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The research, undertaken by Professor Ron Geaves, provides a biography of a Victorian convert to Islam, Abdullah Quilliam, who established the first registered mosque in Liverpool. The study challenges and illuminates cultural values and social assumptions concerning the origins of Islam in Britain and provides an historical narrative that can be seen to enrich and expand the cultural life of British Muslims. It also offers deeper insight into a figure who can act as an iconic exemplar of what it means to be British and Muslim. The reception of the book shows its impact upon the psychological and social well-being of British Muslims, as it provides positive self-images of their presence in Britain. The research has contributed to the quality of evidence, argument and expression in public and British Muslim understandings of integration, identity and belonging.
The research of Humayun Ansari, at RHUL since 1990, and Akil Awan, appointed 2006, examines the interplay of political, social and religious relations within Muslim societies and between Muslim minorities and non-Muslim populations. This expert knowledge has underpinned engagement with government and community organisations in the UK and abroad, often through Royal Holloway's Centre for Minority Studies (CeMS). Ansari's research contributed directly to legal changes regarding discrimination on the grounds of religion, while both have advised the British and US governments on issues relating to Muslim community affairs and Islamic activism, contributing to shaping security policy, both in the UK and internationally.
Almost everything about Islamophobia is contested, from the very phenomenon and name, to its attendant facts and the responses it calls for. This case study focuses on a research-based intervention which has impacted how key stakeholders frame the discussion of Islamophobia at critical junctures of the grassroots-media-policy continuum. Specifically, for those most actively affected by and engaged with the issue, it has opened up more robust critical modes of intervention and argumentation. The research was conceived and informed by a commitment to public engagement envisaged as a two way and participatory process with communities and stakeholders, and has influenced public debate and benefited community relations in the UK, Europe and beyond.
Professor Iftikhar Malik's research on the cultural and political history of South Asia has informed public discourse in the UK, and has been particularly influential in informing British and EU policy and practice in Pakistan. This has resulted from Malik's involvement in the briefing of British diplomats and the training of EU officials, including election monitors for Pakistan, 2007-13.
The Middle East Centre (MEC) has achieved a unique standing in providing informed analysis of the region, based on its cumulative academic expertise. It has made significant contributions to the media's and the public's understanding of political and societal developments in the Middle East. The MEC has given advice both to emerging Arab democracies on their own political systems, and to other governments on their relations with the countries of the region. The centre itself has also become a place of neutral ground, where individuals from opposite sides in conflicts in the region can meet, away from local tensions.
Yaqin's research on Muslim women's stereotyping and self-image has heavily informed on-going discussions regarding the representation of Muslims in the media and how it shapes public perception of the Muslim community and Islam more broadly. Through active engagement with the media and the public, her research findings have impacted on a wide audience, increasing awareness and understanding of how negative portrayals of Muslims are created and, more importantly, how they can be countered.
Dr Chris Allen's research into Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred has had a direct influence on the political thinking and emerging policy developments of central government in the United Kingdom. Having been recognised as a leading expert in his field at the political level, his research has helped to encourage engagement, raise awareness and facilitate public and political debate. Allen's expertise and knowledge has been drawn upon in establishing the All Party Parliamentary Group on Islamophobia, the Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group and the recently launched, Tell MAMA (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks) third party reporting initiative that was recently noted in the Coalition's new integration strategy.
Mondal's research has been of benefit to policy makers and civil servants advising government departments dealing with social integration, education and youth, and counter-terrorism and radicalization including the Home Office, Association of Chief Police Offices, PREVENT and the Department of Children, Schools and Families. The research has provided a more nuanced and detailed qualitative analysis of the attitudes of young British Muslims aged 16-20 towards religious belief, identity, politics, society, culture and inter-generational relationships. It has also been of use to third-sector and inter-faith organizations working with Muslim youth, and Higher Education courses training youth workers specialising in Muslim youth. It has also made a contribution to the wider debate in the media about young Muslims in contemporary Britain.
Since the events of 11th September 2001, Muslims have been placed at the centre of national and global debates about modernity, citizenship and multiculturalism; this research has served to promote and inform public debate about the representation of British Muslims in contemporary culture. The impact of this research takes two closely related forms. Firstly, this research has promoted awareness and understanding of the historic contribution of South Asians to British life and culture since 1870. Secondly, this research has served to bring new audiences and readers to the work of contemporary writers of Muslim heritage.
This case study concerns two forms of impact from the 2012 BBC2 television series, The Crusades, based on the research of Asbridge (www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01b3fpw): on the public understanding of the crusades; and on the creative industries. Asbridge's landmark television series, which he wrote and presented, informed public understanding of the crusades as an historical event with contemporary echoes in international political debate. In this example of one area of the School's historical research, a Queen Mary historian has drawn upon two decade's research on the history of the crusades to mediate his findings for a national and international public audience. Asbridge's series presented his research in an accessible, non-technical form to over two million viewers in the UK and to audiences across the world from Australia to Russia. In achieving a major BBC television commission to produce a series based on his research, Asbridge also made a contribution to the creative industries. The Crusades led to employment and prosperity for a television production company (360 Productions — www.360production.com/) and to the development of BBC television history.