FARIS SPM

Annika Kropf is Director of Research at FarisSPM.  She is a graduate of the Modern Middle Eastern studies programme at the University of Erlangen-Nuernberg. Annika lived, studied, and worked in Lebanon and Syria and gained unique insight into the political settings of these countries. In her doctoral thesis, she has concentrated on the political economy of Arab Gulf states, testing the validity of common economic theories in this unique setting of resource abundance, labor migration and Islam. Apart from her expertise of the Middle East, she has specialized in qualitative and quantitative research methods. Having worked and taught at different universities, military academies and cultural institutions, she most recently played a crucial role in a Saudi initiative which resulted in the establishment of a Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue in Vienna, where she was in charge of the programs. She has ample experience in publishing, designing and managing research programs, exhibitions and conferences, mostly related to the Middle East, interfaith dialogue and education. Annika speaks German, English and French and holds degrees in Arabic and Modern Hebrew. She lives in Vienna.