Encounters’ final event in Berlin brings to a close a 3-year ORA Joint Research Project on intercultural, interethnic and interreligious encounters of Muslims and Jews in urban Europe. Researchers from Germany, France and UK, will share the results of their analysis and fieldwork on the specificities of and commonalities between Muslim-Jewish encounters in Berlin and Frankfurt, Paris and Strasbourg, London and Manchester, shaped by different national histories of integration including the place of religion in social and political life.

The main event of the meeting will be a Keynote Session held on Thursday, 12^th of October, at Humboldt University.

Dr. Ben Gidley (Birkbeck, University of London) will give an overview of the project, which draws on ethnography, interviews, media research, policy research and a quantitative survey with the aim of understanding various aspects of intercultural and interfaith encounters in six cities in Germany, France and the UK.

Dr. Elisabeth Topkara (Max-Weber-Institute-for-Sociology, Heidelberg University) will talk about Berlin – a city, which has provided Muslims and Jews with a place for the articulation of sociocultural belonging, in addition to and at times in contrast with the nation.

The session will be supported by an opening word from Ufuk Topkara (Berlin Institute for Islamic Theology, Humboldt University), opening response from Esra Ozyurek (Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge), and subsequent Q&A session from Steven Vertovec (Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity).