Oliver Scharbrodt

Oliver Scharbrodt is Head of the Department of Academic Research at the Institute of Ismaili Studies (IIS) in London and Professor of Islamic Studies at Lund University. His research examines modern and contemporary Islam with a particular focus on transnational Shia communities, Muslim minorities in Europe and the intersection of religion, authority and politics in the modern Muslim world.

Established in 1977 and based at the Aga Khan Centre in London, the IIS is a research and higher-education institution devoted to scholarship on Islam and Muslim societies, with a particular focus on Ismaili and broader Shi'i studies. As Head of the Department of Academic Research and a member of the Institute's senior leadership team, he leads the development and delivery of its research programmes in Ismaili, Shi'i and Qur'anic studies, its scholarly publications, from monographs to editions and translations of primary texts, and its international research collaborations.

Before joining Lund, he held professorial appointments at the University of Birmingham and the University of Chester where he established an extensive programme of research on transnational Shia Islam and Muslim minorities in Europe.

He is the author and editor of several monographs and volumes and has published widely in journals across Islamic Studies, Religious Studies and Middle Eastern Studies. His work uses Arabic and Persian sources and draws on extensive fieldwork in Europe and the Middle East. He is also a member of the board of the Nordic Society for Middle Eastern Studies (NSMES).