Dr Daftary is currently Head of the Department of Academic Research and Publications and was until recently Acting Director of the IIS. Educated in Iran, Europe and the United States, Dr Daftary is an internationally acknowledged authority on Ismaili studies. He is the author of over 150 articles and several books on the subject, including The 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.: Their History and Doctrines (2nd ed., 2007).
Dr Daftary is also co-editor (with Professor Wilferd Madelung) of Encyclopaedia Islamica, a consulting Editor of Encyclopaedia Iranica and on the Advisory Board of the Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd edition).
Professor Karim joined the IIS in early September 2009 from Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communication in Ottawa, where he was the Director. A specialist on contemporary Muslim societies and diasporas in the West, he has taught and published widely. Professor Karim was a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University in 2004 and a Senior Research Fellow at the IIS in 2005. Among his publications is the prize-winning Islamic Peril: Media and Global Violence (2nd ed., 2003), a detailed study of representations of Muslims in the media. He is also an adviser to the Aga Khan University on the establishment of a School of Media and Communication.
Within their joint responsibility as Co-directors to oversee and promote the objectives of the IIS, Dr Daftary will continue to manage the Department of Academic Research and Publications and its constituent programmes, such as Qur’anic Studies and Central Asian Studies, while Professor Karim’s primary focus is the Departments of Graduate Studies, Curriculum Studies, Community Relations, Human Resource Services, the Library, as well as Operations, Finance and Development.
The academic and administrative staff of the IIS welcome the appointment of Professor Karim H. Karim and Dr Farhad Daftary as Co-Directors and look forward to working with them on the exciting agenda ahead.
