Birgit Meyer (born 21 March 1960) is a German professor of religious studies at

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...

Career

Meyer was born on 21 March 1960 in

Emden Emden () is an independent city and seaport in Lower Saxony in the northwest of Germany, on the river Ems. It is the main city of the region of East Frisia and, in 2011, had a total population of 51,528. History The exact founding date of E ...

, Germany. She studied comparative religion, pedagogy, and cultural anthropology at the

University of Bremen The University of Bremen (German: ''Universität Bremen'') is a public university in Bremen, Germany, with approximately 23,500 people from 115 countries. It is one of 11 institutions which were successful in the category "Institutional Strategi ...

and the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

. She earned her PhD at the latter university in 1995 under doctoral advisors J. Fabian and H.U.E. Thoden van Velzen, with a thesis titled: ''Translating the Devil. An African Appropriation of Pietist Protestantism. The Case of the Peki Ewe, 1847–1992''. She was appointed as professor of religious studies at

in 2011. She previously spent over 20 years living in Ghana studying

Pentecostalism Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

and religious change. Meyer has been a member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...

since 2007. In April 2015 Meyer won the Academy Professors Prize of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and received a 1 million euro grant. In 2015 she was one of four winners of the Dutch

Spinoza Prize The Spinoza Prize ( nl, Spinozapremie) is an annual award of 2.5 million euro, to be spent on new research given by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The award is the highest scientific award in the Netherlands. It is named after the philosopher ...

and received a 2.5 million euro grant.

References

External links

Profile at Utrecht University

Research Website ''Religious Mattes''
1960 births Living people Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences People from Emden Religious studies scholars Spinoza Prize winners University of Amsterdam alumni University of Bremen alumni Utrecht University faculty {{reli-studies-bio-stub