Notes on Authors
Beata Abdallah-Krzepkowska
has an MA in Arabic Philology (Jagiellonian University in Kraków) and a PhD degree in linguistics (Silesian University). She is an Assistant Professor at Silesian University, and publishes widely on the topic of Qurʾanic semantics, for example most recently she published a chapter on the Qurʾanic concept of soul in the book The Soul in the Axiosphere from an Intercultural Perspective. Her research interests focus on the language of the Quran, contemporary Islam and Islam in Europe. She participates in public education in relation to Islam and Arab word in Poland. Moreover, she is a research consultant for the Nahda Foundation which promotes cultural cooperation between Poland and Arab countries. | ORCID: 0000-0003-4370-8095
Katarzyna Górak-Sosnowska
is an associate professor and head of the Middle East and Central Asia Unit, SGH Warsaw School of Economics. She has a PhD in economics (SGH) and habilitation in the study of religions (Jagiellonian University in Cracow). Her research focuses on Muslim communities in Poland and Europe. She has published five monographs including Deconstructing Islamophobia in Poland (2014), and edited a book on Muslims in Poland and Eastern Europe. Widening the European Discourse on Islam (2011). Currently she is leading the “EMPATHY: Let’s Empower, Participate and Teach each other to Hype Empathy. Challenging discourse about Islam and Muslims in Poland” project, funded by the European Commission: Directorate General for Justice and Consumers, 2022–2023 as well as the Polish team in the “DIGITISLAM: Digital Islam across Europe: Understanding Muslims’ Participation in Online Islamic Environments” project (2022–2025) funded by CHANSE – Collaboration of Humanities and Social Sciences in Europe. | ORCID: 0000-0002-1121-6240
Joanna Krotofil
is an Assistant Professor at the Institute for the Study of Religion, (Jagiellonian University in Kraków). She has a MSc in Psychology, is a member of the International Institute for The Dialogical Self and a trainee clinical psychologist. She has published a number of articles and book chapters on the relationship between religion, identity and migration. In her first book, Religia w procesie kształtowania tożsamości wśród polskich migrantów w Wielkiej Brytanii [Religion in the Process of Shaping Identity among Polish Migrants in the UK], she explored, among other topics, experiences of Polish Muslim converts in the UK. Her main research interests include the place of Islam in contemporary Western societies, in particular the processes related to shaping and negotiation of Muslim identity. She has published in the Sociology of Religion, Religions, and the British Journal of Psychiatry. | ORCID: 0000-0003-2308-5329
Anna Piela
is a visiting scholar at the Department of Religious Studies at Northwestern University, USA. She has a PhD in Women’s and Islamic studies (York, UK). She previously worked as lecturer in Religious Studies at Leeds Trinity University and a research consultant with the Muslim Women’s Council, Bradford, both in the UK. Her monograph, titled Muslim Women Online: Faith and Identity in Virtual World focused on religious authority of Muslim women fostered in various online communities. Her second monograph is titled Wearing the Niqab: Fashioning Identity among Muslim Women in the UK and the US (2021). She has published articles in the Journal of American Academy of Religion, Religions, New Media and Society, and several other journals. She is a member of the steering committee of the Islam, Gender and Women unit at the American Academy of Religion. Her website is at www.annapiela.com. | ORCID: 0000-0002-3589-1822