ADRIANA CUPCEA
Adriana Cupcea is a researcher at the Romanian Institute for Research on Na tional Minorities, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. She has a PhD in history from Babeș-Bol yai University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Her research interests focus on Muslim com munities in the Balkans, particularly in Romania, the construction of modern iden tities, the image of the Other, and the relationship between self-image and Other ness. Cupcea’s most recent publication is the co-edited volume Aspects of Islamic Rad icalization in the Balkans After the Fall of Communism (Peter Lang, 2023). Currently, she is coordinating the research project “An Invisible Minority. The Turkish Muslim Roma in Dobruja (Romania)” supported by the Gerda Henkel Foundation (May 1, 2023-March 1, 2025). Email: adriana.tamasan@gmail.com X: @AdrianaCupcea
AIDA SALIHOVIS-GUSIC
Aida Salihović-Gušić is an education officer at the Professor Zdravko Grebo Center for Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Sarajevo. She holds a Mas ter’s degree in English literature from the University of Sarajevo and a Master’s de gree in democracy and human rights in Southeast Europe from the University of Sa rajevo/University of Bologna. Her Master’s thesis focused on the hijab ban in public institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Email: aidasalihovic@live.com
ALEXANDRA SOPA
ALEXANDROS SAKELLARIOU
Alexandros Sakellariou is an adjunct lecturer at the Hellenic Open University since 2016 and a senior researcher at National and Kapodistrian University of Ath ens. He earned his PhD in sociology of religion from the Department of Sociology of Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences of Athens. Since 2011 he has been working on young people’s socio-political engagement and well-being, the eval uation of innovative social policies, and radicalisation, acquiring extensive research experience in national and European projects. His scientific interests include, among others, sociology of religion and non-religion, sociology of youth, politics and reli gion, religious communities in Greek society, youth activism and civic participation, right-wing extremism, radicalisation, and qualitative research methods. Sakellariou has published two books: Religion and Pandemic in Greek Society: Power Relations, Re ligious Populism and the Pending Secularisation (2020, in Greek) and Atheism in Greek Society: From Orthodox Religious Memory to the Atheist Religious Consciousness (2022, in Greek). He is a substitute board member of the Hellenic League for Human Rights and a member of the EUREL project, which is an expert source for “sociological and legal data on religions in Europe and beyond”. Email: sakellariou.alexandros@ac.eap.gr
ALI HUSEYINOGLU
Ali Huseyinoglu was born in Komotini, Greece. After completing primary education at the bilingual (Turkish and Greek) school in his home town, he continued second ary and higher education in Istanbul and Ankara. Huseyinoglu received his BA and MSc from the Department of International Relations, Middle East Technical Univer sity (METU) and PhD from the University of Sussex. Since 2020, he has been work ing as an associate professor in the Balkan Research Institute at Trakya University, in Edirne, Türkiye. His main research interests include human and minority rights, migration studies, Turkish-Greek relations, the Muslim Turkish minority of Western Thrace, religious freedoms, and Islamophobia. Email: alihuseyinoglu@trakya.edu.tr X: @alihuseyinoglu
AMANI HASSANI
Amani Hassani is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at Brunel University and a so ciologist with extensive research on experiences of Islamophobia among Muslims in Denmark. Her recent research focuses on the consequences of Denmark’s “ghetto laws” on racialized citizens in public housing estates, particularly looking at the rac ist and Islamophobic reasoning for displacing residents and erasing communities of color. Hassani is the research director at the Centre for Muslims’ Rights in Denmark (CEDA). Email: amani@ceda.nu X: @Amani_Hassani_
AMINA SMITS
Amina Smits graduated from the Institute of Alliance of Civilizations at Fatih Sultan Mehmet Foundation University in Istanbul. Her thesis was a critique on Ed ward Said’s Orientalism in light of Ottoman-European relations. Born and raised in Belgium, she graduated from the Department of Islamic and Arabic Studies, Fac ulty of Arts at KU Leuven. Smits’s fields of study and research interests are Orien talism, Occidentalism, Islamophobia, postcolonial studies, Ottoman-European rela tions, Islamic religious education in non-Islamic countries, and sociology of religion. Besides her native Dutch, she speaks Turkish and English at a native level, and reads French and Arabic. Email: aminasmits@gmail.com X: @SmitsAmina
ARISTOTLE KALLIS
Aristotle Kallis is a professor of modern and contemporary history at Keele Uni versity, UK. His research interests revolve around fascism and the contemporary radi cal/far right in transnational terms, with a particular focus on the ‘normalisation’ and ‘mainstreaming’ of extreme views and on the processes that facilitate taboo-breaking language and behaviour. He has published extensively on the history of fascism and the radical right; on the rise of far-right extremism in Greece and Germany; on the mainstream-extremism nexus with regard to a number of key themes in the ideology of the far right including nationalism, sovereignty, and attitudes to particular groups of ‘others’; and on Islamophobia and antisemitism. Email: aristotlekallis@gmail.com
AZIZ NAZMI SAKIR
Aziz Nazmi Şakir (PhD, History of Sciences, Istanbul University) earned his BA and MA from the Arabic Philology and Turkic Studies Departments of St. Kliment Ohridski, University of Sofia respectively. Since 2001 he has been a faculty member at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and School of Languages at Sabanci Univer sity, Istanbul. Şakir is currently a researcher at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohrid ski,” Sofia. Besides his academic research dedicated to the Ottoman heritage in the Balkans and Bulgaria’s Muslims, he is an accomplished writer and translator with more than thirty translations of poetry and prose to his credit. Email: ashakir@uni-sofia.bg
CORA ALEXA DOVING
Cora Alexa Døving is a research professor at the Center for Studies of Holo caust and Religious Minorities in Oslo, Norway in the field of minority studies. Over the past years, she has published on racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, and preju dice. She was the leader of the research project “Negotiating Jewish Identity – Jewish Life in 21st Century Norway,” funded by the Norwegian Research Council, in 2019 2022. She has also been the leading curator of the exhibition “In/visible. Everyday Racism in Norway.” Her latest publications that are thematically related to the topic of this report are “‘Muslims Are…’ Contextualizing Survey Answers” and “A Growing Consensus? A History of Public Debates on Islamophobia in Norway” in Hoffmann and Moe (eds.), The Shifting Boundaries of Prejudice: Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Contemporary Norway, Oslo: Scandinavian University Press, 2020; and “Bringing the Enemy Closer to Home: Conspiracy Talk and the Norwegian Far Right,” Pat terns of Prejudice, 55, 2021, Issue 4, (Døving & Emberland). Døving is also the edi tor of the book Rasisme. Fenomenet, forskningen, erfaringene (Racism. The phenome non, the research, the experiences Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 2022. E-mail: c.a.doving@hlsenteret.no
DANIEL VEKONY
Dániel Vékony is an assistant professor at the Institute for Global Studies at the Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary and a researcher at the Vytautas Kavolis Transdisciplinary Research Institute, Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithua nia. He received his PhD in international relations in 2017 from the Corvinus Uni versity of Budapest. Vékony’s main research focus is Muslims and Islam in Europe. He was part of the GREASE Religion, Diversity and Radicalisation research consor tium and is the author of numerous journal articles and book chapters. His latest pa per, co-authored by Edgunas Racius, is titled “Governance of Religious Diversity in Central Europe: A Religious Nationalism Inspired Illiberal Turn in Hungary and Slo vakia?” (Ethnicities, 2024). Email: daniel.vekony@uni-corvinus.hu, daniel.vekony@vdu.lt
ENRIQUE TESSIERI
Enrique Tessieri is a sociologist (MSc) and former journalist who has written and researched immigration topics. As a journalist, Tessieri worked in countries like Finland, Spain, Italy, Argentina, and Colombia, writing on human rights, business, and foreign investment. Tessieri is the editor of Migrant Tales, a community blog he founded in 2007. He was formerly a board member of the European Network Against Racism (2016-2019) and in 2022, became a member of the European Network on Religion & Belief. He works as integration councilor for the city of Mikkeli, Finland. Email: editor@migranttales.net X: @MigrantTales
EWA GORSKA
Ewa Górska holds a PhD in legal studies and an MA in Middle Eastern cultural studies. She is currently an assistant professor in the Chair of Sociology of Law at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. She is the co-author of the book Islam in the Polish Court (Islam w Polskim Sądzie), which focuses on the adjudication of hate based crimes against Muslims in Poland and the perceptions of Islam within Polish jurisprudence. Górska has authored multiple academic articles. Her research inter ests include legal Orientalism, discrimination within the law, and legal mobilization. She has extensive experience working with civil society organizations in Poland and the Arab world. Email: e.k.gorska@gmail.com
FABIAN GOLDMANN
Fabian Goldmann is a journalist working for numerous national and interna tional media outlets. He studied Islamic and political studies, and focuses on decon structing stereotypical and misleading media coverage of Islam and immigration. In workshops and for various NGOs, Goldmann develops ideas with affected individ uals and media professionals for a discourse on Islam beyond stereotypes. For ten years now, he has been running “Schantall und die Scharia,” (Chantal And the Sha ria) a blog about the pitfalls of debates about Islam. In the accompanying podcast, individuals who have experienced the consequences of such debates share their sto ries firsthand. Goldmann’s upcoming book is about German media coverage of Isra el’s war in Palestine. Email: fabian.goldmann@posteo.de X: @goldi
FARID HAFEZ
Farid Hafez is assistant teaching professor of international relations at William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and a senior scholar at Georgetown University’s The Bridge Initiative in Washington D.C. He was the Distinguished Class of 1955 Visit ing Professor of International Studies at Williams College (2021-2024), and a post doctoral researcher at the University of Salzburg (2014-2021). In 2017, Hafez was a Fulbright visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Since 2010 he has been the editor of Islamophobia Studies Yearbook, and since 2016 the co-editor of European Islamophobia Report. Hafez has received the Bruno Kreisky Award for the “Political Book of the Year” for his anthology Islamophobia in Austria (co-edited with John Bunzl). He has more than 150 publications in leading journals such as Politics and Religion, Patterns of Prejudice, and German Politics and Society. Hafez’s latest pub lication is Politicizing Islam in Austria. The Far-Right Impact in the Twenty-First Cen tury, co-authored with Reinhard Heinisch (Rutgers University Press, 2024). Email: fh342@georgetown.edu X: @ferithafez
HIKMET KARCIC
Hikmet Karčić is a research associate at the Institute for Research of Crimes Against Humanity and International Law, University of Sarajevo. He has a BA and LL.M. from the Faculty of Law, University of Sarajevo, and a PhD in political sci ence and sociology from the International University of Sarajevo. Karčić is the au thor of the acclaimed book Torture, Humiliate, Kill: Inside the Bosnian Serb Camp Sys tem (University of Michigan Press, 2022). He was the 2017 Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (AIPR) and Keene State College (KSC) global fellow. His writing on genocide denial and atrocity prevention has appeared, among others, in Haaretz, Newsweek, and Arab News. Email: hikmet.karcic@institut-genocid.unsa.ba X: @hikmet_karcic
INES BOLANOS SOMOANO
Inés Bolaños Somoano is a postdoctoral researcher at Leiden University, Neth erlands, where she works for the DRIVE H20 Project, examining processes of social exclusion and extremism in Northern Europe. She holds a PhD from the Political and Social Sciences Department of the European University Institute in Italy, and is a visiting researcher at the Institute for Security and Global Affairs, Leiden Univer sity. Bolaños Somoano’s thesis looks at the emergence and consolidation of preven tion of radicalisation and violent extremism (P/CVE) as a distinct policy field in the European Union. Her secondary focus is on European right-wing extremism and on line radicalisation. Bolaños Somoano is a qualitative researcher and is involved with the Radicalisation Awareness Network in Brussels. She has been involved in several researcher groups such as the Muslim World Working Group, the International Rela tions Working Group, and Thoughts For Europe. She also has ethnographic and pro fessional experience within institutions, having completed a traineeship at the Euro pean Commission, DG Home, where she worked on procurement and evaluation of internal security projects. Email: inesbolanosomoano@gmail.com, X: @Inessomoano
JAMES CARR
James Carr is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Limerick, Ire land. He researches anti-Muslim racism in Ireland and his work is currently focused on experiences of anti-Muslim hostility and discrimination, the role of local author ities, and grassroots-led community engagement. Email: james.carr@ul.ie
JETA LUBOTENI
Jeta “Jetim” Luboteni is a graduate student in the Department of Religion at Bos ton University, USA on the Islamic Studies track, currently researching the racializa tion of Islam, particularly as it impacts Albanian-Americans. Email: jeta.luboteni@gmail.com
JOZEF LENC
Jozef Lenč is an associate professor at the Department of Philosophy and Ap plied Philosophy at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Tr nava, Slovakia. His work addresses the relationship of religion and politics with a fo cus on political parties, Islam, and Islamic philosophy in Europe. He is a commenta tor of Slovak and international politics, especially regarding the Middle East; co-au thor of Young Migrants in the Slovak Society (Brno: Tribun EU, 2012); and author of Religion in Politics and the Position of Religious Political Parties (Trnava: UCM Tr nava, 2016). Lenč is the author of the reports on Slovakia for the Yearbook of Mus lims in Europe (Brill). Email: jozef.lenc@ucm.sk X: @JozefLenc
KAWTAR NAJIB
Kawtar Najib is a lecturer in human geography at the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom. Her research interests center on social and urban geographies of ine quality and discrimination. Her area of expertise is the spatialization of Islamophobia. Email: Kawtar.Najib@liverpool.ac.uk X: @KawtarNajib
KRISTINA MILLONA
Kristina Millona is an independent scholar and investigative journalist based in Tirana, Albania. She holds a master’s degree from the School of Oriental and Afri can Studies, University of London, in transnational queer feminist politics. Her re search interests include security studies, racism, and the gendered effects of Islamo phobia. Millona has published articles in Albanian on the relationship between wom en’s rights, the war on terror, and contemporary imperialism in Afghanistan. Her lat est research carried out with the End Female Genital Mutilation European Network in Belgium, focused on analyzing the impact of religious discrimination on the work to end FGM and support affected communities and survivors in Europe while pro viding policy recommendations for international and European stakeholders in tack ling Islamophobia. X: @kristinamillona
LAMIES NASSRI
Lamies Nassri has a MA in language psychology from the University of Copenhagen, where she specialized in language use, identity, and power relations. She has worked in the field of anti-racism for several years, focusing on Islamophobia in Denmark. Nassri is the project manager at the Centre for Muslims’ Rights in Denmark (CEDA), a Danish NGO that seeks to raise awareness and address Islamophobia in Denmark. She has written and contributed to several international reports on issues of racism and discrimination in Denmark. Nassri also regularly writes op-eds in mainstream and alternative media and campaigns on issues pertaining to Muslims’ rights in Denmark. Email: Lamies@ceda.nu X: @LamiesNassri
LIINA LAANPERE
Liina Laanpere holds a bachelor’s degree in law from Tartu University, Estonia and an LLM (International Human Rights Law and Public Policy) degree from Uni versity College Cork, Ireland. Laanpere is a freelance researcher and participates in a series of research projects at the Estonian Human Rights Centre. From 2019 to 2023, she was a legal expert in the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights’ multidisciplinary research network. Most recently, Laanpere co-authored the Esto nian chapter of the “Liberties Rule of Law Report 2024”. Email: liina.laanpere@humanrights.ee
LOUISE RYAN
Louise Ryan is a researcher concerned with the intersection of algorithmic cultures, surveillance, and embodiment in Europe and North America. Her recent work deals with disinformation as the animating force behind community formation on social media platforms. Email: louise.ryan.research@gmail.com
MERSIHA SMAILOVIC
Mersiha Smailović is a human rights activist, lawyer, and humanitarian. She earned her Master’s degree in international law at “Iustinianus Primus” Law Faculty in Skopje, North Macedonia. Her research and activism interests focus on discrimina tion against Muslims and Islamophobia, gender equality, the rights of ethnic groups, and advocating for the rights of refugees and immigrants. In 2024, Smailovikj ran for the presidency and was supported by the Bosniak Democratic Alliance (BDS). Email: mersiha.s@legis.mk
MUHAMMED CAGRI BILIR
Muhammed Çağrı Bilir was awarded his PhD from the Department of Politi cal Science and International Relations at the University of Leeds. His doctoral the sis was titled “Explaining the European Union’s CSDP Military Operations: Euro pean Struggle for Autonomy.” Bilir earned his BA in international relations from Is tanbul Commerce University in 2015 and his master’s degree at Linköping Univer sity in Sweden, specializing in European Union studies with a thesis titled “Scandi navian Security and NORDEFCO.” His scholarly interests include U.S. foreign pol icy, European Union security, and international relations theory. Bilir is a researcher at the Türkiye Research Foundation, contributing to advanced academic research in his fields of expertise. Email: dr.mcblr@gmail.com X: @cgrblr
NADIA LAHDILI
Nadia Lahdili is a social sciences researcher. She holds a PhD in political science and public administration, specializing in local governance and citizen participation. Her scholarly work focuses on state-citizen relations, Muslim identity, the intersec tion of religion and public space, Islamophobia, immigration, and integration pol icies. Her journey reflects a deep commitment to addressing critical topics that in tersect with contemporary societal challenges. Lahdili’s first master’s thesis examined France’s public policy towards Muslim migrants under the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy (2007-2012). The study provided an in-depth analysis of how assertive lai cism and the republican ideals of “liberté, égalité, fraternité” often clash with French public policies that restrict the freedoms of religious exercise for French Muslims be yond the private sphere. Email: nadias.works@gmail.com
NEJRA KADIC MESKIC
Nejra Kadić Meškić is CEO at the Centre for Cultural Dialogue, which builds intercultural societies and fights growing mistrust and polarization by strengthening intercultural and interreligious dialogue. She is an associate at the Islamic Commu nity in Croatia and works at the international organization Minority Rights Group in Croatia. Kadić Meškić graduated from the School of Business and Economics at the University of Sarajevo. She has thirteen years of experience as an executive direc tor and program leader in the fields of human rights, minority rights, migration and integration, culture of dialogue, gender equality, and youth policies. Kadić Meškić is a trainer on teamwork and leadership, and has worked in the civil society sector in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and abroad. In 2013, she received an award for her contribution to the achievement of gender equality from the Parliament of Bos nia and Herzegovina. Email: nejra.kadic.sa@gmail.com X: @KadicMeskic
RAIMUNDO GREGORIE
Raimundo Gregoire is a journalist who has a bachelor’s degree in social com munication and a master’s degree in international studies. Since 2006, he has been studying sociopolitical processes in Africa and the Mediterranean as an independent researcher. He has founded the independent digital media outlet Periodismo Inter nacional (periodismointernacional.cl), where he publishes analyses, policy briefs, ar ticles, interviews, and other contents related to international issues. His latest publi cation is Sudan’s Current Conflict: Implications for the Bordering Regions and In fluence of the Key Regional/International Actors, published on the Journal of Social Encounters (Vol. 8, Issue 2, 2024). Email: raimundo.gregoire@gmail.com X: @Ratopado
SERGIO GRACIA
Sergio Gracia studied law at the University of Córdoba, Spain. He holds a Master’s degree in “Terrorist Phenomenology: Bioterrorism, Epidemiological Prevention, Cyber terrorism, and Chemical Threats” from the Faculty of Sciences, University of Granada. He is the president of CINVED (Asociación Centro Investigación de Extrema Derecha), a research centre on the extreme right in Spain. Gracia practised law in Casa Árabe Cór doba. He is a member of REDOI, the Spanish Network against Hate Crimes and Un derreporting, and a representative of UCIDAN, the Union of Islamic Communities of Andalusia, to the Provincial Table for Intercultural Dialogue at the Granada Pro vincial Council. He has extensive complementary education and practical experience in the faith and plurality fields, for example in the renewal of religious thought, polit ical Islam in Europe, social changes in the Arab world, Islamic feminism, fundamen tal rights, and the extreme right. Gracia is an academic collaborator with various pub lic and private institutions in Spain, and he frequently acts as an invited expert com mentator for national and international media outlets on international relations, right wing violence, and hate speech issues. Email: consultas@cinved.com, X: @damasco1812
SHAN KAREMANI
Shan Karemani is an independent researcher. He recently finished his master’s de gree at the Russian and East European Institute at Indiana University, USA. His the sis is a critical discourse analysis of Islamophobic rhetoric from Albanian elites in Kosovo and Albania. Email: shanikaremani@gmail.com X: @ksh4ni
UGO GAUDINO
Ugo Gaudino is a lecturer in criminal justice in the Department of Criminology, Sociology and Politics at Kingston University, UK. He holds a PhD in international relations from the University of Kent, UK. His research interests include critical ter rorism studies and Islam in Europe. Email: U.Gaudino@kingston.ac.uk