Dr. Asmaa Soliman is the head of the Young Islam Conference. Asmaa studied in Maastricht and in London, where she completed her doctorate. This led to her book, European Muslims Transforming the Public Sphere, where she examines young Muslims’ engagement in the public. She has researched, taught, and coordinated projects on Islam in Europe, diversity, and intercultural understanding. She leads the JIK with the goal of advancing peer education and the European focus even further.

Andrei Chitu supports the program management and the team in the areas of finance and administration. He studied philosophy and data management in Tübingen, Paris, Potsdam and Berlin. Before joining the team, he had already worked for several organizations and institutions and was able to implement and support a wide range of social and cultural projects.

Seren Başoğul manages our networks. With this work, Seren brings many threads together. Seren studied visual communication and has created exhibitions on several social issues. As a talent scout, she has promoted educational and equal opportunities for young people from families in North Rhine-Westphalia with little to no academic experience.

Vinya Mehta is responsible for outreach and policy at the Young Islam Conference. She studied Politics, Religion, Gender Studies and Law in London and has expertise in migration and intersectional discrimination. Amplifying multiply marginalised anti-racist perspectives is particularly important in her advocacy work.

Julia Steenpaß supports the Outreach and Policy department as a project assistant. Previously, her focus was on supporting transformation processes and building governance structures through exchange and participation formats in city-related projects. She is currently studying Eastern European Studies and is working on international democratization processes.

Caroline Haufe manages the press and public relations of the Young Islam Conference and manages the Media Academy together with Seren. She studied literature in Freiburg, Edinburgh and Berlin and previously worked in the field of communication in the cultural sector and in post-migrant contexts.

Deniz Erdoğdu supports Caroline Haufe in communicating the Young Islam Conference. She has worked in the field of cultural education for a long time and is active in artistic activism. She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Sociocultural Studies.

Svea Klee works in the areas of Networks, Communications and Europeanisation. She focused on the intersectionality of different forms of discrimination during an internship at the Consortium on Gender Security and Human Rights and is currently studying International Relations at the University of Groningen.