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Dr Nadia Eboo-Jamal��sits on the Board of Governors at 51�Թ��� (IIS). She is a lecturer, historian, and author who focuses broadly on the history of Muslim societies. In her monograph,��Surviving the Mongols: Nizārī Quhistānī and the Continuity of Ismaili Tradition in Persia��(2002), Dr Jamal presents the tenacity of the Persian IsmailisAdherents of a branch of Shi’i Islam that considers Ismail, the eldest son of the Shi’i Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq (d. 765), as his successor. in facing the ruthless Mongol attacks. She describes the complex network of the 13th century CE Ismaili daʿwa as an enabling force for the community and follows Nizāri Quhistānī’s travelogue from Quhistān to Transcaucasia around 1280. This analysis substantiated the existence of the Ismaili daʿwa and, thus, the continuity of the Ismaili tradition in Persia through the era of Mongol rule.�� In recent years, Dr Eboo-Jamal has contributed significantly to the development of religious education curricular materials at the IIS.

Dr Shainool Jiwa��specialises in Fatimid studies and is an Associate Professor at the IIS. She also serves as a General Editor for the Living Ismaili Traditions series as well as the��World of Islam series, for which she has authored two accessible publications,��The Fatimids 1: The Rise of a Muslim Empire��(2017) and��The Fatimids 2: The Rule from Egypt��(2023). In 2015, she co-edited��The Shi‘i World: Pathways in Tradition and Modernity, a comprehensive collection of perspectives about Shiʿi communities worldwide and how they view themselves and articulate their teachings. In 2017, she co-edited another masterpiece,��The Fatimid Caliphate: Diversity of Traditions, which offered valuable insight into the policies of tolerance established by the Fatimid Imam-caliphs towards the various religious and ethnic communities who occupied their vast empire over two centuries.�� Dr Jiwa continues to teach on the Institute’s graduate programmes as well as other episodic training initiatives.

Dr Tazim Kassam��is an Associate Professor at Syracuse University, Department of Religion. Her research and teaching interests include gender, ritual, devotional literature, syncretism, and the cultural heritage of Muslims, particularly in South Asia. In her book����(1995), she explores the��ginan��tradition of the Ismaili Muslims of the Indian Subcontinent as they emerge through the synchronicities of Hindu-Muslim ideas. She also co-edited��, in which the Satpanth Ismaili Muslims of South Asia are spotlighted as a small Shi’a community that spread from India to other continents while maintaining identity through their devotional literary tradition.

Emerita Professor Zayn Kassam��is the Director of the IIS and Head of the Department of Academic Research and Publications. She has expertise in and taught courses on gender, environment, and community engagement in addition to her specialisations in Islam, methods in the study of religions,��Sufism, and Islamic philosophy. She is the author of��������������(2005), the editor of��Women and Islam (2010) and ��(2017), amongst several other critical encyclopaedia and journal articles. Her book chapter on����(2016) examines how American Muslim migrants navigate the transition of cultural, political, social, and religious landscapes through religion and religious identity. She draws attention to religious identity as a dynamic phenomenon, undergoing perpetual construction and reconstruction in response to, and through interaction with, the broader public sphere. Professor Kassam has received several awards for distinguished teaching. In addition, she has served on the board of the American Academy of Religion, as Co-editor of the����and is on the editorial board for the��.

Dr Shenila Khoja-Moolji��is an Associate Professor of Muslim Societies at Georgetown University. Her research interests involve Muslim populations in South Asia and the North American diaspora from the lens of gender, race, religion, and power in transnational contexts. Her books, entitled�� ��(2018) and����(2021) received several high-calibre awards. Her latest book,  ��(2023) is a tribute to the transnational lives of Ismaili Muslim women and their journeys from colonial India to East Africa and then to North America. Dr Khoja-Moolji writes women into history as heroines and catalysts of community-building through their everyday interaction and interests in each other, no matter where they live.

Dr Arzina Lalani��served as a researcher, writer, and lecturer at the IIS. In her monograph,��Early Shī‘ī Thought: The Teachings of Imam Muḥammad al-Bāqir��(2000), which won prestigious literary awards and has been translated into several languages, Dr Lalani explores��Imam��al-Bāqir’s pivotal contributions during the formative period of Islamic thought. These contributions influenced the development of Shīʿī law, theology, and religious practice. The study draws particular attention to the formulation of the Shīʿī doctrine of imamate, in light of the political backdrop of Islam a century after the passing of the Prophet. Dr Lalani is also the editor and translator of a new Arabic edition and English translation of Aḥmad b Ibrāhīm al-Naysābūrī’s Kitāb ithbāt al-imāma, published by the IIS as��Degrees of Excellence: A Fatimid Treatise on Leadership in ������������(2009). Beyond this, she has published numerous journal articles as well.

Dr Gurdofarid Miskinzoda��is the Head of the Shi‘i Studies Unit at the IIS. Her areas of focus are Muslim historical and literary tradition, Shiʿi Islam, History of Islam until 17th century, Classical Arabic and Persian Literature. She co-edited��The Study of Shiʿi Islam: History, Theology and Law��(2014), a collection of papers organised under the themes of history, the Qurʾan and its Shiʿi interpretations, ḥa��ī�ٳ�Lit. ‘report’ or ‘narrative,’ used for the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad and in Shi‘i Islam also for those of the Imams., law, authority, theology, rites and rituals, and intellectual traditions and philosophy. She has two forthcoming titles: a monograph entitled��Identity, doctrine and the writing of history, and��Narratives of the Life of Muhammad: Redefining��Sīra��Literature. In addition to having published several journal and encyclopaedia articles, Dr Miskinzoda also teaches on IIS’ graduate programmes.

Zawahir Moir��(d. 2024), whose efforts towards the Ismaili scholarship pre-date the establishment of the IIS, was a scholar of��Khojki script, South Asian Ismaili traditions, and Gināns. Her seminal work in cataloguing the Khojki manuscripts created pathways for future����������Ծ�����scholars to pursue their academic search, thereby enriching the overall study of Ismaili devotional literature. Her publications shed light on the work and context of the Satpanth pirs (saint-teachers), and the circumstances that led to the migration of the first Aga Khan to India. She co-authored����(2001), which was a groundbreaking intervention in the study of the Satpanth literature. Zawahir’s contributions have left an indelible mark on the study of the Indian Ismaili tradition.

Dr. Nacim Pak-Shiraz��sits on the Board of Governors at the IIS. She is the head of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Her areas of inquiry include visual cultures, constructions of masculinity, and the engagement of religion and film. In her book,����(2018), she showcases how the Iranian film directors impress upon the religious and historical narratives of culture and society. Through her inquiry, she has created a curiosity and dialogue in the public arena about the various ways that Shi’ism is represented on screen, what avenues the medium of film offers the Iranian society, and how films provide a platform to express Iranian and Muslim identities after three decades under Islamic rule.