Middle East
Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies (IMES) is one of the leading institutions of its kind in the UK and the world.
Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies (IMES) is widely respected as one of the world’s leading centres for research and teaching in this area.
We offer programmes in Arabic, Persian, Middle Eastern Studies and non-degree training in Turkish.
Renowned scholarship
Arabic has been taught at the University for over 250 years and we have a strong tradition of academic excellence in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies.
Among the famous scholars who have taught at the University are:
- Prof William Montgomery Watt, renowned for his work on the Prophet Muhammad
- Dr Richard Bell, whose name is almost synonymous with Qur’anic studies
- Prof L P Elwell-Sutton, an outstanding scholar in the field of Persian studies
More recently, the University's Professor Carole Hillenbrand was, in 2005, the first non-Muslim to win the King Faisal Prize for Islamic Studies, which is widely regarded as the Arab world’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize.
World-class research centres
Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Centre for the Study of Islam in the Contemporary World
In 2009, the University won a highly competitive bidding process to host the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Centre for the Study of Islam in the Contemporary World.
The Prince has already endowed two centres in the US, at Harvard and Georgetown, to promote better understanding between the Muslim and Western worlds and he wanted to do the same in the UK. The two successful universities were Edinburgh and Cambridge. This new Centre is an incredible opportunity – we have the potential now at Edinburgh to become one of the two most influential institutions for these studies in the UK, if not in Europe.
Prof Carole Hillenbrand
Honorary Professorial Fellow, Professor of Islamic History
Innovation in Dubai
In 2003 the University of Edinburgh was one of three UK universities which combined to help launch an innovative all-postgraduate university in Dubai, the British University in Dubai.
Their School of Informatics continues to have close links with Informatics at Edinburgh.
- British University in Dubai
- School of Informatics, British University in Dubai
- School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh
Centre of Advanced Study of the Arab World
The University is also host to the Centre of Advanced Study of the Arab World (CASAW).
CASAW is the result of a UK government initiative to build crucial expertise on the Arab World through language expertise and advanced research methods.
The Centre is a collaboration between the Universities of Edinburgh, Durham and Manchester.
It has one of the largest concentrations of expertise in the UK, with over 50 full-time members of staff drawn from a variety of departments in arts, humanities and social and political sciences, all working on areas directly related to the Arabic-speaking world.
This article was published on Sep 25, 2011