Research Fellowship Programme

• Overview
• 2011-12 Research Fellows
• 2010-11 Research Fellows
• Previous Research Fellows (2005 - 2009)

Overview

The Institute's Fellowship Programme began in 2005. To date nine fellowships of six months or one year have been completed or are being undertaken on a variety of topics. Research areas have included: bioethics; civil society; higher education; law in Muslim contexts; networks and institutions.

• Arietta Papaconstantinou “Uncovering Memories: Archaeology and the coming of Islam”
• Marina Pyrovolaki “Remembering the beginnings of Arab Islamic rule: pre-modern ‘popular’ historiography in Arabic and modern scholarship”
• Antoine Borrut (arriving January 2012) “Remembering Karbala”

For 2011-12, the thematic area of focus is “Remembering the first century of Islam.”  The seventh century witnessed the birth of a new religion and a new empire in the Late Antique Near East.  Fellows are exploring the creation and function of memories about this pivotal turning point in world history. 

2010-11 Research Fellows

• Fauzia Ahmad | British Muslims, Personal Relationships and Identities in Contemporary Contexts
• Chloe Patton | Multiculturalism as a Grammar of Religiosity Among Young Australian Muslims

For 2010/2011, the thematic area of focus is Processes of Social Change in Muslim Cultures and Societies. The Research Fellows will address aspects of the following questions:

• How are Muslim populations in western contexts shaping, and being shaped by, Western state, legal and educational structures and institutions?
• How do Muslims living in Western contexts, from a range of ethnic, national and socio-economic backgrounds, orientate themselves to varying conceptions, meanings and practices of Muslim traditions in predominantly Western societies?
• How are religious practices used to negotiate a sense of belonging to wider Muslim communities and Western societies at large?  

Previous Research Fellows

2008/2009 Research Fellows

• Habiba Fathi | Islam, state and the transformation of the rural space in post-Soviet Central Asia: a study of the family through its exchange strategies 
• Iftekhar Iqbal | Beyond ideological paradigms: an exploration of the relationship between the secular and Islamic civil societies in Bangladesh 
• Torkis Lubis | The debate between Indonesian Muslim scholars council (MUI) and contemporary liberal Islam network in Indonesia
• Bakary Sambe | Islam in Senegal: evolution, networks and social change

Associated activities during the 2008/2009 Research Fellowship Programme included Research Fellowship Programme Seminars and an International Workshop.

2007/2008 Research Fellows

• Ali Mezghani | The anthropology of change in laws and legal practices in Muslim cultures
• Mohammad Rasekh | A critical study of the Iranian legislative system

2005/2006 Research Fellows

• Mitra K Shavarini | Success or failure: higher education reform and the lives of young Iranian women
• Ayman Shihadeh | Biomedical ethics in religious communities
• Sunatullo Jonboboev | Liberal education and strengthening of reform initiatives in humanities in higher education of Central Asia