Grant secured for new Islamic law and humanities network

Professor Rebecca Gould, Professor and Research Fellow for the Islamic World and Comparative Literature from the School of Languages, Cultures, Art History and Music, has received a grant to create a network for those studying Islamic law and humanities in the Midlands.

She is working with partners from a range of Midlands universities and her co-applicant is Anicée Van Engeland (Cranfield University).

The new network will bring together scholars working on Islam from legal, literary, philosophical, and sociological perspectives, in order to strengthen existing research across universities and to forge new, more ambitious, and more collaborative interdisciplinary agendas.

Specifically, the new grant – from the Midlands Innovation Board – will result in a series of networks and meet ups and workshops at which researchers will explore the changing status of law within the Middle East, Central and South Asia, and the Arab world.

Professor Gould said: “We’ve seen an explosion of interest in topics related to Islam across Midlands Universities and beyond, particularly in the humanities and the social sciences in recent years. Yet the study of Islam and of Islamic studies continues to be narrowly conceived.

“This grant puts us in good stead to start changing this, and to demonstrate how forging new links across the social sciences and humanities can help us to address blind spots within these respective disciplines.”

Midlands Innovation is a research and innovation partnership that brings together the universities across the Midlands to work towards common research goals. 

For further information and updates, follow the project on Twitter @islam_midlands.