PD Dr. Nina Clara Tiesler

November 2025
Vertretungsprofessorin, Institute for the Study of Religion, Leibniz University of Hannover

2013–2025
Senior Lecturer, Institute of Sociology, Leibniz University of Hannover

Seit 2012
Affiliated Researcher, Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon (ICS-UL)

2012–2013
Elected Member of the Scientific Advisory Group of ICS-UL

2004–2013
Member of the Research Clusters Identity, Migration and Religion, as well as Families, Lifestyles and Education, and of the Permanent Youth Observatory of the Associated Laboratory of the Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology at ICS-UL

2004–2008
Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institute of Social Sciences at the University of Lisbon (with own funding)

2016
Habilitation, venia legendi in General Sociology and Cultural Anthropology, Faculty of Philosophy, Leibniz University of Hannover

2015
Submission of the Habilitation Thesis at the Faculty of Philosophy, Leibniz University of Hannover

Thesis: Etnoheterogenesis. The dialectics of hetero- and homogenization in processes of ethnic framing and membership

1999–2004
Doctorate in Comparative Studies of Religion with co-supervision in Sociology at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Hannover (Germany)
Grade: Dr. phil.; Rating: summa cum laude 
Thesis: Home and Estrangement since 1989. On the New Islamic Presence and the developmental history of Islamic concepts in European settings (in German). 
Supervision (Comparative Studies of Religions): Univ.-Prof. Dr. Dr. Peter Antes, University of Hannover 
Co-supervision (Sociology): Univ.-Prof. Dr. Detlev Claussen, University of Hannover

1987–1998
Master (Magister) course in Comparative Studies of Religion, Sociology and Political Sciences at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Hannover (Germany)
Grade: Magistra Artium (M.A.)

2015 
Teaching Award for “Outstanding Commitment”, awarded by the Faculty of Philosophy,
Leibniz University of Hannover (16^th of January)

2012 
João Havelange Research Award (International Centre for Sports Studies/CIES)

2006 
Resident Fellow at the Bellagio Study and Conference Centre (Lake Comer, Italy), awarded by the German Marshall Fund and the Rockefeller Foundation (acknowledged as an academic award; see also Research Grants)

2016 –2019
Collaborative (Verbundprojekt): Cultural Heritage als Ressource? 

Work Package (Teilprojekt): Co-applicant (with Prof. Dr. Mathias Bös) »Cultural heritage in ethnoheterogenen Gesellschaften. Zur Produktion von Historizität bei niederländischen, portugiesischen und friesischen Gruppen«, funding source: Ministery of Science and Culture, Lower Saxony. 

2013–2015 
Co-applicant (own budget, 25%) »Return Migration of Luso-descendants: a cross-national perspective« (PI: Dr. João Sardinha, Open University Lisbon), funded by FCT, 06/2013 – 05/2015. 

2012–2013
Individual Grant: Moving with the Ball: The globalization of women’s football, João-Havelange Research Grant, FIFA/CIES. 

2007–2011
Principal Investigator: Imagining Modern Portugal? The role of football in the (re)construction of communities and “Portugueseness” in six diasporic settings, in co-operation with Leeds Metropolitan University and Substance (Manchester, UK), funded by FCT (PTDC/SDE/75437/2006; 11/2007-01/2011). Rating Proposal: excellent. Rating Results: excellent. 

2008–2010
Co-researcher: Football Talent Migration from Africa and Brazil to Europe, with Football Migration Network, co-funded by ICS-UL, Associative Laboratory of the Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology.

2007–2008
Postdoctoral study: Muslim Youth in Portugal. Religion and Culture, Mobility and Citizenship, ICS, University of Lisbon, funded by FCT. 03/2007 – 05/2008. 

2006 
Case study for the Bellagio Dialogue on Migration: Muslim-related issues and policies in post 9/11 Europe: The Portuguese Case, Rockefeller’s Bellagio Study and Conference Centre (Italy), org. by German Marshall Fund of the USA, funded by Rockefeller Foundation, NYC.

2005-2007
Coordinator: Globalised Football – Nations and Migration, the City and the Dream, funded by the ICS’s Associate Laboratory of the Portuguese Ministry of Science and Technology. 

2004-2007
Postdoctoral study: Muslims in Portugal. Religion, Collective Subjectivity and Shifting Perceptions of Home and Belonging, ICS, University of Lisbon, funded by FCT. 03/2004 – 02/2007. 

2004-2006
Co-researcher: Religions of "the Others": Immigration, Religion and Identity in Contemporary Portugal, program coordinated by Ramon Sarró (Social and Cultural Anthropology), ICS-UL.

2000
Co-researcher: Islam and Muslims in the Enlarged Contemporary Europe, funded by the Forward Studies Unit of the European Union, supervised by F. Dassetto and J. Nielsen.

2018
Founding Member of the Center for Inclusive Citizenship, Interdisciplinary Research Center at the Faculty of Philosophy, Leibniz University of Hannover (https://www.cinc.uni-hannover.de/14356.html) 

2016–2020
Member of the Coordinating Board of the interdisciplinary research project “Cultural Heritage as a Resource?”, Leibniz University of Hannover (https://www.cher.uni-hannover.de/) 

2014–2021
Member of the Executive Board of the international Sport Migration Network (hosted at Aarhus University, Denmark, http://sportmigration.au.dk/ )

2014–2017
Member of the interdisciplinary research initiative Relations of Difference, Dynamics of Conflicts, Faculty of Philosophy, Leibniz University of Hannover

2009–2014
Member of the Executive Board of the international Football Migration Network

2005–2013
Member of the Executive Board of the international research network on Muslims in Portuguese-speaking Spaces, MEL-net (hosted at ICS-UL).