Dr Barbara Ruiz-Bejarano is an honorary professor at the UNESCO-University of Alicante and Chair of “Islam, Culture and Society”. She holds a PhD in Islamic Studies and her main research is focused on Muslim communities in non-Islamic societies. She is the Director of Fundación Las Fuentes. She works mainly in economic relations with the Islamic world, Muslim Friendly Tourism, policy-making, Muslim minorities in Europe, islamophobia, economic development, female and youth empowerment or regional cooperation. She formerly worked in several European programmes for research, development, cooperation and education. She is the Director of The Sources Foundation and the coordinator of the Al Andalus Medina Network (www.visitalandalus.org) and the Al Andalus Live Campus in Spain and Portugal. Highlights in Research and Development projects:
• GEN3016-102 100 Knowledge-Exchange Fund Award: “Market mediation of ethnic religious conflicts”. Strathclyde University, 2023.
• Promotion of Muslim-Friendly Tourism SMEs in Cordoba. IMDEEC, 2023.
• IPIE. Development of the Institute for European Islamic Heritage. Diputación de Córdoba, 2022
• Capacity Building “Halal Markets: Resilience of the tourism market and the new tourism trends” Programme INTERREG V A–POCTEP (Spain-Portugal 2019-2021).
• Thailand – Spain exchange of knowledge in Halal & Muslim-Friendly Tourism. Workshops. Bangkok 2018 – Andalucía 2019.
• ERC Project RELMIN: The Legal Status of Religious Minorities in the Euro-Mediterranean World 5th -15th C. Université Nantes, 2015.
• GV/2014/048 From acculturation to expulsion: religious minorities in Modern Spain. Universidad Valencia, 2014-2015.
• Christian-Muslim Relations 1900 Encyclopaedia. BRILL – University of Birmingham, 2013-2014.
