Şafak Baş, M.A., studied Political Science and Near and Middle Eastern Studies at the Ruprecht-Karls University in Heidelberg as well as Persian at the Dekhoda Lexicon Institute in Tehran. After completing his studies, he worked as a policy analyst at the European Stability Initiative in Berlin and Istanbul (2012-2013) and as a freelance journalist in Istanbul and Tehran (2013-2014). Currently, Şafak is a Ph.D. student at the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Politics at the Otto-Suhr Institute of Political Science at Free University Berlin.
In his dissertation project, which is funded by the Hanns Seidel Foundation, Şafak is working on the foreign policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Turkey in the Middle East. In addition to dissertation related topics of the foreign policies and geopolitics of Iran and Turkey, he is particularly interested in topics of the social sciences such as flight and migration. In this context, he visited the Turkish-Syrian border area between March and July 2015 and gathered numerous impressions and information on the situation of the Syrian refugees in Turkey in talks with politicians, helpers and refugees.

Dr. Jasmin Khosravie-Gödert is a co-founder of CARPO and was Board member from 2014 until 2018. During this time, she was CARPO’s Head of Programs & Research and supported CARPO’s conceptual and strategic development. While holding her position at CARPO, Jasmin was also a post-doc fellow and lecturer in Near and Middle Eastern Studies at University of Bonn. In October 2018 she joined the Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb).

Ulrike Stohrer, social anthropologist, studied Social Anthropology, History, Theatre-, Film- and Media Sciences, Musicology, and Modern Standard Arabic at the University of Frankfurt/Main. Additionally, she completed training in classical singing at the conservatory of Frankfurt/Main. Her dissertation Barʿa. Rituelle Performance, Identität und Kulturpolitik im Jemen deals with a cultural practice in Yemen and its relevance for tribal, regional, and national identities. Ulrike also does research on material culture, traditional architecture, clothing and consumption.
From 2007 to 2009, she implemented a pilot project at the Institute for Near Eastern Archeology at the University of Frankfurt/Main in the field of applied anthropology on intercultural communication and local identities at an archeological site in Tell Chuera/Syria. Since 2004, she regularly lectures at the universities of Frankfurt, Heidelberg, and Marburg. She also works as a teacher for Arabic and as an independent corrector and lector.

Prof. Dr. Stephan Conermann is Director of the Department of Near Eastern History and Languages at the University of Bonn, where he has been Professor of Islamic Studies since 2003. He is also Vice President for International Affairs at the University of Bonn and founding member of the Center for Religion and Society at the university. With research interests in the fields of transformation processes in Muslim societies in the era of European colonialism and imperialism, Muslim historiography and identification processes and Islam in Germany – amongst others – he has published extensively on the history of the modern ‘Orient’ as well as on resulting European – Middle East relations today. He is also series editor of „Bonner Islamstudien“ (BIS), „Bonner Asienstudien“ (BAS), „Bonner islamwissenschaftliche Hefte“ (BiH), „Narratologia Aliena“ und „Mamluk Studies“.

Dr. Gudrun Harrer is Senior Editor of Austria’s national daily newspaper “Der Standard” where she previously served as the foreign editor. She holds an MA in Islamic and Arabic Studies and a PhD in International Relation Studies, with a doctoral thesis on the Iraqi nuclear program. She is a lecturer on modern history and politics of the Middle East at the University of Vienna, and at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna. In 2006, she was Special Envoy of the Austrian EU Presidency to Iraq and Chargé d’Affaires of the Austrian Embassy in Baghdad. Gudrun Harrer was awarded the prestigious “Bruno Kreisky Award for the political book“ for her publications on the Middle East, among others for “Dismantling the Nuclear Programme: The Inspections of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Iraq 1991-1998” (Routledge 2014) and “Nahöstlicher Irrgarten: Analysen abseits des Mainstreams” (Kremayr & Scheriau 2014). She is member of the board of the Austrian Orient Society (ÖOW) and of the Austrian Institute for International Affairs (OIIP).

Mareike Transfeld holds a master in Political Science, Islamic Studies and Modern History with a specialization on the Middle East from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. She is currently Director of the Yemen Policy Center in Berlin and a PhD Student at the Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies. Previously, she was a research fellow at the German Institute for Security and Foreign Affairs in Berlin, and headed the Research Department of the Yemen Polling Center (YPC) in Sanaa.
In her PhD thesis, Mareike explores the boundaries of the Yemeni state as experienced by Yemeni youth through a digital anthropology of a community on Facebook. This topic ties together her interests in state-society relations, youth activism and digital media. Previously, she did research on opposition parties and elite change. As consultant for YPC, Transfeld has designed numerous projects on the livelihoods of Yemeni youth and the political and economic conditions for youth activism. She has conducted field research in Yemen, Malaysia, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon.

Dr. Abdulsalam al-Rubaidi holds a PhD in Near and Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Bonn, Germany, and a master in Arabic Language and Literature from Sana’a University, Yemen. He is a lecturer at the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Faculty of Education at al-Baydha’ University, and a lecturer at the Gender Development Research and Studies Center (GDRSC) at Sana’a University, Yemen. He is also a founding member of the Academic Forum Muhammad Ali Luqman.
Abdulsalam worked as a teacher of the humanities (religion, history and Arabic language) in a number of private schools and universities in Sana‘a from 2005 to 2009. From 2012 to 2014, he was a researcher at the Yemen Polling Center (YPC) in Sana‘a in the Volkswagen Foundation-funded project on ‘Framing the Revolution in Yemen’ with the University of Bonn. He is currently the editor of the Arabic publications at al-Madaniya Magazine and the Yemen Policy Center. Abdulsalam has published extensively on cultural and social issues in Yemen in both Arabic and English language.

Omulbanin Paigeer has been Project Assistant in the Promoting Dialogue and Participation in Iraq project at CARPO. In the past, she worked with national and international organizations in projects focusing on promoting democracy, elections, human rights and women empowerment. In her last employment, she worked with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) in Afghanistan and led projects in the fields of peace, security and youth leadership empowerment. Prior to this, she worked with Counterpart International as a Senior Election Officer and implemented projects aiming at the creation of meaningful dialogue among electoral stakeholders and raising public awareness on elections in Afghanistan. She has also been recognized as a LEAD Trainer by the European Centre for Electoral Studies (ECES). Omulbanin has a bachelor’s degree in Law and a diploma in Leadership and Management. She is an emerging researcher on Afghanistan and its foreign policy.

Lalla Amina Drhimeur is a Prime YOUTH Researcher on “Nativism, Islamophobism and Islamism in the Age of Populism” at Sciences Po Lyon. This project, which has received funding from the European Research Council, analyses the current political, social, and economic context of the European Union, which is confronted by two substantial crises, namely the global financial crisis and the refugee crisis. These crises have led to the escalation of fear and prejudice among the youth who are specifically vulnerable to discourses that culturalize and stigmatize the “other”. In general, Amina’s research explores the evolution of political Islam, democratization process and power reconfigurations in North Africa and the Middle East.

In addition to her research in political Islam, she is furthermore interested in exploring democratization processes and power reconfigurations mainly in South America and North Africa.

Mirjam Schmidt is a Project Manager in CARPO’s Iran-Saudi Dialogue Initiative. She has been working in different dialogue projects in the past years and gained profound experience in the field of cultural dialogue. She conceptualized and moderated the CARPO podcast “Katar 2022 – Mehr als eine WM” together with her colleague Sebastian Sons in the context of the FIFA World Cup 2022. Additionally she moderates the annual CARPO Research Forum.
Before joining CARPO she worked at the Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung) and the International Office Department “European & International Networks” of the University of Bonn. She holds an M.A. in Asian Studies with a focus on Religious Studies from the University of Bonn after finishing her B.A. in International Relations at the Rhein Waal University of Applied Science.