Luay Niedermayr

Luay Niedermayr is a Ph.D. candidate in Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Cologne. He began his academic path in anthropology through European Ethnology at Humboldt University of Berlin. His research explores queer Syrian Muslim experiences, focusing on journeys of coming out, moral change, and embodied life in contexts of displacement. Drawing on autoethnography, he engages with tensions between belonging, hope, suffering, and the pursuit of a good life. He has presented his research at international venues, including EASA 2024, DGSKA 2023, the University of Cambridge, the University of Zurich, the University of Nantes, LMU Munich, and the University of Bergen. His chapter, “Betwixt Prayers and Dances: An Autoethnography on Agency, Performativity, and Disoriented Spaces,” appears in the edited volume Embracing Faith and Desire. In 2026, he became a member of the Working Group for Public Anthropology (WGPA) of the European Association of Social Anthropologists. Beyond academia, he is active in community-based initiatives as a speaker and co-coordinator of events on gender, migration, and diaspora issues, fostering connections between Syrian Meem-Ain (LGBTQ+) groups and NGO projects while bridging scholarship and social engagement.