Sophie is an M.A. student at the Heidelberg Centre for Transcultural Studies with a B.A. in Religious Studies and Islamic Studies from Heidelberg University. Their international experience includes a semester at Leiden University and a research internship in a project on Shiite religious practice in Turkey at the Orient Institute in Istanbul.

Sophie’s research interest lies in religious diversity in Middle Europe and Turkey and the political discourse around it. Along with these, their studies and work revolve around religious material culture, such as the visibility of religion in urban spaces, as well as transcultural entanglements and issues of migration and minorities. In their B.A. thesis, they examined the dynamics leading up to Switzerland’s minaret ban in 2009.