News & Events

From 20–22 May 2026, the Centre for Law, Religion and Society and the ERC-funded BILQIS Project, School of Law, University of Galway, took part in a research retreat and international workshop in Sarajevo, hosted by the Faculty of Islamic Studies, University of Sarajevo.

The workshop, Muslim Women’s Access to Justice in the Balkans: Historical Trajectories, Legal Pluralism, and Contemporary Challenges, brought together the full BILQIS team and invited scholars and practitioners from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Across five panels, speakers examined Muslim women’s access to justice through historical and contemporary perspectives, including Ottoman and post-Ottoman legal frameworks, Islamic family law, marriage, divorce, inheritance, fatwa practice, religious authority, minority rights, European human rights law, and the relationship between Sharia and civil law.

The gathering also included an internal BILQIS retreat focused on agency, authority, power, positionality, comparative research, and future project directions.

For CLRS, the Sarajevo workshop formed part of the Centre’s wider commitment to supporting international, interdisciplinary research on the relationship between law, religion and society. It also strengthened collaboration with the Faculty of Islamic Studies, University of Sarajevo, and created space for further exchange across Bosnian, Balkan and wider European contexts.

CLRS and BILQIS warmly thank Professor Mustafa Hasani, Dean of the Faculty of Islamic Studies, Professor Ahmet Alibašić, and colleagues at the Faculty for their generous hosting and intellectual engagement.

A fuller account of the workshop, including details of the panels, speakers and its significance for BILQIS research, is available on the  BILQIS ERC project website.