The Grant

The Starting Grant is a personal grant of approximately €1.5 million. It provides talented individuals carrying out groundbreaking academic research with five years of support for their research.

The Project: Illiberal Religious Internationalism in Africa (IRInA)

In her project, Sibgatullina investigates how global powers employ transnational interfaith networks as a key instrument of soft power in Africa. These networks – linking religious institutions, actors and discourses across borders – play an increasingly strategic role in reshaping international alliances, particularly in postcolonial contexts where liberal norms are contested. Despite the growing prominence of such religious diplomacy, its role in building international influence remains significantly underexplored. 

Sibgatullina examines how transnational Christian and Islamic institutions in East Africa participate in efforts to challenge dominant ideological paradigms. She identifies three domains where these challenges are most visible: secularism, cultural liberalism and Western-centric knowledge systems. 

The analysis is grounded in local dynamics and examines the actors, discourses and strategies through which interfaith soft power projects are advanced or resisted. At its core, the project offers a novel theoretical framework centred on the concepts of cultural solidarity and the recognition of conservative identities. This lens enables a deeper understanding of how moral and civilisational affinities are mobilised to forge new political imaginaries that transcend traditional geopolitical divides.