Arndt Emmerich

Arndt Emmerich is a Lecturer and Programme Leader in Sociology at the University of Hertfordshire’s History School of Creative Arts, and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). He holds a BA in Sociology from the University of Essex and both MPhil and DPhil degrees in Political Sociology/Development Studies from the University of Oxford. Emmerich maintains active research affiliations as a Guest Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity and Honorary Research Fellow at Birkbeck, University of London.

His research specializes in qualitative analysis of religion, ethnicity, and cultural dynamics within democratic institutions, with extensive fieldwork in India and Europe. Key research themes include:

• Governance of urban diversity and interfaith relations
• Organizational transformations in diaspora communities
• Muslim-Jewish encounters in European cities
• Islamic social movements and political engagement

Emmerich has led significant research projects including:

• ENCOUNTERS (2021-2024): Investigated Muslim-Jewish relations across European urban contexts
• Dis/trusted partners (2019-2021): Examined mosque activism during Germany's refugee crisis
• Changing Structures of Islamic Authority (2017-2019): Transnational analysis of religious authority dynamics

He received recognition as Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and serves on the European Sociological Association's Sociology of Religion network board.