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. Her research interests focus on Muslim communities in the Balkans, particularly in Romania, Turkey’s kin-state policies in the Balkans, and Islamophobia. Her most recent publication is the co-edited volume Aspects of Is lamic Radicalization in the Balkans After the Fall of Communism (Peter Lang, 2023). Currently, she is coordinating the research project “Invisible Minorities. Millet, Turk ish Tinsmiths and Davulcu in Dobruja (Romania)” (2023-2025) supported by the Gerda Henkel Foundation. Email: adriana.tamasan@gmail.com X-account: @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, Bosnia and Herze govina. She holds a master’s degree in English literature from the University of Sara jevo and a master’s degree in democracy and human rights in Southeast Europe from the University of Sarajevo/University of Bologna. Her master’s thesis focused on the hijab ban in public institutions in B&H. Email: aidasalihovic@live.com
ALEXANDRA SOPA
Alexandra Sopa is a research fellow in Russia.
ALEXANDROS SAKELLARIOU
Alexandros Sakellariou is a senior researcher at the National and Kapodis trian University of Athens, Greece. He earned his PhD in sociology of religion from the Department of Sociology of Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences of Athens. He taught at the Hellenic Open University (2016-2024), and has exten sive research experience in national and European projects since 2011. His scientific interests include, among others, sociology of religion and non-religion, sociology of youth, politics and religion, religious communities in Greek society, youth activ ism and civic participation, right-wing extremism, radicalisation, and qualitative re search methods. He has authored two books, Religion and Pandemic in Greek Society: Power Relations, Religious 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), and edited the volume Secularisation: From the Return of God to the Persistence of the Secular (2024, in Greek). He is a board member of the Hellenic Sociological Association and a member of the Eurel Network (Sociological and Legal Data in Europe and beyond). Email: sakellariou.alexandros@ac.eap.gr
ALI HUSEYINOGLU
Ali Huseyinoglu was born in Komotini, Greece. After completing primary ed ucation at the bilingual (Turkish and Greek) school in his hometown, he continued secondary and higher education in Istanbul and Ankara. Huseyinoglu received his BA and MSc from the Department of International Relations, Middle East Techni cal University (METU) and PhD from the University of Sussex, UK. Since 2020, he has been working as an associate professor in the Balkan Research Institute at Trakya University, in Edirne, Türkiye. His main research interests include human rights, mi nority issues, migration studies, Turkish-Greek relations, the Muslim Turkish minor ity of Western Thrace, religious freedoms, and Islamophobia. Email: alihuseyinoglu@trakya.edu.tr
AMINA SEMSOVIC MADZGALJ
Amina Šemsović Madžgalj has a BA (University of Novi Pazar) and an MA (University of Kragujevac) in English language and literature. Her civic activism earned her a scholarship for the European Regional Master’s Programme in Democ racy and Human Rights (joint degree) at the University of Bologna and the Univer sity of Sarajevo. After her graduation in 2016, she gained extensive experience in the field of human rights through numerous training programs, projects, and summer schools. In 2018, she was awarded a fellowship at the Office of the UN High Com missioner for Human Rights. As a representative of the Bosniak and Muslim minor ity in Serbia, Šemsović Madžgalj participated in several UN bodies including the 11th and 13th sessions of the Forum on Minority Issues. Šemsović Madžgaljcurrently re sides and is employed in Switzerland, working in the NGO sector, primarily focus ing on migration policy and the rights of underage asylum seekers. Email: aminamadzgalj@gmail.com
AMINA SMITS
Amina Smits is a Belgian researcher and writer whose work explores Islamopho bia, Orientalism, and the normalisation of far-right discourse in Europe. She studied Middle Eastern Studies at KU Leuven and earned her MA at the Alliance of Civili zations Institute, now connected to Ibn Haldun University in Istanbul. She has au thored book chapters on Orientalism and the extreme right. Smits currently works as a news editor and researcher at TAV (Türkiye Araştırmaları Vakfı, Türkiye Research Foundation). Drawing on both academic and media experience, Smits examines how narratives of identity, religion, and belonging shape political discourse and continues to advocate for awareness around structural and everyday Islamophobia. 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: a.kallis@keele.ac.uk LinkedIn: @aristotle-kallis
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 mem ber at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and School of Languages at Sabanci University, Istanbul. Şakir is currently a researcher at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski,” 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. His latest publication is a translation from Arabic into the Bulgarian language of The Ode of the Cloak (Qa sidat al-Burdah) by Muhammad al-Busiri (1212-1296) (August 2025). 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 prej udice. Døving 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, and the leading curator of the exhibition “In/visible. Everyday Rac ism in Norway.” Døving is part of the research group that conducts surveys on atti tudes towards Muslims in Norway (2017, 2022, and 2024). Her latest publications that are related to Islamophobia are the chapters “‘Muslims Are…’ Contextualizing Survey Answers” and “A Growing Consensus? A History of Public Debates on Islam ophobia in Norway” in Hoffmann and Moe (eds.), The Shifting Boundaries of Prej udice: Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Contemporary Norway, (Oslo: Scandinavian University Press, 2020), and the article “Bringing the Enemy Closer to Home: Con spiracy Talk and the Norwegian Far Right” in Patterns of Prejudice (2021). Døving is the editor of the book Rasisme. Fenomenet, forskningen, erfaringene (Racism: Phenom enon, Research, and Experiences) (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 2022). Email: c.a.doving@hlsenteret.no
DANIEL VEKONY
Dániel Vékony is an assistant professor at the Institute for Global Studies at Cor vinus University of Budapest, Hungary and a researcher at Vytautas Kavolis Trans disciplinary Research Institute, Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania. He received his PhD in international relations in 2017 from Corvinus University of Bu dapest. Vékony’s main research focus is Muslims and Islam in Europe. He was part of the GREASE Religion, Diversity and Radicalisation research consortium and is the author of numerous journal articles and book chapters. His latest paper, co-au thored by Edgunas Racius, is titled “Governance of Religious Diversity in Central Europe: A Religious Nationalism Inspired Illiberal Turn in Hungary and Slovakia?” (Ethnicities, 2024). Email: daniel.vekony@uni-corvinus.hu, daniel.vekony@vdu.lt
EGERT RUNNE
Egert Rünne is the executive director of the Estonian Human Rights Centre (EHRC). He holds a master’s degree from Tallinn University and has led or contrib uted to numerous national and EU-level human rights publications. His areas of ex pertise include civic space and minority rights. Email: egert.rynne@humanrights.ee X: @EgertRynne
ENRIQUE TESSIERI
Enrique Tessieri is a sociologist (MSc) and former foreign correspondent who has written and researched immigration topics. As a journalist, Tessieri worked as a foreign correspondent in countries like Finland, Spain, Italy, Argentina, and Colom bia, writing on human rights, business, and foreign investment. Tessieri is the editor of Migrant Tales, Finland’s oldest anti-racism blog which he founded in 2007. He was formerly a board member of the European Network Against Racism (2016-2019) and has founded a number of associations like the Rom-Mikkeli (Romany Associai tion of Mikkeili) and Kansainvälinen Mikkeli (International Mikkeli). Tessieri was elected to the Mikkeli City Council in 2025-2029 for the Social Democratic Party. Email: editor@migranttales.net Bluesky: @migranttales.bsky.social
FABIAN GOLDMANN
Fabian Goldmann is a journalist working for various national and international media outlets. He studied Islamic and political studies, and focuses on deconstruct ing stereotypical and misleading media coverage of Islam and immigration. In work shops and for NGOs, Goldmann develops ideas with affected individuals and media professionals for a discourse on Islam beyond stereotypes. He authors Schantall und die Scharia (Chantal and the Sharia), a blog about the pitfalls of debates about Islam. Goldmann’s upcoming book Staatsräsonfunk is about German media coverage of Is rael’s genocide in Palestine. Email: schantallscharia@posteo.de X: @goldi Instagram: @fabian_goldmann
FARID HAFEZ
Farid Hafez is an associate teaching professor of international relations at William and Mary, and a senior scholar at Georgetown University’s The Bridge Initiative at ACMCU (Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding). He was the Class of 1955 Distinguished Visiting Professor of International Studies at Williams College (2021-2024), and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Salz burg (2014-2021). In 2017, Hafez was a Fulbright Visiting Professor at the Univer sity of California, Berkeley. Since 2010, he has been the editor of Islamophobia Stud ies 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 an thology 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 publication is Politicizing Islam in Austria. The Far-Right Impact in the Twenty-First Century, co-authored with Reinhard Hein isch (Rutgers University Press, 2024). Email: fhafez@wm.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@iziz.unsa.ba X: @hikmet_karcic
INES BOLANOS SOMOANO
Inés Bolaños Somoano is a fellow in international security at the Institut Bar celona d’Estudis Internacionals (IBEI). She holds a PhD in political and social sciences from the European University Institute (EUI), Italy, under Prof. Olivier Roy. Her PhD thesis looked at the emergence and consolidation of preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) and radicalization as a distinct policy field in the Euro pean Union. Bolaños Somoano was a visiting PhD and later a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) at Leiden University, Nether lands, for DRIVE project, on the role of social exclusion in processes of radicaliza tion to extremism in northWestern Europe. Her current research focuses on Islamo phobia in Spain, European right-wing extremism, online radicalization, and poten tial strategies to counter online right-wing milieus. Bolaños Somoano is a qualitative researcher, employing interviews, archival evidence, and policy analysis. Email: ibolanos@ibei.org / Bluesky: /inesbsomoano
IVAN TRUNOV
Ivan Trunov is a sociologist and researcher at the Diversity Development Group. He is interested in political sociology, the far right in Europe, LGBTQI+ issues, and migration studies. Trunov holds MS and MA degrees in sociology from Vilnius Uni versity, Lithuania. Email: ivan@diversitygroup.lt
JETA LUBOTENI
Jeta Luboteni is an independent researcher. She recently completed a master’s degree at Boston University in religious studies, and also holds an MA from George Mason University in Middle East and Islamic studies. Email: jeta.luboteni@gmail.com
JINAN HAMMOUDE
Jinan Hammoude holds a master’s degree in sociology from the University of Co penhagen. Her academic background includes a strong focus on gender, intersection ality, and ethnicity, and she has worked extensively within these fields. Additionally, she has been involved in various civil society organizations in Denmark, particularly those addressing racism and Islamophobia. Currently, Hammoude is the chairwoman of the Centre for Muslims’ Rights in Denmark (CEDA), a Danish NGO committed to documenting and raising awareness of Islamophobia in the country. As part of her work, she authored the first comprehensive Danish-language report on Islamopho bia, introducing a nationally grounded definition of the phenomenon and analyzing its specific manifestations in the Danish context. She also authored the most recent report, published in 2025, on the rise of Islamophobia in Denmark following the events of October 7, 2023. Hammoude is an active contributor to the public debate on Islamophobia in Denmark, regularly engaging in national media and public debate. Email: Jinan@ceda.nu X: @JinanHammoud
JOZEF LENC
Jozef Lenč is an associate professor at the Department of Philosophy and Applied Philosophy at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava, Slovakia. His work addresses the relationship between religion and politics, with a focus on political parties, Islam, and Islamic philosophy in Europe. He is a commen tator on Slovak and international politics, especially on issues concerning the Mid dle East; the co-author of Young Migrants in Slovak Society (Brno: Tribun EU, 2012); and the author of Religion in Politics and the Position of Religious Political Parties ( Tr nava: UCM Trnava, 2016). Additionally, Lenč is the author of reports on Slovakia and Muslims for the Yearbook of Muslims in Europe (Brill). Lenč serves as the expert guarantor of projects and discussions at the Wetzler Institute in Trnava, focused on policy analyses of the Middle East region, democracy, and civic education. 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 expertise focuses on Islamophobia and spatial justice. Email: Kawtar.Najib@liverpool.ac.uk LinkedIn: Kawtar Najib
LOUISE RYAN
Louise Ryan is a postdoctoral researcher at the Higher Education Authority-funded EMBRACED project developing anti-racism training for higher education staff across Ireland. Her recent work deals with disinformation as the animating force behind community formation on social media platforms. Email: louise.ryan@ul.ie
MARTA PANIGHEL
Marta Panighel is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Turin where she studies contemporary fascism in Italy using a feminist ethnographic methodology as part of the ERC (European Research Council) program F-WORD, which is an an thropological exploration of fascist practices and meanings among European youth. Panighel received her PhD in sociology from the University of Genoa in 2023. Her doctoral research focused on the phenomenon of gendered Islamophobia in Italy. Pan ighel is part of the International Islamophobia Studies Research Association (IISRA). Email: marta.panighel@unito.it
MERSIHA SMAILOVIKJ
Mersiha Smailovikj is a human rights activist, lawyer, and humanitarian. She earned her master’s degree in international law at the “Iustinianus Primus” Law Fac ulty in Skopje. Her research and activism focus on issues of discrimination against Muslims and Islamophobia, gender equality, the rights of ethnic groups, and the pro tection and advocacy of refugees and migrants. Email: mersiha.s@legis.mk
NADA DOSTI
Nada Dosti is a PhD candidate in social media studies at the Social Sciences Uni versity of Ankara (ASBU), Turkey. She co-authored the Albania national report for the European Islamophobia Report in 2019, 2020, and 2021. Dosti is currently work ing as a researcher at the Institute of Islamic Thought (Islam Dusunce Enstitusu) in Ankara and as a freelance journalist for TRT Balkan. Email: nada.dosti@gmail.com X:@NadaDosti
NADIA LAHDILI
Nadia Lahdili is a postdoctoral research fellow in the humanities at the Univer sity of the Free State, South Africa. She holds a PhD in political science and public administration, specializing in local governance and citizen participation. Her schol arly work focuses on state-citizen relations, Muslim identity, the intersection of reli gion and public space, Islamophobia, immigration, and integration policies. Lahdi li’s first master’s thesis examined France’s public policy towards Muslim migrants un der the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy (2007-2012). The study provided an in-depth analysis of how assertive laicism and the republican ideals of liberté, égalité, fraternité often clash with French public policies that restrict the freedoms of religious exercise for French Muslims beyond the private sphere. Email: nadias.works@gmail.com
NEJRA KADIC MESKIC
Nejra Kadić Meškić is CEO at the Centre for Cultural Dialogue (CCD), which builds intercultural societies, and fights growing mistrust and polarization by strength ening intercultural and interreligious dialogue. She is an associate at the Islamic Com munity 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 LinkedIn: Nejra Kadić Meškić
RAIMUNDO GREGOIRE DELAUNOY
Raimundo Gregoire Delaunoy is a journalist. He has a BA in social commu nication and an MA in international studies. Since 2006, he has been studying so ciopolitical processes in Africa and the Mediterranean as an independent researcher. He has created the independent digital media outlet Periodismo Internacional (www. periodismointernacional.cl), where he publishes analyses, policy briefs, articles, in terviews, and other content related to international issues. Since 2014, Delaunoy is a member of the South-South Intellectual Network (RISUR). He is currently work ing on a paper about the stance of South American countries in regard to the Sahara conflict. Delaunoy’s latest publication is “Sudan’s Current Conflict: Implications for the Bordering Regions and Influence of the Key Regional/International Actors,” in Journal of Social Encounters (August 2024). Email: raimundo.gregoire@gmail.com
SERGIO GRACIA
Sergio Gracia studied law at the University of Córdoba, Spain. He holds a mas ter’s degree in “Terrorist Phenomenology: Bioterrorism, Epidemiological Prevention, Cyberterrorism, and Chemical Threats” from the University of Granada. He is the president of CINVED (Centro de Investigación de la Extrema Derecha), a research center on the extreme right in Spain. Gracia practiced law at Casa Árabe Córdoba, and is a member of REDOI, the Spanish Network against Hate Crimes and Under reporting. He has extensive training and experience in religious pluralism, Islamic feminism, political Islam in Europe, and fundamental rights. Gracia has participated in various panels and academic conferences on racism, xenophobia, and hate crimes. He contributed to the study “Unveiling the Main Frames of Islamophobia” and took part in Spain’s only 2024 congress on Islamophobia. Gracia collaborates with public and private institutions, and frequently comments in national and international me dia on international relations, far-right extremism, and hate speech. Email: consultas@cinved.com / X: @damasco1812
SHAN KAREMANI
Shan Karemani is an independent researcher. He recently finished his master’s degree at the Robert F. Byrnes Russian and East European Institute (REEI) at Indi ana University, USA. His thesis is a critical discourse analysis of Islamophobic rhet oric from Albanian elites in Kosovo and Albania. Email: shanikaremani@gmail.com X: @ksh4ni
SUJOOD MOMANI
Sujood Momani is a sociologist specialising in the self-representation of hijabi influencers and Muslim women on social media. Her research examines how iden tity, modesty, and belonging are negotiated online, focusing on self-Orientalisation, anti-Muslim narratives, appropriation, and commodification of religiosity. Email: sujood.momani25@gmail.com
TAHIR ABBAS
Tahir Abbas is a professor of criminology and global justice at Aston University in Birmingham, UK. He holds a PhD in ethnic relations from the University of War wick (2001). His recent publications include Capitalism, State Power, and the Pro duction of Extremism: A Marxist Theory of Radicalisation (SpringerBriefs in Sociol ogy) (Springer, 2025). Email: t.abbas@aston.ac.uk X: @TahirAbbas_