Francesca Sofia Selano is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology of Leiden University. She is involved in the European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant-funded project "Entangled Universals of Transnational Islamic Charity" (2024-2029). Her research, which includes extensive fieldwork in Tanzania, explores the dynamics and impacts of transnational Islamic charities and examines how they rearticulate the category of humanity.

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She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and a master’s degree in Politics, Philosophy, and Public Affairs (PPPA) from the University of Milan. For her master's thesis, she conducted a comparative analysis of the externalization of asylum rights in the Pacific and the Mediterranean, critically examining colonial legacies and advocating for accountability in global humanitarian practices. This work included a period of research abroad at Deakin University in Melbourne.

She is an Affiliate Member of The African Studies Centre Leiden.