Visiting researcher: Perparim Uxhi

About Perparim Uxhi

Perparim Uxhi is a PhD candidate at the Italian Doctoral School of Religious Studies (DREST), within the Law and Religion curriculum, at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Italy). He is also enrolled at the Giuseppe Alberigo European School for Advanced Religious Studies and is currently conducting his research at the Foundation for Religious Studies – FSCIRE (Bologna, Italy), under the supervision of Professor Susanna Mancini, Chair of Comparative Constitutional Law at the University of Bologna.
 

His research project and interests

His PhD project, entitled Religious Illiteracy and Religious Diplomacy: An Analysis of the European Union’s Action on the Protection and Promotion of Freedom of Religion or Belief, analyses how the European Union engages with religion within its external action, particularly when presenting itself as a global actor committed to the promotion and protection of Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB). To address this question, his research adopts the notion of religious illiteracy as an analytical lens to describe a structural difficulty in interpreting religion as a complex historical and social phenomenon. This gap between the complexity of religion and the interpretative tools commonly used in legal and diplomatic contexts constitutes a starting point for a critical assessment of EU religious diplomacy and its FoRB policies.
 

The academic goals of the research visit

One of the objectives of the DREST doctoral programme is to encourage PhD candidates to undertake research stays abroad in order to broaden the academic and methodological scope of their work. Perparim was able to fulfil this objective thanks to his research stay as a visiting scholar at the Institut d’Études Européennes of the Université libre de Bruxelles (IEE-ULB), which he carried out from mid-October 2025 to mid-January 2026.
He mainly devoted this period to in-depth bibliographical research and to the consolidation of both the theoretical and empirical framework of his PhD project. The presence in Brussels of EU institutions and specialised libraries, as well as the opportunity to attend academic events and interact with EU-related research and policy environments, proved useful for advancing his work on the European Union’s external action and its engagement with religion. Conducting research within a European studies institute also allowed him to situate his analysis more clearly within broader debates on EU governance, also thanks to seminars, conferences and book presentations organised by IEE-ULB.
 

His supervisor at IEE-ULB

During his stay at IEE-ULB, his supervisor was Professor François Foret, whose well-established and renowned expertise on the relationship between the European Union and religion provided Perparim with relevant perspectives that helped refine his research framework. Given the limited time available, interactions were brief but useful. Additionally, the administrative staff of the Institute played a key role in facilitating the logistical aspects and handling the necessary documents and administrative procedures before and throughout his time at the Institute; Professor Foret’s consistent availability and promptness in providing guidance further supported the progress of the research stay, smoothing the overall process.