Hindu Research

🔬 Hindu-Informed Research in Healthcare

Research is the foundation of progress in healthcare. However, research that overlooks cultural perspectives risks creating solutions that are incomplete, misaligned, or inequitable. The Hindu NHS Network (HNN) recognises the urgent need to promote, produce, and partner in research that reflects Hindu beliefs, behaviours, and health outcomes—thereby ensuring a truly inclusive and effective NHS.

Despite the substantial presence of British Hindus in healthcare and the broader population, there is a critical lack of peer-reviewed studies, disaggregated data, and culturally sensitive research exploring how Hindu values, rituals, lifestyle practices, and belief systems influence health and wellbeing. This gap leads to underrepresentation in policy design, public health planning, clinical trial recruitment, and spiritual care models. HNN is committed to filling this void by championing research that is not only academically rigorous but also spiritually and culturally aligned with Hindu perspectives.

🎯 Our Research Goals

HNN aims to:

• Generate evidence on the health experiences and outcomes of Hindu patients and staff within the NHS

• Promote studies on Hindu approaches to mental health, ageing, end-of-life care, nutrition, and wellbeing

• Support data disaggregation to differentiate Hindu data from broader “Asian” or “South Asian” categories

• Foster partnerships between Hindu academics, clinicians, public health teams, and research institutions

• Integrate dharmic frameworks (e.g., Ayurveda, yoga, karma, moksha) into contemporary health science inquiry

• Amplify Hindu voices in national health policy research, ethics committees, and innovation boards

📚 Key Research Themes

1. Mental Health and Spiritual Resilience

Hindu scriptures and traditions offer a rich repertoire of frameworks for coping with distress, trauma, and existential anxiety. Concepts such as karma, dharma, meditation, bhakti (devotion), and satsang (community) can be protective factors. Research is needed to explore how Hindu patients experience and express mental health needs, and how faith-informed interventions might enhance service uptake, engagement, and recovery.

2. End-of-Life and Bereavement Care

Many Hindu families report distress over the lack of accommodation for last rites, sacred chanting, and body handling traditions in hospitals. HNN supports research that documents these concerns and evaluates how NHS palliative care can be better aligned with Hindu spiritual needs, especially in multicultural urban settings.

3. Lifestyle Medicine, Diet & Ayurveda

With growing global interest in integrative health, it is time to examine how traditional Hindu practices—such as Ayurvedic nutrition, yoga, vegetarianism, seasonal fasting, and circadian rituals—impact long-term health. HNN encourages comparative clinical studies that assess the physiological and psychological benefits of these dharmic lifestyle elements, especially in the prevention and management of chronic conditions such as diabetes, obesity, and heart disease.

4. Health Inequalities & Disparities

There is a scarcity of data exploring healthcare inequalities among British Hindus. Research is needed on topics such as differential access to services, festival-related leave, staff discrimination, spiritual care provision, and patient satisfaction. HNN supports initiatives that apply community-based participatory research (CBPR) approaches, ensuring Hindu voices are integral to every step of the research design and interpretation.

5. Staff Experience and Workforce Development

Hindu staff often encounter microaggressions, invisibility of faith needs, lack of chaplaincy representation, and underrepresentation in leadership. HNN promotes research that maps the lived experience of Hindu NHS employees and evaluates how inclusive workplace policies and wellbeing frameworks can support staff retention, growth, and equity.

🤝 Our Research Partnerships

HNN collaborates with:

• Academic institutions (e.g., King’s College London, University of Leeds, University of Bolton)

• NHS Research & Development (R&D) teams and Integrated Care Boards

• Ethnic Minority Research Networks and Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) committees

• Faith & Belief academic networks, interfaith research groups, and think tanks

• Mandir-based healthcare scholars and traditional Ayurvedic institutions

We also support the development of student dissertations, postgraduate research, and doctoral theses focused on Hindu healthcare issues. HNN can provide interview access, case studies, community participant recruitment, and cultural insight validation to ensure high-quality, authentic outputs.

🧭 Vision for the Future

HNN envisions a future where Hindu-informed research shapes policy, education, and care delivery across the NHS. A future where ancient dharmic wisdom meets cutting-edge science to create a truly integrative and human-centred health system. We advocate for a healthcare research ecosystem that recognises diverse epistemologies, integrates faith perspectives, and honours the spiritual dignity of all people.

We invite NHS Trusts, universities, and public health bodies to partner with HNN in generating new knowledge that is culturally competent, spiritually intelligent, and socially transformative. Together, we can ensure that Hindu contributions to healthcare are not only acknowledged—but embedded in the future of the NHS.