Our Research
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The Department of Near and Middle Eastern Studies is home to two research centres: The Al Maktoum Centre for Middle Eastern Studies and the Herzog Centre for Jewish and Near Eastern Religions and Culture. It is also home to a European Research Council funded project directed by Prof. Mohammed Ahmed: Arabic Poetry in the Cairo Genizah.
Staff research interests include:
- Modern Middle East and North Africa: Politics, History, Society and Culture
- Medieval Middle East, with an particular interest in Jewish-Arab cultural engagement
- Islamic Studies, including Islam and gender, Islamic feminisms and human rights
- Jewish Studies, including Holocaust Studies and Jews in Modern Ireland
- Hebrew Bible, Israelite and Judean History; Early Judaism, Reception of Hellenistic Judaism; Ancient Near Eastern Empires
- Assyriology and History of Egypt
- Ottoman Studies and Turkish Cultural History
We have hosted a significant number of international workshops and conferences while also offering regular research seminars with visiting academics. The research undertaken by our staff members is essentially interdisciplinary intersecting with a number of areas across the Humanities. Two members of staff are involved with the Centre for Mediterranean and Near Eastern Studies and have worked on projects and publications with Classicists, Ancient Historians and Near Eastern Archaeologists. Currently one member of staff is working with modern cultural historians in European universities for a reception history project. The Lecturer in Islamic civilizations has research projects with scholars in the areas of Near and Middle Eastern Studies, International Law, Gender Studies and Human Rights.
We are involved in research projects with international partners in Europe, the Middle East and North America. These links bring in a steady flow of visiting scholars who contribute to research seminars for staff and post-graduate students. This also provides mobility for both staff and post-graduate students. Academics in this Department also serve on, or Chair, the executive committees and Boards of International academic societies.