The project completed all its aims stated in its 6 Work Packages (WP). WP1 was designed to efficiently and effectively publicize the research process. Accordingly, all publications were made publicly available at Zenodo (www.zenodo.org) which is linked to the project’s OpenAIRE website and CORDIS page (
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/785934). As planned, the project interviews were published by January 1, 2024 as open-access data in line with the GDPR requirements. The European University Institute (EUI) in Florence, the partner organization of the project, was selected as the location of the open data repository of the project. Along with the required metadata submission forms, 302 interview transcripts conducted by the ISLAM-OPHOB-ISM research team have been shared on the EUI CADMUS system, which is the official repository system of the EUI (
https://hdl.handle.net/1814/76159(opens in new window)).
In line with the aims stated behind the WP2, WP3, and WP4, the research team completed its (1) literature reviews on radicalization; (2) country reviews of Germany, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, city narratives on interview locations; and (3) literature reviews on our migrant-origin interlocutors’ countries of origin, Morocco and Turkey. All reviews have been uploaded to ZENODO, linked to the project’s OpenAIRE website, and published on the project’s website (
https://bpy.bilgi.edu.tr/en/(opens in new window)) administered by the project team.
The field researchers contacted potential interlocutors and scheduled, conducted, and transcribed the interviews in the four countries. After the two interview rounds scheduled in 2020 and 2021, the field researcher in Germany, Melanie Weißenberg, completed 80 interviews, Max-Valentin Robert submitted 77 in France, Merel Zuurbier submitted 76 in the Netherlands, and An Van Raemdonck submitted 74 in Belgium. Desk researcher Amina Drhimeur conducted the desk research on Morocco and the Moroccan diaspora in Europe.
In consideration of WP5 and WP6, the research team, including PI Ayhan Kaya, Full-Time Postdoctoral Researchers Metin Koca (joined in November 2020) and Ayşe Tecmen (left in November 2020), and Part-Time Postdoctoral Researchers Jais Adam-Troian (left in January 2020) and Ayşenur Benevento (joined in January 2020), targeted a wide array of audiences through peer-reviewed scholarly publications, blog posts, reviews, workshops, lectures, and social media campaigns. Since the project’s initiation, we have published one dataset, one edited volume, sixteen individual peer-reviewed articles, fourteen book chapters, five conference proceedings, forty-six blog posts, and twenty-five literature reviews in the form of a working paper, all of which are accessible in the project website,
https://bpy.bilgi.edu.tr(opens in new window). Meanwhile, we presented our ongoing work in 130 invited talks (
https://bpy.bilgi.edu.tr/en/invited-talks/invited-talks(opens in new window)) and held four workshops and a final conference with the participation of advisory board members in France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, and Morocco. To inform students and the broader academic community in Turkey, we organized a three-day certificate program entitled “Radicalization, Populism, and Islamophobism.” Our most remarkable social media campaign rests on a hashtag, #LendThemYourEars. This initiative we started on Twitter and our website aims to keep our interlocutors’ voices as they want them to be heard by the broader public.
The Advisory Board was comprised of Thomas Faist, Thijl Sunier, Marco Martiniello, Professor Constantina Badea, Anna Triandafyllidou, and Mehdi Lahlou. Advisory Board members have provided valuable insight into the local socio-cultural and political dynamics of legislation in their countries, as well as insight into the relevant legislation on social science research ethics. Finally, the ISLAM-OPHOB-ISM workshops in France, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands were led by the board members in these countries. They have also contributed to the Prime Youth Blog with their insights.
The Ethics Board was comprised of Turgut Tarhanlı, Itır Erhart, and Professor Bertil Emrah Oder. The Board members have been consulted regularly on matters regarding research ethics and personal data protection. They have also prepared annual reports submitted to the ERCEA on the progress of the Project.
