Hesham Nasr

About me:

Hisham Nasr is an Al-Qasimi doctoral researcher at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies (IAIS) at the University of Exeter and is a member of the Centre for Islamic Archaeology. His doctoral thesis title is Religion in Eastern Arabia in the 6th-8th c. AD. An Archaeological and Historical Study. This research project is examining religious identities and co-existence in Eastern Arabia during the 6th-8th centuries AD, as well as the level of tolerance, and conversion rates, so as to explore how and when non-Islamic creeds fades away from Eastern Arabia, and how the archaeological record differs or confirms the historical narratives.

He received an MA in Archaeology of the Arab and Islamic world, with a Distinction from the University College of London (UCL). He studied Arabic papyrology at Princeton University and was a guest researcher at Leiden University’s project, Embedding conquest-naturalizing Muslims rule in the early Islamic empire (600-1000). He studied Coptic language, Christian Art and Archaeology at Centro Culturale Francescano Egypt. He has participated in several archaeological field seasons, at the archaeological site of Otrar, Kazakhstan (2016), in Northern Qatar, surveying early Islamic sites (2018-2022-2023), in Bahrain (2021), in Saudia Arabia (2023) and in Northern Morocco surveying the transformation of the Landscape in the Islamic Period (2017-2018).

Dr Hisham is a judge, Chevning and Fulbright Hubert Humphrey fellow, he served as an expert on international humanitarian law and human rights for the Security Council and as a legal expert for the United Nations. He holds a PhD and Master degree in Law from Washington College of Law (2011) and a Master degree in Law from King’s College (2000).

His research is supervised by Prof. Timothy Insoll

Research Unit:
Centre for Islamic Archaeology