under the aegis of Professor C. Sahner
AT NEW COLLEGE OXFORD UNIVERSITY
SOCIETY OF MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES
2026
"The Middle East sits at the crossroads of history and the frontier of change. In an era of global realignment—where power is shifting, alliances are tested, and identities renegotiated—the world's challenges and transformations in energy, security, migration, religion and technology converge here, shaping not only local realities but the destinies of nations across the world.
We ground our work under the pulse of culture, art, poetry, and language, rooting cutting-edge analysis in deep historical understanding. It is through these expressions that we find the texture of human experience - the stories, struggles, and aspirations that underpin our vision - a world in which knowledge of the Middle East empowers us to see connections beyond conflict, antiquated binaries, and ultimately forge the future."
BAHRAIN
EGYPT
IRAN
IRAQ
ISRAEL
JORDAN
KUWAIT
LEBANON
OMAN
PALESTINE
QATAR
SAUDI ARABIA
SYRIA
TURKEY
UAE
YEMEN
HISTORY
Deep Time and Continuities of Change: Comparative Histories from Antiquity to the Modern Middle East
RELIGION
Reason, Revelation, Ritual: Reimagining Orthodoxy & Orthopraxy, Philosophy & Theology in the Multi-Faith Fabric of the Middle East
SECURITY
From Nationalism to Brotherhoods: The Dynamics of Geopolitics, Extremism, Expansionism, and Sectarianism in the Middle East
ENERGY &
INFRASTRUCTURE
Fluid Frontiers: Rivers of Power and Currents of Change in Water Security, Energy Transitions and the Environment in the Middle East
INNOVATION &
TECHNOLOGY
Silicon Sands: Science, Tech and the Capital Engines shaping the Middle East
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Lives Between the Lines: Tradition, and Transformation in the Middle East
LINGUISTICS, LITERATURE & ART
Every Dialect is a Homeland: Poetry, Language, Music and the Art of Expression in the Middle East
POLITICAL SCIENCE
& INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Between Empires and Nations: State, Sovereignty, and Strategy. Great Power Competition and World Politics in the Middle East
CLIMATE TRANSITION
When Heat Rises: Confronting Climate Risk and Engineering Cutting Edge-Solutions in the Middle East
INVESTMENT
Forging the Future: Capital Allocation, Economic Transformation and Long Term Investment in the Middle East
VISION 2030
The New Middle East
Research and Analysis
We bring today’s decision-makers together with tomorrow’s, through high-signal events: interviews, lectures, roundtables, and deep networking with distinguished Visionaries and Scholars. Every conversation is designed to push critical thinking to the edge, challenge assumptions, and inject groundbreaking insights directly into research, dissertations, and theses. This is where the future learns from the present, the present gets challenged by the future and the past bridges us both.
Incubating Innovative Perspectives
We connect ambitious students with each other to launch projects, publish bold ideas, and explore untouched frontiers of research. Through opportunities for students to build networks that last, we incubate ideas that spread. And back it all with helping search for funding and sponsors so students don’t just study the future—they build it.
Knowledge Integration
We bring together diverse perspectives to unlock the rich intellectual and cultural dynamics of the Middle East. By operating at the intersections of faculties, societies, and colleges, we connect silos, expand awareness, and spark collaboration across disciplines. Our goal: build deeper connections and drive a fuller understanding of the region’s complexity— uniting a collective intelligence across the University corpus through which the region's most complex challenges may be addressed.
2024 - 25
THE RETURN OF A BACHELORS IN ARABIC TO NEW COLLEGE, OXFORD
... MARKING AN EXPANSION OF THE DEGREE ACROSS THE WIDER UNIVERSITY CORPUS
New College, Oxford
A celebration of the return of BA Arabic to New College spearheaded by Professor C. Sahner, Margoliouth Fellow at New College Oxford.
Be part of the first drop.
PROFESSOR CHRISTIAN C. SAHNER
Position
Margoliouth Fellow in Arabic at New College; Associate Professor of Islamic History
Faculty
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Contact
Leading historian, Margoliouth Fellow, and Professor at New College, Oxford, where Sahner spearheaded the creation of the new Undergraduate Program in Arabic. His cutting-edge research explores the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims across regions and sectarian paradigms, reexamining the intertwined histories of the Umayyad, Abbasid, and Byzantine Empires. He is the author / editor of four major books, including Among the Ruins: Syria Past and Present (Hurst, Oxford 2014), Conversion to Islam in the Premodern Age: A Sourcebook (California, 2020), and The Definitive Zoroastrian Critique of Islam (Princeton, 2018). His most recent research, supported by the Leverhulme Trust and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, investigates religious change in mountainous regions between Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages; in which he highlights the role of neglected Muslim and non-Muslim minorities. His scholarship has earned numerous honours, including: the Spectator’s “Books of the Year” (2018) Award, Finalist for the Excellence in the Historical Study of Religion from the American Academy of Religion and the British-Kuwait Friendship Prize for the best scholarly work on the Middle East, and winner of the Malcolm H. Kerr Award for best dissertation from the Middle East Studies Association.