Arina den Besten obtained bachelor’s degrees in Econometrics and Economics in Rotterdam after which she enrolled in the master’s program Theology and Religious Studies at the VU, simultaneously with a master’s program in Econometrics. Arina will be involved in the Extreme Beliefs project as an intern by writing her master’s thesis about the role of economical factors in explaining fundamentalism. She will investigate whether the popular narrative that people who suffer from poverty are more likely to develop and maintain fundamentalist beliefs is true.