Björn Alpermann studied Modern Chinese Studies, Political Science and Economics at the University of Cologne and received advanced Chinese language training at Nankai University, Tianjin (PR China). After graduation from 1999 to 2008 he was research assistant in the field of Modern Chinese History/Politics, Economy and Society at the East Asian Seminar of the University of Cologne. He completed his doctorate in Modern China Studies in 2006 with a dissertation later turned into the book China's Cotton Industry: Economic Transformation and State Capacity (London: Routledge, 2010). Björn joined Julius-Maximilians-University of Würzburg as assistant professor for Contemporary Chinese Studies in 2008 and became full professor in 2013. His work covers various aspects of Chinese politics and society. His most recent book is Xinjiang - China und die Uiguren (Würzburg: Würzburg University Press, 2021) which is available as open access: https://doi.org/10.25972/WUP-978-3-95826-163-1 (also in French: https://doi.org/10.25972/WUP-978-3-95826-190-7). He also co-authored “In Other News”: China’s International Media Strategy on Xinjiang—CGTN and New China TV on YouTube" in the journal Modern China, available here: https://doi.org/10.1177/00977004231169008 Within the project "Remote XUAR" he is exploring new methodologies that combine remote sensing with media and documentary analysis.

Catherine Gonzalez is a holder of a master's degree in Sociology from the Université libre de Bruxelles, and an additional bilingual (French/English) joint master degree in Transnational Migrations under the framework of the Erasmus Mundus allowing her to study in universities located in Belgium, Poland and Hungary. Catherine has worked in several Brussels-based NGOs oriented towards migrants’ integration, and more recently, she was working at the European Research Council Executive Agency as an Ethics officer. Within REMOTE XUAR, Catherine is in charge of the day-to-day management of the projet from the ULB side.

Hacer Z. Gönül is a postdoctoral researcher at Palacký University Olomouc and an associate member at the Research Center for the East Asian Studies (EASt) with more than a decade of research experience across China, including in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Wuhan and Beijing. She received her PhD from the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and was a visiting fellow at the Centre of Islamic Studies, University of Cambridge. She is one of the editors of the book Hui Muslims in China, published by Leuven University Press (2016). Her research critically examines how securitisation campaigns by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) turn the country’s Muslim minorities into potential threats, while simultaneously seeking to legitimise the CCP’s narrow definition of "legitimate religious practice". Her research interests include ethnic and religious minorities in China, particularly - ethnicity, radicalization, Islam in China and securitisation policies with a special focus on the Hui and Uyghur communities.

Hana Owsianková is R&D Manager at UP - Faculty of Arts with a special focus on the science diplomacy for addressing global challenges. In REMOTE XUAR, she is is responsible for overall organization and coordination, financial management, overview of the workflow, and reporting.

Born in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Malika earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in international relations from Ala-Too International University. Subsequently, she pursued her Master of Arts degree in Politics and Security (Central Asia) at the OSCE Academy. Since 2021, she has been serving as a lecturer in the Department of International Relations. Her research focuses on identity development in the Uyghur diaspora in Kyrgyzstan, Islamic movements, securitization theory, and policies governing religion in the Central Asian region. In 2023 she joined the project on Remote Ethnography of XUAR as an external collaborator.

Martina Miechová is project manager at the Grant Office at the Faculty of Arts, UP. She provides pre-award and post-award support to Horizon Europe projects. Her main areas of interest are science communication and intersectoral cooperation. In REMOTE XUAR, she is responsible for communication and dissemination activities in WP4 and for managing social media accounts.

Mukaddas Mijit is an ethnomusicologist, filmmaker, and artist. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at ULB (Université Libre de Bruxelles) working on Uyghur artistic reaction in the diaspora after the Human rights crisis in the Uyghur region and and a member of Remote Ethnography of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Methodology and Research Capacity Building project (Horizon Europe Grant). She was born in Urumchi, the capital of the Uyghur Homeland. She received her PhD in 2015 at the University of Paris -Nantrer researching on the staging of Uyghur dance and music. As a performer, Mijit has performed internationally and collaborated with numerous performers. As a filmmaker, she has produced several ethnographic documentary films, including “Qetiq, Rock’n Ürümchi” (2013), 30 boys : Uyghur Meshrep Project. She also wrote and co-directed a medium-length film "Nikah" about the challenges that Uyghur women face from both traditional social mores and the highly oppressive political environment in China. She made a series of video work about the trauma that Uyghurs are enduring in recent years : Hear Uyghur Voices Mijit is also a co-creator, co-director, and performer in Everybody Is Gone, an original interactive theatrical production designed to raise awareness about the ongoing crisis in the Uyghur Homeland. She is the co-creator and co-host of “WEghur Stories,” the first podcast entirely about the global Uyghur diaspora. Lately she co-edited an anthology about Uyghur contemporary and oral literature in French, published by Jentayu.

Rune Steenberg is an anthropologist researching the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Uyghurs and Central Asia. His approach is inspired by kinship anthropology, economic anthropology and narrative analysis. He has conducted extensive fieldwork in Xinjiang, Central Asia, China, and Indonesia and has published widely on topics ranging from kinship to cross-border trade, narratives, and mass incarceration. Rune received his PhD from Freie Universität Berlin in 2014 he has since worked at Freie Universität Berlin, Bonn University, Columbia University, University of Copenhagen and Palacky University Olomouc. Since 2018, he has also worked as a Uyghur interpreter for asylum seekers, activists, journalists, and human rights organizations, and has participated in producing several documentary films and reports on the tragedies in Xinjiang.

Sonya Imin is a Uyghur American PhD student researcher and multi-disciplinary creative based at Université libre de Bruxelles. Her research project explores how transformations in Uyghur exile are being negotiated through visual art and contemporary creative culture. Specifically, her project focuses on how diasporic identities are being articulated, how cultural shifts are being heightened by the realities of exile and genocide, and what narratives are being addressed through Uyghur creative arts. By looking at the dialogues around Uyghur art practices in diaspora, her research hopes to delineate specific shifts of perception and experience, areas of alignment and integration, strategies of resistance and (non)disclosure. In addition to her academic work, Sonya is one of the co-editors of the Contemporary Uyghur Anthology, a multi-lingual collection of Uyghur art, poetry, and prose. She is also working on various forthcoming art and film projects spanning across the US, Europe, and Central Asia.

Tereza Motalova works as a Research Data Methodologist at the Research Support and Policy Office at Palacký University Olomouc and as a Data Manager within Horizon Europe projects of the Faculty of Arts. While as a Research Data Methodologist, she develops and puts in place Open Science strategy at the university level, as a Data Manager, she practises Open Science, including research data management and related challenges, at the project level.

Vanessa Frangville is Professor in China Studies at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and the main founder of EASt, ULB’s research centre on East Asia. She is currently the director of the ULB’s Maison des sciences humaines (MSH). Her research interests include ethnic policy and “minority film” in China, youth culture and public spaces, cultural and artistic production in the Uyghur diaspora, scientific and artistic migration from China and the Uyghur region. She is also the co-director of Routledge’s “Contemporary Asian Societies” series. As the local PI and team leader of the ULB, she is responsible for the implementation of WP4 on dissemination.