Officers

BRAIS is managed by a group of elected Officers based at leading Higher and Further Education institutions across the UK.

Chair: Dr Ayman Shihadeh, SOAS, University of London

Discipline: Medieval Intellectual History

Academic Interests: Ayman is an intellectual historian specialising in medieval philosophy and theology.

For more information about Ayman please click HERE.

Secretary: Professor Seán McLoughlin, University of Leeds

Discipline: Anthropology and Sociology of Islam and Muslim Diasporas

Academic Interests: Religion, ethnicity, diaspora, identity. All aspects of the Muslim (and the South Asian heritage) presence in Britain. Ethnography of contemporary Muslim societies.

For more information about Seán please click HERE.

Acting Treasurer/Membership Officer: Dr Saeko Yazaki, University of Glasgow

Discipline: Theology and Religious Studies

Academic Interests: Mystical and epistemological dimensions of religion, Muslim-Jewish relations, Comparison between monotheistic and non-monotheistic faiths, Theories and practices in Sufism, Shinto and Buddhism, Concept of purification in belief, Doubts in faith, Methodological issues in religious studies.

For more information about Saeko please click HERE.

Web Officer: Dr Omar Anchassi, University of Exeter

Discipline: Islamic Studies

Academic Interests: Islamic Law (formative to modern periods), particularly questions of violence, gender and sexuality, Islamic intellectual history in the modern period, Qur'anic commentary.

For more information about Omar please click HERE.