Research: Islamic studies

We have an outstanding international reputation in the study of Islam, including contemporary Muslim society; women and Islam; Muslims in Europe; Islamic philosophy; and Christian-Muslim Relations.

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi by Eesa Latif

Staff with a research and supervision interest in the area of Islamis studies.

Dr Ali-Reza Bhojani

Dr Ali-Reza Bhojani

Teaching Fellow in Islamic Ethics and Theology

I study and teach Islamic ethics, theology and legal theory bringing together multi-disciplinary approaches to an engagement with Islamic intellectual traditions and how they relate to contemporary questions regarding religion and public life.

Dr Katherine Brown

Dr Katherine Brown

Reader in Religion and Global Security

Gendered politics, especially the securitisation, of religion in the contemporary world; gender and jihadi ideologies; the impact of counter-terrorism efforts on religious women’s rights and Muslim communities.

Professor Jocelyne Cesari

Professor Jocelyne Cesari

Professor of Religion and Politics

Interactions between religion and politics across different traditions and cultures with a particular focus on democracy, secularization and toleration.

Dr Yafa Shanneik

Dr Yafa Shanneik

Lecturer in Islamic Studies

Dynamics and trajectories of gender in Islam within the context of contemporary diasporic and transnational Muslim women’s spaces.

Dr Richard Todd

Dr Richard Todd

Lecturer in Islamic Studies

Pre-modern Islamic thought, especially philosophy, theology and Sufism

Dr Sophia Vasalou

Dr Sophia Vasalou

Associate Professor of Philosophical Theology

Islamic ethics, particularly forms of Islamic ethics with a strong rationalist edge; the complex phenomenon of wonder and the many conceptual threads that meet on its grounds-intellectual, spiritual, ethical, aesthetic.

Research

The Centre for Islamic and Middle-Eastern Studies
The Birmingham Centre for Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies specialises in Islam as a spiritual and historical reality, and the contemporary Middle East. The Centre is based in Theology and Religion but benefits from close connections with our other schools and departments that have expertise in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, as well as forging links with centres with similar interests across the UK and throughout the world. Vist centre website

Christian-Muslim Relations 1500-1900 (CMR1900)
Christian-Muslim Relations 1500-1900 (CMR1900) traces the history of relations between the followers of the world’s two most populous religions in the early modern and modern period. Visit project website

Theology and Religion research specialisms