Ivo Gruev is a senior researcher and lecturer at the Academy for European Human Rights Protection, University of Cologne. His comparative constitutional research explores the role of constitutional histories, texts, and courts within societies and political regimes undergoing transitions from or into authoritarian rule. Gruev’s current work focuses on the relationship between democracy, organized majority / (de facto) state religion, and constitutional identities and interpretation. In 2023, he was awarded a CIVICA research grant under the EU Horizon 2020 program to investigate religion-based challenges to fundamental rights in Central and Eastern European constitutional courts. Prior to joining the Academy for European Human Rights Protection, Gruev was a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Fundamental Rights of the Hertie School in Berlin. He has also held visiting fellowships at the University of New South Wales and the European University Institute and has taught at the University of Oxford and Sciences Po (France). Gruev holds a doctorate and a Magister Juris (LLM) from the University of Oxford, as well as a law degree from the Humboldt University in Berlin.