Sabrina Zajak

Prof. Dr. Sabrina Zajak serves as Head of the Consensus & Conflict Department at the Deutsches Zentrum für Integrations- und Migrationsforschung (DeZIM-Institut) and holds an adjunct professorship at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Ruhr University Bochum. A founding member of the Institute for Protest and Movement Research (ipb), she also serves on the board of Research Committee 47, 'Social Movements and Social Classes,' of the International Sociology Association. Her academic trajectory includes significant positions at Humboldt University Berlin, the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies Cologne, and the Social Science Center Berlin (WZB).

Zajak's research centers on political sociology with dual emphases on consensus and conflict dynamics in plural societies. Her consensus research examines civil society engagement, refugee assistance networks, alliance formation, and everyday solidarity practices, while her conflict research analyzes protest movements, diversity challenges, and discrimination patterns. She has pioneered studies on transnational civil society alliances, particularly examining how social movements navigate national boundaries and build cross-border solidarity.

Her recent publications reveal a decisive shift toward analyzing intersectional dynamics of race, migration, and social movements in European contexts. With significant attention to the Black Lives Matter movement's reception in Germany, her work demonstrates how global racial justice movements are adapted to local contexts. Her research increasingly addresses civil society responses to refugee crises, examining both supportive engagement and exclusionary practices, while also investigating structural barriers to diversity in German federal administration and cultural institutions.

As a prolific academic leader, Zajak has served as (co-)editor for special journal issues including Development and Change (2017), Industrial Relations (2018), Social Movement Studies (2021), Competition and Change (2020), Moving the Social (2020), and European Cultural and Political Sociology (2022). Her department currently manages over 20 active research projects spanning discrimination experiences in Saxony, diversity in federal administration, Muslim youth association work, and violence protection in refugee accommodations, demonstrating the breadth and policy relevance of her research agenda.