Mark Niklas Cuno

Mark Niklas Cuno is a Lecturer at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Law & Anthropology at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle, affiliated with the Cultural and Religious Diversity under State Law across Europe (CUREDI) research group.

His educational background includes:

• 2018-2024: Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, State Examination in Law
• Thesis: "Unter welchen Voraussetzungen kann eine unter die gesetzliche Wehrpflicht des Heimatstaates fallende Person, die aus Gewissensgründen den Wehrdienst verweigert, als Flüchtling anerkannt werden?" (Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Winfried Kluth, Dr. Wolfgang Breidenbach)

Cuno's research bridges legal frameworks with anthropological perspectives, focusing on how cultural and social contexts impact legal decision-making in asylum cases. His work emphasizes that "anthropological perspectives enable authorities and courts to better understand the realities of the lives of people with migration histories and help to make legal decisions both more sensitive to cultural differences and more sustainable." He aims to make anthropological perspectives more visible in the field of asylum law.

His recent publications demonstrate a consistent focus on refugee protection, country of origin assessments, and the intersection of law with cultural contexts. His work addresses timely issues including protection for conscientious objectors, the situation in Syria, Georgia as a country of origin, and the Gaza conflict.

His notable recognition includes:

• DAAD scholarship for internship at the German embassy in Ghana (July-August 2022)

Cuno has professional experience as a student assistant at the Chair of Public Law and the associated Research Unit for Migration Law under Prof. Dr. Winfried Kluth (October 2019-December 2024), and as a student assistant at the German Red Cross working on the film project "Migrationsrecht für die Praxis" (March 2021-July 2022). His international experience includes a legal internship at the German embassy in Ghana.

He is affiliated with the Cultural and Religious Diversity under State Law across Europe (CUREDI) research group at the Max Planck Institute, which examines how states regulate cultural and religious diversity through legal frameworks across European contexts.