Staff News Update
24 April 2009
Professor Muhammad Abdel-Haleem
Department of Near and Middle Eastern Studies
At the annual Muslim News Awards for Excellence the Allama Iqbal Award for Creativity in Islamic Thought, sponsored by the Foreign Office, was presented by Sadiq Khan to Professor Muhammad A S Abdel-Haleem.
Professor Abdel-Haleem's latest work, The Qur'an: A New Translation published by Oxford World Classics, has become a bestseller.
Professor Abdel-Haleem's web page.
Emeritus Professor Tony Allan
DeFiMS
Professor Allan delivered the Royal Society of Chemistry Distinguished Guest Lecture on The Future of Water in January 2009. He also received the medal of the Society marking the occasion.
Professor Allan's web page.
Emeritus Professor Martina Deuchler
Department of History
Professor Deuchler received the AAS Award for Distinguished Contributions to Asian Studies at the annual AAS conference in Chicago, March 2009. Professor Robert Buswell, the current president gave the award in recognition for her work on Korean history.
Professor Deuchler's web page.
Dr David Matthews, FRSA
Department of South Asia
Dr Matthews has been awarded the Sitara-e-Imtiaz by the Pakistan Government for services to Pakistan literature. Dr Matthews taught Urdu and Nepalese languages at SOAS for over 30 years and since retirement has taught Urdu in SOAS Languages Centre to UK and international trainee officials.
Ahmed Mukhtar
Department of Music
Former SOAS student Ahmed Mukhtar was awarded the Alhambra Award for Excellence in the Arts at the Muslim News Awards. Ahmed was presented with the award by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Archbishop of Westminster and outgoing head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales. The Baghdad-born oud lute master has performed throughout the Middle East and Europe, releasing four CDs. He has taught summer schools and performance students at SOAS, and has given a number of concerts at SOAS, including a memorable event sponsored by the AHRC Research Centre for Cross-Cultural Music and Dance Performance where he improvised to Robert Bly's readings of translations of poetry by Rumi. He is also active as a composer for film and TV, and his film score featuring Chinese, Western and Middle Eastern instruments formed part of his MMus composition portfolio.
