Dr. Ayşe Almıla Akca received her PhD at the Institute of Islamic Studies/Freie Universität Berlin in 2018 with an ethnographic study on legitimisation and authorisation of Islamic knowledge in mosque associations in Germany (awarded with the DAVO-Dissertationspreis 2019). Her research includes Islamic-religious knowledge and religious practices of Muslims in Europe, Practical Theology and ethnographic research.

Marie-Luise Frost (born 1986) studied Religious Studies, Area Studies Asia/Africa and Religion and Culture in Potsdam, Berlin, Lausanne and Oslo. Besides different freelance activities in the cultural field, she has been working as researcher in the Research Programme on Religious Communities and Sustainable Development at Humboldt University Berlin since 2015. She is Research Associate at the University of Pretoria.

Professor R. Simangaliso Kumalo is Acting Dean of the School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics and Director of the Centre for Constructive Theology at University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and Fellow of Wesley House College, University of Cambridge, UK.

Johannes Mieth is a student of Protestant and Islamic Theology at Humboldt-Universität Berlin and a political educator since several years. For RCSD, he conducted interviews in Lebanon and organized the Master Class 2023 in Botswana. He previously worked for Friedrich Naumann Foundation in Lebanon as well as for Türkische Gemeinde Deutschland, the International Federation of Liberal Youth & polyspektiv in Berlin.

Dr. Elizabeth P. Motswapong is a Senior Lecturer in Indo Religions specialising in Hindu Studies, in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Botswana. She holds:
Ph.D in Religious Studies (Hindu Studies), University of Kent, United Kingdom.
MA in Oriental and African Religions, University of London (SOAS), United Kingdom.
PGDE (RE and English), University of Botswana.

Philipp Öhlmann is Feodor Lynen Research Fellow at the University of Botswana. Moreover, he is Principal Investigator in the Research Programme in Religious Communities and Sustainable Development as well as Senior Associated Research at the Center for Rural Development at Humboldt University Berlin. Philipp conducted extensive research religion, development and sustainability in the African context. He is also the executive editor of the IN//RCSD journal Religion & Development.

Dr Tanya van Wyk is Senior Lecturer in Systematic Theology, Christian Ethics and Spirituality at the Faculty of Theology and Religion. Her current research foci include political theology, feminist theology and ethics and religion and sustainable development with a focus on gender equity. She is the Chairperson of the Research Ethics Committee of her Faculty and is currently a research fellow with the Programme for Religious Communities and Sustainable Development at Humboldt University.