Research Projects (2006–2017)

Affolter, Joëlle, M.A. (doctoral student Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the URPP)
Project title: Islamic Movements in Tunisia in Transition
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Bettina Dennerlein
Funded by: URPP Asia and Europe (2012–2013)

Alnaouq, Motaz, LL.M. Human Rights (doctoral student Legal Studies at the URPP)
Project title: The Right to Life in the Palestinian Society: The Case of the Death Penalty from Comparative Human Rights Perspective
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Matthias Mahlmann
Funded by: Humer-Foundation for Academic Talent (2011–2014), Open Society Foundations (2014–2015)

Arn, David, Dr. (doctoral student Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the URPP)
Project title: From Crime to Illness: Shifts in the Iranian Press Discourse on Drugs (1995–2000)
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Andreas Kaplony
Funded by: URPP Asia and Europe (2006–2009), SNSF – Fellowship for Prospective Researchers (2009–2010)
Degree: doctorate (2010)

Bentz, Anne-Sophie, Dr. (postdoc Political Science at the URPP)
Project title: India’s Refugee Policies
Funded by: URPP Asia and Europe (2011–2012)

Berriane, Yasmine, Dr. (senior teaching and research assistant Political Sociology and Middle Eastern Studies at the URPP)
Project title: Negotiating Land Rights: Gender, Law and Political Change in Morocco
Funded by: URPP Asia and Europe (2013–2017)

Brandenburg, Ulrich, Dr., Dipl.-Reg.Wiss. (doctoral student Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the URPP)
Project title: Japan and Islam 1890–1914: Between Global Communication and Pan-Asianist Movement
Doctoral committee: Prof. Dr. Bettina Dennerlein (UZH), Prof. Dr. David Chiavacci (UZH), Prof. Dr. Stephan Conermann (Universität Bonn)
Funded by: URPP Asia and Europe (2011–2014), Forschungskredit of the University of Zurich (2014–2015), Forschungskredit of the University of Zurich (2015–2016)
Degree: doctorate (2017)

Brozzo, Patrick, Dr. (doctoral student Legal Studies at the URPP)
Project title: Marriage in Islamic and Jewish Law: Cultural Diversity and Marital Law
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Andrea Büchler
Funded by: Humer-Foundation for Academic Talent (2008–2011)
Degree: doctorate (2015)

Brütsch, Christian, Dr. (postdoc Political Science at the URPP)
Project title: Transnational Transfer Agents, Labour Rights and Social Policy Reforms in China
Funded by: URPP Asia and Europe

Chammartin, Catherine, Dr.iur., lic.rer.pol. (doctoral student Legal Studies at the URPP)
Project title: State-Owned Banks: A Comparative Analysis of State-Owned Banks in China and Switzerland
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Hans Caspar von der Crone
Funded by: URPP Asia and Europe
Degree: doctorate (2009)

Hamid, Amir, M.A. (doctoral student Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the URPP)
Project title: On Bodies, Books and Hypertext: Mediating Islamic Norms of Gender and Religious Violence in the Transnational Arab Public Sphere
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Andreas Kaplony
Funded by: Humer-Foundation for Academic Talent (2010–2013)

Hollenbach, Pia, Dr. (doctoral student Geography at the URPP)
Project title: The Paradox of Good Intentions: The Biography of Private Giving in Post-Tsunami Sri Lanka
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Benedikt Korf
Funded by: Humer-Foundation for Academic Talent (2008–2011)
Degree: doctorate (2014)

Holm, Fynn, M.A. (doctoral student History at the URPP)
Project title: Nation-building and Whaling in Northeast Japan
Doctoral committee: Prof. Dr. David Chiavacci, Prof. Dr. Martin Dusinberre
Funded by: URPP Asia and Europe (2015)

Hördegen, Zhanna, Dr. (postdoc Legal Studies at the URPP)
Project title: Legal and Political Integration in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
Funded by: URPP Asia and Europe (2010–2013)

Hotz, Sandra, Dr. (postdoc Legal Studies at the URPP)
Project title: Immorality and Private Autonomy in Contract Law: A Comparative Research Project to Balance Freedom of Contract and Control in Europe and Japan Exemplified by Contracts Regarding Prostitution, Surrogate Motherhood and Marriage
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Andrea Büchler
Funded by: URPP Asia and Europe (2006–2009), SNSF – International Short Research Visit (2013–2013)

Isabaeva, Eliza, M.A. (doctoral student Social and Cultural Anthropology at the URPP)
Project title: Social Citizenship from Below and the Making of State in Kyrgyzstan: Migrants Making a Living in the Squatter Settlements of Bishkek
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Peter Finke
Funded by: Humer-Foundation for Academic Talent (2011–2014), Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology (2014–2015)

Kelegama, Thiruni, M.A. (doctoral student Geography at the URPP)
Project title: Anxious Integration: Development in Sri Lanka’s Post-War Frontier
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Benedikt Korf
Funded by: URPP Asia and Europe (2013–2016)

Khawari, Aliya, Dr. (doctoral student Political Science at the URPP)
Project title: The Political Economy of Microfinance
Doctoral committee: Prof. Dr. Katharina Michaelowa (UZH), Prof. Dr. Peter Finke (UZH), Prof. Dr. Bettina Dennerlein (UZH)
Funded by: Humer-Foundation for Academic Talent (2009–2011), SNSF – Marie Heim-Voegtlin Grant (2012–2013)
Degree: doctorate (2015)

Kosmatopoulos, Nikolas, Dr. (doctoral student Social and Cultural Anthropology at the URPP)
Project title: Pacifying Lebanon: Violence, Power and Expertise in the Middle East
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Shalini Randeria
Funded by: URPP Asia and Europe (2007–2010), SNSF – Fellowship for Prospective Researchers (2011–2012), Stavros Niarchos Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellowship Program (2012–2014)
Degree: doctorate (2012)

Kreil, Aymon, Dr. (postdoc Anthropology at the URPP)
Project title: Locating Trust in Cairo: Security, State, and Neighbourhood Politics
Funded by: URPP Asia and Europe (2013–2015), SNSF – Project Funding (2015–2018)

Linggi, Dominik, Dr. (doctoral student Sociology at the URPP)
Project title: Trust in Chinese Society: A Critical Contribution to Cross-cultural Social Research
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Volker Bornschier
Funded by: URPP Asia and Europe (2006–2009), SNSF – Project Funding (2009–2010)
Degree: doctorate (2010)

Löschke, Ayaka, M.A. (doctoral student Japanese Studies at the URPP)
Project title: Advocacy of the Japanese Civil Society after Fukushima: The “National Network of Parents to Protect Children from Radiation” as a Case Study
Doctoral committee: Prof. Dr. David Chiavacci, Prof. Dr. Verena Blechinger-Talcott (Free University Berlin), Prof. Dr. Benedikt Korf
Funded by: Humer-Foundation for Academic Talent (2013–2016), SNSF – Doc.Mobility (2016–2016)

Maduz, Linda, Dr. des. (doctoral student Political Science at the URPP)
Project title: Protest during Regime Change: Comparing Three Democratizing Countries in (South-) East Asia, 1985–2005
Doctoral committee: Prof. Dr. Katharina Michaelowa (UZH), Prof. Dr. Sven Trakulhun (University of Konstanz), Prof. Dr. Hanspeter Kriesi (European University Institute), Prof. Dr. David Chiavacci (UZH)
Funded by: Humer-Foundation for Academic Talent (2009–2012), SNSF – Fellowship for Prospective Researchers (2013–2013)
Degree: doctorate (2015)

Manea, Elham, PD Dr. (postdoc Political Science at the URPP)
Project title: The Arab State and Women’s Rights: The Trap of the Transitional State
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Dieter Ruloff
Funded by: URPP Asia and Europe (2006–2009)
Degree: habilitation (2010)

Rageth, Nina, M.A. (doctoral student Religious Studies at the URPP)
Project title: Medicine and Religion: ‘Traditional Tamil Medicine‘ in the Context of Religious Institutions
Doctoral committee: Prof. Dr. Dorothea Lüddeckens, Prof. Dr. Johannes Quack, Prof. Dr. Rafael Walthert
Funded by: Humer-Foundation for Academic Talent (2014–2017)

Rest, Matthäus, Dr. (doctoral student Social and Cultural Anthropology at the URPP)
Project title: Water Power: Discourses on Modernity and Development around the Nepalese Arun-3 Hydropower Project
Doctoral committee: Prof. Dr. Shalini Randeria, Prof. Dr. Ulrike Müller-Böker, Prof. Dr. Martin Gaenszle (University of Vienna)
Funded by: Humer-Foundation for Academic Talent (2009–2012), SNSF – Fellowship for Prospective Researchers (2012–2013), SNSF – Early Postdoc.Mobility (2014–2015)
Degree: doctorate (2014)

Schäfer, Fabian, Prof. Dr. (senior teaching and research assistant Japanese Studies at the URPP)
Project title: Medium as Mediation: Media and Media Theory in Japan, 1920–2012
Funded by: URPP Asia and Europe (2012–2013)
Degree: habilitation (2015)

Singh, Vijay, lic.iur. (doctoral student Legal Studies at the URPP)
Project title: Developments in Indian Copyright
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Hans-Ueli Vogt
Funded by: URPP Asia and Europe (2006–2007)

Suleymanova, Dilyara, Dr. (doctoral student Social and Cultural Anthropology at the URPP)
Project title: Schooling the Sense of Belonging: Identity Politics and Educational Change in Post-Soviet Tatarstan
Doctoral committee: Prof. Dr. Peter Finke, Prof. Dr. Katharina Michaelowa, Prof. Dr. Christian Giordano (University of Fribourg)
Funded by: Humer-Foundation for Academic Talent (2009–2011)
Degree: doctorate (2013)

Weiss, Tobias, M.A. (doctoral student Japanese Studies at the URPP)
Project title: “Fukushima” in Japan: Media System, Networks and Framing
Doctoral committee: Prof. Dr. David Chiavacci, Prof. Dr. Benedikt Korf
Funded by: Humer-Foundation for Academic Talent (2012–2015), Deutsches Institut für Japanstudien (DIJ), Tokyo (2015–2015), Forschungskredit of the University of Zurich (2016–2016)

Abdou, Noureldin, MLaw, LLM (Legal Studies)
Project title: Shari’a and Human Rights: Theory and Practice

Marti, Gabriela, lic. iur., LLM (Legal Studies)
Project title: Migrant Domestic Workers in East and Southeast Asia

Sancak, Meltem, M.A. (Social and Cultural Anthropology)
Project title: Economic Transformation, Social Change, and Surviving Strategies in Post-Soviet Rural Uzbekistan

Saral, Melek, Dr. (Political Science)
Project title: Discourses and Practices of Human Rights in the Arab Spring Countries: Islamisation or Westernization of Human Rights?
Funded by: Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship (2014–2015)

Strulik, Stefanie, Dr. (Social and Cultural Anthropology)
Project title: Politics Embedded: Women’s Quota and Local Ddemocracy´: Negotiating Gender Relations in North India