The phenomenon of religious conversion is as old as religion itself. Indeed, all religions originate in some kind of conversion and developed from there. However, the concept of conversion is not static and thus cannot be analysed without referring to the context. In our age, the waves of globalisation, the rise in migratory flows, and modern communication technologies have boosted intercultural contacts and thereby also increased the number of individual religious conversions.The interplay between individual choices and the conditions that form those choices, both before and after the conversion, generates a multi-layered and processual phenomenon. This challenges the Christian model of conversion as a sudden and complete spiritual event. The complex phenomenon of conversion cannot be understood as a mere rite of passage. Moreover, conversion has different meanings depending on the cultural context. Therefore, this multifaceted and processual human experience should be investigated with cross-disciplinary methods, taking different cultural and linguistic backgrounds into account.This panel aims to be such a venue for encounter between different disciplines. This encounter is fundamental to create new theories suitable for understanding the complexity and variety of conversion trajectories. Studies of this phenomenon from psychological, historical, ethnographic, textual, and theological perspectives are welcomed. Reflections should be based on case studies.Chair: Minoo Mirshahvalad (FSCIRE) Speakers:Akif Tahiiev (Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity), The role of Slavic converts in the promotion of Shia Islam in Eastern EuropeAlexander Weissenburger (Austrian Fund for the Documentation of Religiously Motivated Political Extremism), Investing in the ākhira: Islamic missionary activity and the materialism of the afterlifeAna de Souza (McGill University), Limiting Conversions and Freedom of Religion in contemporary IndiaJesudas M. Athyal (Fortress Press), The Dilemma of the Dalits: The Violence of Conversion in 21st Century IndiaGideon Elazar (Bar Ilan University / Ariel University), Lost Tribes and Found Religion: The Conversion and Immigration of the Bene MenasheJulia Eitzinger (Universität Innsbruck), Converts to Islam and their relation to the Muslim Community in Austria: An Empirical Approach Katja Thörner (EZIRE), Religious Conversions in Multicultural Societies German Converts to Islam in Weimar EraLulie El-Ashry (Universität Wien), The Search for Spiritual Initiation through Conversion to IslamMinoo Mirshahvalad (FSCIRE), Italian Converts and the Reshaping of Shia Cultural HeritageRafael Ruiz Andrés (Universidad Complutense de Madrid) and Zakaria Sajir (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas), Conversions to Islam in secular Spain: the road to a new faith or the return to the roots?Ruzbeh Vistasp Hodiwala (SOAS University of London), Historical Origins and Development of the Neo- Zoroastrian Movement,Sebastian Rimestad (Universität Leipzig), Religious Conversion as Religious Contact – the “statement conversion”Tova Makhani Belkin (Ben Gurion University of the Negev), ‘They left the church and took Jesus with them’- Finding Jesus in the Bahá’í FaithVeli-Matti Kärkkäinen (University of Helsinki), Conversion and Proselytism: An Uneasy Bed-FellowshipLieke Schrijvers (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), “But I Did It For Myself.” A Critical Reflection on the Intersections of Conversion, Marriage and Mixedness amongst Female Converts in Judaism, Christianity and Islam in the Netherlands