PhD Studentships
The Alwaleed Centre offers fully-funded PhD studentships to the next generation of scholars working on contemporary Islam and the Muslim world.
Alwaleed PhD Studentships are announced periodically and are linked to the key research clusters which form the Alwaleed Centre's core research agenda.
Current Alwaleed PhD Students
Aurangzeb Haneef
Aurangzeb joined the Alwaleed Centre as an Outreach PhD Student in September 2014. His research is focussed on early Islamic intellectual history, including the development of hadith, jurisprudence, and tafsír in the 8th Century CE, through the life and works of Sufyãn al-Thawrí (d. 778). For Aurangzeb, understanding the formative period of Islamic intellectual history is crucial in order to understanding Islam as a whole. As a Pakistani national, he is also interested in contemporary issues of religion, conflict, and peacebuilding.
Michael Rozek
Michael joined the Alwaleed Centre as a PhD student in September 2018. His project examines two intellectual-religious developments that occurred simultaneously from the Arab Conquests through the Abbasid Caliphate: the emergence and development of Christian apologetics and Islamic law.
Farah Taleb
Farah joined the Alwaleed Centre as a PhD student in September 2018. Her research investigates the place of contemporary women artists from the Arab world, Iran and Turkey in local, regional and global art scenes. It analyses the different aspects of work by the younger generation of women artists and its relation to both Global art and traditional Islamic art
Former Alwaleed PhD Students and Visiting Students
Dr Tazeen Ali
Tazeen was a visiting PhD Student at the Alwaleed Centre from 2017-2019. Her doctoral research investigated how American Muslim women negotiate their marginal status within their patriarchal religious communities in the context of a gendered and racialized Islamophobia that questions their national belonging. Tazeen is now Assistant Professor of Religion and Politics at the John C. Danforth Center, Wahington University in St. Louis.
Dr Fayaz Alibhai
Fayaz joined the Alwaleed Centre as an Outreach PhD student in September 2012. His PhD research explored the ways in which Muslim communities in Edinburgh participate in the public sphere and aspire to contribute to the strength of the city’s social, cultural and intellectual fabric. Fayaz is now based at the Aga Khan University, London.
Dr Yahya Barry
Yahya successfully defended his PhD in 2019 with his thesis exploring 'Muslim Responses to European Far Right Confrontation' and is currently a Senior Visiting Researcher at the Centre for African Studies at the University of Copenhagen. In addition to his academic profile, Yahya is also a certified Minister of Religion (BA Islamic Theology, Madinah 2009) and served as Imam of Edinburgh Central Mosque before founding the Olive Tree Madrasah in Edinburgh.
Dr Michael Munnik
Michael was a PhD student at the Alwaleed Centre from 2012-2015. His PhD research explored the relationship between the Scottish Muslim community and the media, focusing on how the participation of Muslims in the media has changed the picture that is produced. Michael is now Lecturer in Social Science Theories and Methods at Cardiff University.
Dr Francesco Stermotich-Cappellari
Francesco joined the Alwaleed Centre as an Outreach PhD Student in September 2012. His PhD research explored the spiritual dimensions of Islamic calligraphy through a study of contemporary calligraphy masters working in Turkey.