a qualitative method that values researcher reflexivity and theoretical transparency. In this episode, Edward reads aloud an essay he wrote early in the project, which offered a Christian theological proposal: that each submission could be read as an exemplarist narrative—a story in which a religious role model shapes how followers understand the cosmos, the self, and morality.

This episode explores:

• What an exemplarist narrative is, and why it matters
• Why Christ is considered the ultimate exemplar in the Christian tradition
• How admiration and imitation shape our moral and spiritual lives
• How theory and positionality guided the project’s interpretive lens

If you’ve ever wondered how theology and qualitative research can intersect—or how young people’s stories are shaped by deeper moral frameworks—this episode lays the groundwork.

This is The Vibe Shift. And the conversation keeps unfolding.

Visit us at oxfordexemplars.org.

Music: 'Find Yours Dreams' by Art Flower. CC0 1.0 Universal License.

Copyright: The Vibe Shift, 2025.

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In this episode of The Vibe Shift, Claire and I speak with Grace, an international student from Malaysia whose family is part of the Chinese diaspora there. Now based in the UK, Grace took part in our study and connected with what we’ve called the Simple Faith Narrative—a story in which Jesse, a fictional Gen Z character, finds peace and meaning through a sacred text shared by a religious influencer.

Together, we read and reflect on a Simple Faith submission from our story archive, using it as a springboard for a wide-ranging conversation. Grace shares her view that Gen Z is a generation marked by open-mindedness—even as many feel distant from formal religion. She offers insight into why some young people are drawn to a simple, unshaken faith, and reflects on how she carefully evaluates religious content encountered online.

This episode explores:

• The appeal of a simple faith and how one's family plays a role
• What Gen Z is seeking—and avoiding—in religion today
• The ethical importance of intentionality and discernment
• What the media gets right (and wrong) about Gen Z spirituality

If you’ve ever wondered how young people—in the East and West—are navigating faith today, this episode offers a thoughtful, grounded perspective.

This is The Vibe Shift. And the conversation keeps unfolding.

Visit us at oxfordexemplars.org.

Music: 'Find Yours Dreams' by Art Flower. CC0 1.0 Universal License.

Copyright: The Vibe Shift, 2025.

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In this episode of The Vibe Shift, Claire speaks with Saadadden, a former research assistant on the Gen Z Role Models Project with a background in both law and theology.

Drawing on the Islamic tradition, Saadadden reflects on the importance of moral exemplars—and why face-to-face encounters are so central to understanding them. He explains how online interactions often strip role models of their values and context, reducing them to mere image or fragmentary sound bites. In contrast, the Islamic tradition places deep value on personal presence, lived example, and the transmission of character through real-life relationships. Saadadden shares how the Oxford summit created space for in-depth discussions, allowing young people from different backgrounds to move beyond surface-level impressions and into more meaningful dialogue.

This episode explores:

• Why in-person encounters are help us understand moral exemplars
• How digital culture flattens role models into mere 'content'
• An Islamic perspective on moral role modeling
• How face-to-face conversation opens space for reflection and growth

If you’ve ever wondered what we miss when we meet our role models online, this episode offers a deeper lens.

This is The Vibe Shift. And the conversation continues.

Visit us at oxfordexemplars.org.

Music: 'Find Yours Dreams' by Art Flower. CC0 1.0 Universal License.

Copyright: The Vibe Shift, 2025.

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In this episode of The Vibe Shift, Edward continues reading from the foundational essay that shaped the theoretical framework of the Gen Z Role Models Project. Written early in the analysis phase, the essay brings theological reflection into dialogue with qualitative research methods—especially story completion and reflexive thematic analysis.

This episode explores the theological claim that humans are not just storytellers but also story-hearers—created in the image of a God who reveals himself through story. Drawing on Christian theology and the work of J.R.R. Tolkien, Edward reflects on what it means to be a “sub-creator” and introduces the idea of “sub-exemplars”—those who, in narrative form, stand in for or reflect the example of Christ.

This episode explores:

• Why humans tell and receive stories as part of being made in God's image
• Christ as the exemplar not just of morality, but of creation itself
• How Gen Z stories reveal narrative patterns of struggle and redemptive hope

If you’re curious about how theology, narrative, and research design come together in our project, this episode opens up the heart of our interpretive approach.

This is The Vibe Shift. And the conversation keeps unfolding.

Visit us at oxfordexemplars.org.

Music: 'Find Yours Dreams' by Art Flower. CC0 1.0 Universal License.

Copyright: The Vibe Shift, 2025.

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In this final episode of The Vibe Shift mini-series, Edward brings the essay to a close—an essay that shaped the theoretical foundation of the Gen Z Role Models Project. Building on narrative theology, moral philosophy, and the method of reflexive thematic analysis, the episode explores how exemplarist narratives appear across religious and cultural traditions.

Drawing on thinkers like Linda Zagzebski and Alasdair MacIntyre, Edward reflects on why moral meaning unfolds in story—and how admired figures help shape how we understand truth, the cosmos, and our place within it. The episode also offers a behind-the-scenes look at how the research team identified five narrative types from the data, and how participants themselves helped refine those categories in a unique participatory phase of analysis.

This episode explores:

• What makes a narrative "exemplarist" across religious traditions
• How narrative and admiration shape moral understanding
• The limitations of top-down interpretation in qualitative research
• How Gen Z participants co-analysed and reshaped the study’s findings

If you're interested in how theology, moral theory, and participatory research can work together to illuminate Gen Z storytelling, this episode is a go-to resource.

This is The Vibe Shift. And the conversation keeps unfolding.

Visit us at oxfordexemplars.org.

Music: 'Find Yours Dreams' by Art Flower. CC0 1.0 Universal License.

Copyright: The Vibe Shift, 2025.

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In this episode of The Vibe Shift, we sit down with Mollie, a undergraduate student in the UK, to reflect on what it means to be young, questioning, and spiritually curious in today’s world.

Mollie shares how she encountered our Gen Z Role Models study, why she connected with the Self-help Narrative, and what it’s like to be a co-researcher exploring faith in partnership with academics. From TikTok religion to participatory methods, this episode gives a vivid portrait of how one Gen Zer approaches belief, belonging, and the ethics of asking questions.

We talk about:

• Why Gen Z values humility in religious role models
• What it's like to talk openly about faith with peers
• How participatory research builds confidence and community
• Why richer stories—not surveys—are the future of ethical research

Listen now and hear how one student’s journey from “uncomfortable indecision” to empowered co-researcher captures the spirit of a generation.

Visit us at oxfordexemplars.org.

Music: 'Find Yours Dreams' by Art Flower. CC0 1.0 Universal License.

Copyright: The Vibe Shift, 2025.

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In this episode of The Vibe Shift, Edward talks with Noah, a theology graduate and study participant who reflects on the power of asking big questions—and finding simple but profound answers.

Noah shares how reading the medieval theologian, Saint Thomas Aquinas, transformed his understanding of religion, why our study's Simple Faith Narrative resonated with him, and how teaching with stories helps students navigate their own life journeys. From thirteenth-century questions to contemporary answers, we explore vital topics in religion and role modelling—for a generation that yearns for connection.

We talk about:

• Why Aquinas still captures the religious imagination
• How distance and closeness shape role-modelling relationships
• How virtues can be taught using stories
• Why a “simple faith” doesn’t mean a simplistic faith

Listen now for a thoughtful conversation about theology, mentoring, and life's exciting quest for meaning.

Visit us at oxfordexemplars.org.

Music: 'Find Yours Dreams' by Art Flower. CC0 1.0 Universal License.

Copyright: The Vibe Shift, 2025.

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In this episode, Edward sits down with Claire, Communications Officer at the University of Oxford, to talk about her role as collaborator on the Gen Z Role Models Project.

They discuss the rewards of doing collaborative research and explore the lessons that Claire is taking forward. They also discuss Gen Z religion in light of what Edward and Claire learnt at the European Academy of Religion in Vienna.

They talk about:

• The aspirations and tensions involved in participatory research
• The joys of researching alongside one's day job
• The unglamorous realities of doing research in higher education
• The diversity of Gen Z approaches to religion, specifically in Indonesia

Join us for this special, behind-the-scenes conversation about the power of teamwork and the excitement of doing participatory research in the humanities.

***

Erica Larson (2023), Ethics of Belonging, University of Hawaii Press.

Visit us at oxfordexemplars.org.

Music: 'Find Yours Dreams' by Art Flower. CC0 1.0 Universal License.

Copyright: The Vibe Shift, 2025.