Ian Reader is Professor Emeritus at the University of Manchester. Previously he has held academic positions at higher education institutes in Japan, Hawaii, Denmark and Scotland. He focuses on the study of religion in various contexts, mainly in Japan; on emergent religious groups; on links between religion, violence and terror; and on studies of pilgrimage and travel. He has authored or co-authored 11 books, co-edited numerous volumes and written over 100 academic journal articles and book chapters. His most recent book, co-authored with Erica Baffelli, is Dynamism and the "Ageing of a Japanese 'New' Religion: Transformations and the Founder."