Academic Career
She has been involved with the LSE's sociology department where she received her Ph.D. since 1970.
In 1988 she was engaged in research on the preservation of cultural identity in the Armenian diaspora. In the same year she founded the Information Network Focus on Religious Movements (INFORM), with the support of the Archbishop of Canterbury and financial help from the British Home Office.
Eileen Barker has held numerous positions of leadership in the academic study of religion. She was Chairperson of the British Sociological Association's Study Group for the Sociology of Religion from 1985 to 1990, President of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion from 1991 to 1993 (the first non-American to hold that office), and President of the Association for the Sociology of Religion from 2001 to 2002.
In 2000 Barker was appointed as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and named by the American Academy of Religion to receive its Martin E. Marty Award for Contributions to the Public Understanding of Religion.
As of 2009, Barker is a member of the Editorial Review Board of the International Cultic Studies Association's Cultic Studies Review. The Editorial Review Board of the Cultic Studies Review contributes to the process of peer review of the academic journal.
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