Imagined Futures Thought, Art and Ethics in Muslim Societies

On Friday 26 September 2025, The Institute of Ismaili Studies (IIS) and the Aga KhanA title granted by the Shah of Persia to the then Ismaili Imam in 1818 and inherited by each of his successors to the Imamate. University’s Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations (AKU-ISMC) held their third annual Graduate Conference at the Aga Khan Centre in London. Across five panels, graduate researchers from the GPISH and STEP programmes and AKU-ISMC examined how intellectual inquiry, creative expression and ethical frameworks shape the futures of Muslim societies — from people’s action committees in Gilgit-Baltistan and digital daʿwaLit. ‘summons’, ‘mission’ or invitation to Islam. Amongst Shi’i Muslims, it was the invitation to adopt the cause of the Imamat. It also refers more specifically to the hierarchy of… in Pakistan to Mughal court politics, the didactic poetry of Nasir-i Khusraw and the AlamutFortress of the Nizari Ismailis in northern Iran, which fell to the Mongols in 654 AH/1256 CE. of a video game.

Now in its third year, the Graduate Conference gives aspiring researchers a shared platform to present work in progress and test ideas across disciplines. The 2025 edition drew on history, education, anthropology, political theory and the arts, reflecting the breadth of enquiry within the two institutes and the questions shaping Muslim societies today.

The 2026 conference, Muslim Lives in Transition: Continuity and Change in Contemporary Times, takes place on 28 September at the Aga Khan Centre and online. Registration is now open.