Gerda Heck holds a Diploma in Educational Sciences and a PhD in Sociology. She is currently working as an assistant professor at the American University in Cairo. Her research focuses on migration and border regimes, urban studies, transnational migration, migrant networks, religion, and new concepts of citizenship. She has conducted research in Germany, Brazil, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, France, Morocco, Turkey, and the US. In 2016, she conducted research in Turkey within the scope of Transit Migration 2: A Research Project on the De- and Re-Stabilizations of the European Border Regime. Recently she participated in the exhibition Chinafrika.under construction at GfZK Leipzig (2017).