Graduate school in Islamic studies
In December 2022, the Swedish Research Council granted SEK 24.8 million in partial funding of salaries for doctoral students within a new graduate school in Islamic studies (Islamologi). On this page you will find the latest information on the development of the graduate school.
General information
Even though it is only at Lund University that Islamic studies, or "Islamologi", is a research subject in its own right, the term “islamologist” has become established for researchers within religious studies who specialise on Islam. It is this broader understanding of Islamic studies that is applied at the graduate school.
Admission
Linnaeus University coordinates the graduate school in Islamic studies/Islamologi, in which also Lund University, University of Gothenburg, Stockholm University, Södertörn University, Uppsala University, and Umeå University take part as equal parties. Doctoral students within the graduate school will be admitted at one of these universities.
Depending on the university, the doctoral students will be admitted within one of the following research subjects: Religious Studies, History of Religions, Subject Didactics and Systematic Theology. The criteria for assessment of applications are determined by the higher education institutions. The doctoral students follow the general syllabus that applies for each respective subject at each respective higher education institution and take part in the established research environments at the higher education institution.
The objective of the graduate school is to provide an infrastructure for the admitted students in the form of collaboration between supervisors, joint courses, seminars, and other activities for the students.
Announcements of positions
11 students have been admitted autumn 2023 and one call remains, see below.
Announced positions
Uppsala university/Systematic theology TBA
Organisation
The graduate school is led by a supervisors’ committee that appoints a management team of three persons. The current management team consists of:
- Jonas Svensson, Linnaeus University
- Susanne Olsson, Stockholm University
- Jenny Berglund, Stockholm University
- Göran Larsson, University of Gothenburg
Jonas Svensson is coordinator and convener.
Other members are:
- Oliver Scharbrodt, Lund University
- David Thurfjell, Södertörn University
- Simon Sorgenfrei, Södertörn University
- Mohammad Fazlhashemi, Uppsala University
- Tomas Lindgren, Umeå University
Activities
The graduate school is decentralised. Funding of activities takes place within the frame of each respective higher education institution’s regular activities and budget, but activities are coordinated between the higher education institutions through representatives on the supervisors’ committee. The graduate school applies for external and internal funding for special activities.
Courses and seminars
Joint activities are courses and seminars, online and offline. As the admission round is international the language of tuition is currently English.
The graduate school comprises three compulsory courses that all participants study together. The compulsory courses are created and conducted by two or more of the participating higher education institutions. The compulsory courses are:
- Islamic source material and the history of Islam (historical and history of ideas perspectives and methods)
- Islam – lived and experienced (anthropological perspectives and methods)
- Applied Islamic studies (politological and discourse analysis perspectives and methods)
In addition to these compulsory courses, each higher education institution will offer eligible courses that are related to the specialist competence at hand. Themes will be worked out in consultation with the doctoral students and be adapted according to their needs and wishes.
The graduate school has continuous and regular seminar activities. The responsibility for organising and administrating seminars online and offline rotates among the involved higher education institutions. Some seminars have international participation and be organised together with the collaboration partners of the graduate school.
Collaboration partners (under development)
The Swedish research Institute in Istanbul
https://www.srii.org/
Aga Khan University’s Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations
(AKU-ISMC)
https://www.aku.edu/ismc/