Categories : Field-specific (academic)

Institute of Ismaili Studies
Elemental: Ismaili Perspectives on Earth, Water, Air, Fire and Ether
26-27 March 2026 | Aga Khan Centre & Online
This conference brings together scholars from across disciplines to explore how the elements have been understood in Ismaili traditions. Through philosophical, literary and artistic perspectives, the conference will examine the relationship between religious cosmology, cultural expression and contemporary environmental challenges. The full conference programme will be available shortly.
Register here to attend

The University of Chicago Shiʿi Studies Symposium Call for Papers: Ritual in Shiʿi Islam
Abstract Submission Deadline EXTENDED: March 8, 2026
Response Date: March 15, 2026
Symposium Date: May 15-16, 2026
The Shi‘i Studies Group at the University of Chicago is excited to announce an open Call for Papers for our Symposium to be held May 15-16 2026, under the theme of “Ritual in Shiʿi Islam.”
About the Symposium: The University of Chicago Shiʿi Studies Symposium is an endeavor of the Shiʿi Studies Group, established in 2010, to provide an interdisciplinary, non-area-specific forum for the discussion of research on Shiʿism by faculty and graduate students at the University and beyond. The annual symposium aims to strengthen the field of Shiʿi Studies by bringing together a group of both senior and early-career scholars to present research and to cultivate an environment for intellectual discussion and collaboration. At each symposium, we aim to address a focused set of questions with cross-cutting relevance to scholars working on various periods and from various disciplinary perspectives.
Call for Papers: We are now accepting abstracts from graduate students, postdocs, faculty, and independent scholars. We welcome papers employing a wide range of interdisciplinary and methodological approaches, spanning the earliest periods of Shiʿism up through the contemporary moment. Previous symposia have considered walāya and devotion to the family of the Prophet, the formation of centers of learning, Shiʿism and governance, and the dynamics of sectarianism. Building on these conversations, this year’s gathering turns to the practices through which institutional, communal, and theological commitments are formalized, enacted, and often contested.
Subject areas may address, but are not limited to:
The calcification and re-invigoration of Islamic law
The integration of the occult, talismans, and magic into devotional life
The development of shrine spaces to accommodate and shape visitors’ ritual practices
The regulation of grief, piety, and embodied discipline
Ritual failure, excess, and contestation in Shiʿi practice
Keynote Speaker: Rob Gleave is Professor of Arabic Studies in the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter. His research focuses on Islamic legal theory and practice, particularly legal hermeneutics, and the history of Shi’ite legal thought and institutions. He has directed a number of international research projects over the past 20 years exploring these issues. His current research projects include The Foundations of Modern Shi’ism: The End of Akhbarism and the Beginnings of Usulism” as the British Academy/Wolfson Professor (2023-2027) and SDIL: Schooling and Deschooling Islamic Law: Histories of the Madhhabs (2024-2026).
Featured Speakers: Scott Lucas is and Associate Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Arizona. His research explores the creative process by which Sunni and Zaydi scholars composed works in the genres of law, hadith, and Qur’anic commentary during the classical period of Islamic civilization. He recently published Selections from the Comprehensive Exposition of the Interpretation of the Verses of the Qur’an. He currently is working on multiple book and article projects related to Zaydi law and theology in Yemen.
Aun Hasan Ali is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Colorado-Boulder. His research focuses on the intellectual history of Twelver Shi’ism, particularly law and legal theory. His first book, The School of Hillah and the Formation of Twelver Shi’i Islamic Tradition, builds upon recent scholarship in the fields of Religious Studies and Anthropology to argue that Twelver Shi’ism is better understood as a discursive tradition.
Submissions: Presenters will be asked to deliver papers of approximately 20 minutes, followed by moderated discussion between panelists and the audience. Abstracts of around 300 words along with a CV should be submitted by March 8, 2026. Send abstracts to uchicagoshiistudies@gmail.com, with the subject line: “2026 UChicago Shiʿi Studies Symposium Application.”
Please circulate widely! For questions and concerns, including accessibility and funding, please write to uchicagoshiistudies@gmail.com. Additional information and updates will be published on our [voices.uchicago.edu/shiistudies]website.

Abstract Deadline: 15 April 2026

ONLINE Webinar “From Hidden Rooms to City Streets: Shia Rituals, Student Activism, and Public Space in Italy” by Minoo Mirshahvalad (University of Copenhagen), NYU-Roma Tre Permanent Global Seminar, 4 March 2026, 18:00 CET

This paper examines how Shia Muslims – particularly Iranian students – navigated and reshaped Italian urban spaces between the early 2010s and 2018. It explores how a marginal religious minority negotiates its right to urban presence through evolving practices of visibility, how students act as cultural mediators, and how Italian urban spaces both limit conventional forms of public religiosity, but also open space for creative and locally adapted modes of ritual expression.
Information and registration: https://tinyurl.com/4hc974ka

Open ERC postdoc position on the anthropology of Ansarallah/Houthis in Yemen. We are looking for someone passionate about Yemen and the interplay between religious authority, institutions, and everyday lifeworlds under Ansar Allah (Houthis).

Details and application:
https://www.oeaw.ac.at/jobs?jh=ul2vchzotpqsbw7khmbxjxjvga0po8c
Short project overview:
https://www.oeaw.ac.at/isa/forschung/forschungsgebiete-des-isa/naher-osten/ideology-in-context

https://oeawnr.onlyfy.jobs/job/vyzifyx8
https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/408980

Closing date: 31 March, 2026

The Life and Legacy of Ja’far al-Sadiq | At the Nexus of Islam

SEMINAR

TO COMMEMORATE THE MARTYRDOM OF

IMAM ALI (a.s.)

SUNDAY 1st MARCH 2026 – 2:00 PM

VENUE – REGENT’S UNIVERSITY LONDON
TUKE HALL
INNER CIRCLE, REGENT’S PARK, LONDON NW1 4NS

Tube station: Baker Street

Chair: Professor Robert Gleave

Robert Gleave is Professor of Arabic Studies in the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, UK. He researches the history of Shīʿīsm, with a particular interest in Shiite Law. His most recent collaborative publications are (with Kumail Rajani) Shi’ite Legal Theory: Sources and Commentaries (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press / Gibb Memorial Trust, 2023) and (with Omar Anchassi), Islamic Law in Context: A Primary Source Reader (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004). He has carried out research into the history of Shiism and the Shiite communities in Iran, Iraq and India. He is currently British Academy Wolfson Professor – and is completing a monograph on the history of Shiite law in the early 19th century CE.

Dr Reza Shah-Kazemi

Nothing but Beauty: Hazrat Zaynab and the Meaning of Bearing Witness

Dr Reza Shah-Kazemi is an author in the fields of Islamic Studies and Comparative Religion; Senior Research Associate at the Institute of Ismaili Studies; and Managing Editor of Encyclopaedia Islamica. He studied International Relations and Politics at Sussex and Exeter Universities before obtaining his PhD in Comparative Religion from the University of Kent.

Shaykh Dr Gulamabbas Murtaza Lakha

Interfaith Reflections on the Psalms of Imām ʿAlī (as) and the Old Testament

Shaykh Dr Gulamabbas Murtaza Lakha is a researcher and tutor in Psychology of Religion at the University of Oxford. His first degree in Economics & Econometrics was followed by the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and entrepreneurship, serving as CEO of an investment firm he founded in 2004. Concurrently, he earned four postgraduate degrees in Psychology and Neuroscience (including neuroimaging of dhikr practice for an MSc dissertation), Theology, Islamic Studies, History and Arabic, with an MPhil thesis on commentaries of al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya, together with papers on early biographical dictionaries (ṭabaqāt) on Imām Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq (as) and Shaykh al-Kulaynī. He continued at Oxford University for a DPhil in Psychiatry, examining how Islamic concepts and practices can inform psychotherapeutic treatments. Following religious training over two decades, he has lectured widely on contemporary Islam and was accredited as a Shaykh in 2020 by the Hākim al-Sharʿ for Europe of Grand Ayatullah Sistani.

AN OPEN INVITATION
PLEASE BE SEATED BY 2:00 PM
ORGANISER & SPONSOR: THE AHMED FAMILY – C/O MUHAMMADI TRUST (020 8452 1739)

The first lecture of 2026 in our online series, “Material Culture, Art, and Architecture of Pre-Safavid Shīʿism” will take place on Zoom on Wednesday, February 18th at 15:30 CET:

The Emamzadeh Yahya Project: Reflections on an Interdisciplinary and Independent Research Initiative and Online Exhibition

with Keelan Overton

If you would like to attend, please register here: https://universiteitleiden.zoom.us/meeting/register/MGNA8u2HT3Ca1RG5ubxtXA

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with information on how to join the meeting.

To stay updated on upcoming events, learn more about our broader project, “Embodied Imamate: Mapping the Development of the Early Shīʿi Community 700–900 CE,” or watch recordings of previous lectures in this series, please visit our YouTube channel (Embodied Imamate) and our website: https://embodiedimamate.hcommons.org/.