Anne Fornerod is a director of research at the CNRS, attached to the UMR Law, Religion, Business and Society (UMR 7354 DRES) at the University of Strasbourg.

She co-leads the project AMI-SHS ReligiS- Religions et sociétés face aux défis contemporains (University of Strasbourg, 2025-2031)

Her research focuses on religious law, which consists of studying the legal framework governing religion in contemporary societies. She conducts research on the legal regime governing religious heritage, whether in terms of its future or the relationship between the religious and cultural uses of these immovable and movable assets. She is also interested in freedom of religion, whether in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, in the form of spiritual assistance in public services, or in its relationship with freedom of expression. In the French context, she also works on the legal framework of Islam. Finally, she regularly works on the variations of the principle of secularism in French law.

CV 

University Education

2015 Postdoctoral Habilitation (University of Strasbourg)

2006 PhD in public law (Paris-Sud University)

Profession Education

2021 Director of research at CNRS (2nd class)

2011 Research fellow at CNRS (1st class)

2010-2011 Postdoctoral project RELIGARE (FP7, 2010-2013)

2006-2008 Postdoctoral research at CNRS (UMR 7012 PRISME, CNRS / University of Strasbourg)

Professional experience

Co-head of the internal Rights and Religions team at UMR 7354 DRES

2021-2025: Member of Section 36 of the National Committee of the CNRS

2023-2028: Collaborator at COLIBEX – France-Quebec Research Chair on Contemporary Issues in Freedom of Expression

2020-2028: Co-head of the research area Constructions de la société européenne in the Institut Thématique Interdisciplinaire (ITI) MAKErS

2018-2022: Member of the research council of the Maison Interuniversitaire des Sciences de l’Homme – Alsace (MISHA)

Member of research society Religioni, diritti ed Economie nello Spazio Mediterraneo (REDESM)

Member of the Consortium européen des recherches sur les relations Églises-État

Participation in research projects

2023-2024: Islam et droit des services publics, led by OMIJ (University of Limoges), financed by the Bureau central des cultes

2023-2027: Head of a working group within the ANR project Just Moral (led by UMR DCS)

2019-2022: Les géométries variables de l’aumônerie musulmane. Comparaison interinstitutionelle, financed by the Bureau central des cultes

2019-2023: Interactive Atlas of religious or belief minority rights and claims in the EU countries (dir. Silvio Ferrari, Fondazione per le scienze religiose Giovanni XXIII, Bologne)

2011-2022: Mémoloi project, coordinated by the Centre d’Études sur la Coopération Juridique Internationale (CECOJI) on the memory of major heritage protection laws, in conjunction with the Directorate General of Heritage and the History Committee of the Ministry of Culture

2010-2013: RELIGARE – Religious diversity and secular models in Europe-Innovative approaches to law and policy, Projet Européen financé par la Commission Européenne (7ème PCRD)

Selection of publications

• Les géométries variables de l’aumônerie musulmane. Comparaison inter-institutionnelle : prison, armées, hôpital (avec C. Béraud, C. de Galembert, B. Farhat), PUAM, coll. Droit et religions, 2024, 278 p.
• La liberté de religion en question(s) (dir.), Larcier, Bruxelles, 2022, 212 p.
• Le pluralisme religieux dans les cimetières en Europe (dir.), Strasbourg, PUS, 2019, 299 p.
• Annotated Legal Documents on Islam in Europe: France, Leiden, Brill, 2016, 192 p.
• Funding religious heritage (ed.), Farnham, Ashgate, 2015, 224 p.
• Le régime juridique du patrimoine religieux, Paris, L’Harmattan, collection Droit du patrimoine culturel et naturel, 2013, 512 p.
• Assistance spirituelle dans les services publics (dir.), Strasbourg, PUS, 2012, 198 p.
• Liberté de religion et liberté d’expression, Revue du droit des religions, 20/2025 (coord. dossier thématique)
• Les enjeux contemporains du patrimoine culturel religieux, Revue du droit des religions, 3/2017 (coord. dossier thématique)