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Mr. Sami Abdullah Almaqlouth

by Service to Islam

Sami Almaqlouth memorized the Holy Quran at an early age and received his elementary education in Al-Ahsa and Al-Khafji. He earned a bachelor’s degree in education with a major in History and a minor in Geography, graduating with second-class honors from King Faisal University in 1988. He worked in the field of education for three decades until his early retirement. He worked as an Imam and sermon in Almaqhlouth mosque in Al-Ahsa for two decades. He is currently serving as a consultant in the Atlas Department at the General Authority for Survey and Geospatial Information, and the Muslim World League.

He established (The Electronic Encyclopedia of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) and (King Fahad: The First Pioneer of Education), implemented by the ministry of education. He served as a member of the Social Sciences Curriculum Development Team for the Comprehensive Curriculum Development, and as a member of the team which authored the (Geographic School Atlases) for the ministry of higher education.

Mr. Almaqlouth was entrusted with several projects, most notably: the Atlas of the History of Islamic Preachment document for the Ministry of Islamic Affairs; developing a document on incorporating tourism and archaeological concepts into educational curricula; and the following geospatial documents: Riyadh Region Atlas, the Saudi Atlas for Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, the Holy mosques Atlas, the preliminary ideas for the King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Atlas. He also established a preliminary concept document for the Arabic Language Atlas for the King Salman Global Academy for Arabic Language, a detailed concept for the museum of the (Holy Quran and Prophet’s Sunnah) for the Muslim World League, and the (Muslim World League Atlas) document.

Among his works is the Series of Historical and Islamic Atlases, comprising 22 atlases, most notable are: the Atlas of Prophets and Messengers, the historical atlas of the biography of the prophet peace be upon him, the Series of Atlases of Al-Khulafa’ Al-Rashidun, may Allah be pleased with them, the Atlas of Islamic Conquests, the Atlas of the Wars of Apostasy, the Series of Atlases on the History of Islamic States (Umayyad, Abbasid, Mamluk, and Ottoman), the Atlas of Modern World History, the Atlas of the Crusades, the Tourist Atlas of Saudi Arabia, the Atlas of Places in the Holy Quran, the Atlas of Religions, the Atlas of Sects in Islamic history, the Atlas of Hadith Scholars, the Atlas of Tafseer Scholars, the Atlas of the Ten Quranic Reciters and their Twenty Narrators, and currently in preparation the Atlas of Fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence( Scholars.

Global translations: (English, Indonesian language, Malawian language, Urdu, Turkish, Farsi, Bangali, Uzbekistani, and currently French).

Television programs: (Ecumenical Councils in 9 episodes, Notable Hadith Scholars, Islamic Conquests, the Crusades Campaigns Paths, and Spark of Embers).

Most notable awards: King Faisal Prize (Service to Islam 2025), and the Saudi Author Award in 2015.

He was honored as a pioneer of historical atlases in the Arab world at Al-Ahsa Literary Club in 2017.

مصحف تبيان

Tebyan Quran from Liajlehum Association for Serving People with Disabilities

by Service to Islam

Tebyan Quran for the deaf is a unique achievement that aims to serve individuals with hearing disabilities to comprehend the meanings of the Holy Quran and interact with it using sign language. The project seeks to facilitate the reflection on the verses of the Holy Quran for a group that has long faced challenges in accessing the correct interpretation of religious texts due to the language barrier.

This Quran for the deaf was developed by Liajlehum Association to serve individuals with disabilities. It is the first of its kind, offering a visual translation in sign language for the interpretation of Quranic verses, accompanied by simplified explanations that make religious concepts easier to understand. The Quran relies on advanced technologies to display content, making it an effective educational tool that enhances the inclusivity of Islamic discourse and opens a new horizon for spreading the message of the Holy Quran among the deaf community.

Tebyan Quran represents a qualitative step in integrating deaf individuals into Islamic sciences, as it provides them with an innovative visual means to understand the words of Allah. This enhances their connection with the Quran and offers them the opportunity to reflect on it in an unprecedented way. It also contributes to achieving the principle of equality in accessing religious knowledge and reflects Islamic values that emphasize justice, mercy, and inclusivity.

Tebyan Quran for the deaf has earned widespread attention from scholars and Islamic institutions. It is considered an exemplary model in utilizing technology to serve Islam, reflecting a modern vision for spreading the teachings of the true religion in a way that meets the needs of special groups. This project is part of the blessed efforts contributing to the global dissemination of Islam’s message, affirming that the Holy Quran is a book of guidance for all people, regardless of their linguistic or sensory abilities.

Japan Muslim Association

Japan Muslim Association

by Service to Islam

The Japan Muslim Association was established in 1952. Every two years, directors are elected from among the Association’s members, and they manage the Association voluntarily. There are currently 15 male and female directors, each responsible for a department of administration. The current president of the Association is Yahaya Endo (11th president).

The Association organizes a number of activities and events to serve Islam and Muslims in Japan and abroad. The Association began its activity in 1955, organizing Hajj campaigns for Japanese Muslims. In 1957, Muslim students began to be dispatched on scholarships for Islamic studies abroad. The first Islamic cemetery was established in Japan in 1966 and was registered in the name of the Association. In 1968, the Association was registered with the Japanese government as a religious organization.

The Association was interested in the Arabic language, and began offering courses to teach Arabic to the Japanese in 1969. The Association’s officials had the opportunity to meet the late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia – May Allah rest his soul in peace- during his visit to Japan in 1971. In 1972, the Association published the first translation of the holy Quran in Japanese, with the support of the Muslim World League. The translation was undertaken by Professor Omar Meta, the second president of the Association.

The Association publishes a quarterly magazine called “Islam,” whose publication began in 1974. So far, 218 issues of the magazine have been published. When the Arab Islamic Institute was opened in Tokyo by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1984, the Association cooperated with the institute in holding conferences and organizing joint activities. In 1984, the Association acceded to the membership of RISEAP (Regional Islamic Da’wa Council for Southeast Asia and the Pacific) that is based in Malaysia. In 2002, the Association also joined the Japanese Committee of the World Conference of Religious Men for Peace. In 1984, the Association began establishing the Islamic Camp in cooperation with the International Symposium for Islamic Youth in Riyadh.

Having acquired greater experience and having developed markedly, the Association’s services have expanded to a greater level in favor of Muslims in Japan and abroad. It began in 2000 to issue halal certification to Japanese companies. In 2012, it supported those affected by the major earthquake that occurred in eastern Japan. The Association contributed to the interfaith dialogue conference held by the Muslim World League in Tokyo in 2015. In 2016, the Center for Islamic Cultural Exchange in Japan was opened in Tokyo. It is a multi-purpose center that includes a prayer hall, offices, classrooms, and a library.

During his visit to Japan in 2017, the Association met with the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz -May Allah preserve him. The Association participated in the “Makkah Document Conference,” which was held by the Muslim World League in Makkah Al-Mukarramah  in 2019. One of the important books to which the Association contributed was the book titled “A Brief Interpretation of the Holy Quran,” which was translated into Japanese and published by the Tafsir Center for Quranic Studies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

Mr. El-Sammak(1)

Mr. Mohammad El-Sammak

by Service to Islam

Mr. Mohammad El-Sammak was born in 1939 in Beirut, Lebanon. He studied in the schools of Al-Maqasid Islamic Society and continued his graduate studies at the American University of Beirut and then at the Lebanese American University. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in the humanities. He began his work as a journalist during which tenure he wrote about Islamic thought, authored many books, and devoted himself to developing studies on this subject, which were published in a collection of books. Besides, he gave many lectures and seminars across national, Arab, and international platforms.

Mr. El-Sammak held several positions. He worked as an advisor to the late Lebanese President Rafik Hariri. He also held the position of advisor to the Mufti of the Lebanese Republic. His work in interfaith dialogue (Islam and Christianity) earned him membership on the Board of Directors of The King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID). He was equally a member of several bodies and institutions, namely member of the Supreme Council of the Muslim World League in Makkah Al-Mukarramah, Member of the Council of Al-Bayt Foundation (Amman – Jordan), member of the Board of Trustees of Al-Maqasid Islamic Society (Beirut), member of the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies (Abu Dhabi).

Mr. El-Sammak served as the Secretary General of dialogue-based institutions, including the National Islamic-Christian Dialogue Committee (Lebanon), the Arab Committee for Islamic-Christian Dialogue, and Religion for Peace (New York).

He participated as a representative of the Muslims of Lebanon in the Synod held in the Vatican under the chairmanship of Pope John Paul II 1993. He also participated in the Synod Conference on the Middle East, which was held under the chairmanship of Pope Benedict XVI 2010. He was the only Muslim participating in that synod.

His most prominent books comprise “The Arab Decision in the Lebanese Crisis,” “Prophecy and Politics,” “Essays on Coexistence,” “The Middle East Crisis, Whereto?”, “Reflections on Man, Religion, and Politics,” “The Position of Islam in the Clash of Civilizations,” “The Position of Islam in the Dialogue of Civilizations,” “Introduction to the Islamic-Christian Dialogue,” “Religion in the American Decision-making,” “Al-Quds (Jerusalem) before it is too Late,” “Muslims and Contemporary Challenges,” “When the Muslims Occupied the Alps “, “Essays on the Dialogue of Civilizations”, “The Vatican and Relations with Islam”, “Islam and Eastern Christians”.

Mr. El-Sammak was awarded medals of appreciation from Italy, the Vatican, and Jordan, as well as many American and European dialogical institutions.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

2023 - Professor Jackie Yi-Ru Ying

Professor Jackie Yi-Ru Ying

by Science

Jackie Yi-Ru Ying  graduated with B.E. summa cum laude in Chemical Engineering from The Cooper Union in 1987. As an AT&T Bell Laboratories Ph.D. Scholar at Princeton University, she began research in materials chemistry, linking the importance of materials processing and microstructure with the tailoring of materials surface chemistry and energetics. She pursued research in nanocrystalline materials with Prof. Herbert Gleiter at the Institute for New Materials, Saarbrücken, Germany as NSFNATO Post-doctoral Fellow and Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow. She joined the Chemical Engineering faculty at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1992.

Prof. Ying’s pioneering research in materials chemistry has led to the synthesis of advanced nanostructured materials. This includes novel classes of nanoporous materials for heterogeneous catalysis, such as mesoporous and microporous transition metal oxides, mesostructured zeolites, as well as mesoporous silica with tri-continuous pore structure and mesocellular foam-like structure. Prof. Ying has also developed a wide variety of oxide and nitride nanocrystals, metallic nanoclusters, metal oxide nanosheets and nanocomposites for catalytic and energy applications.

In addition, Prof. Ying has designed polymeric and inorganic nanosystems for drug delivery, nanomedicine, tissue engineering and diagnostic assays. Notably, she has created stimuliresponsive polymeric nanoparticles that allow for insulin delivery to diabetic patients only when their blood sugar levels are high, without the need for external blood sugar monitoring.

Prof. Ying has been recognized with American Ceramic Society Purdy Award, Packard Fellowship, Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award, Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, American Chemical Society Award in Solid-State Chemistry, Technology Review’s TR100 Young Innovator Award, American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Colburn Award, International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Jubilee Medal, Mustafa Prize, Islamic World Academy of Sciences-COMSTECH Ibrahim Memorial Award, Turkish Academy of Sciences Prize in Science and Engineering Sciences.

Prof. Ying is an elected Member of World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, German National Academy of Sciences – Leopoldina, U.S. National Academy of Inventors, and U.S. National Academy of Engineering. She is a Fellow of MRS, RSC, AIMBE and AAAS.

Prof. Ying has been selected by the Muslim 500 in consecutive years since 2012 as one of the world’s 500 most influential Muslims. She was named one of the “One Hundred Engineers of the Modern Era” by AIChE in its Centennial Celebration. She was an Inaugural Inductee for the Singapore Women’s Hall of Fame. She was the Founding Editor-in-Chief of Nano Today.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

KM_C454e-20230211115933

Professor Chad Alexander Mirkin

by Science

Chad Alexander Mirkin received his B.S. from Dickinson College and Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University in 1989. He trained in chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, serving as a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow under the guidance of Professor Mark Wrighton (1989-91). Following appointment to the faculty at Northwestern University in 1991, he ascended to the rank of Morrison Professor of Chemistry (1997) and then Rathmann Professor of Chemistry (2000). He founded the International Institute for Nanotechnology (IIN) (2000). Currently, he is the Director of the IIN and the Rathmann Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Medicine, Materials Science and Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Chemical and Biological Engineering at Northwestern University.

Professor Mirkin’s research has been on the forefront of nanochemistry for over three decades. His invention of spherical nucleic acids (SNAs) has led to his development of a variety of SNA-based molecular diagnostic and therapeutic tools, and he has used SNAs as building blocks to prepare programmable matter based on the nanoparticle “atom” and the DNA “bond,” leading to new ways of thinking about chemical bonding. Professor Mirkin also invented scanning probe lithography-based tools for synthesizing novel surface-based nanostructures useful in materials discovery, cellular analyses, and other applications and delineated new routes to advanced manufacturing via 3D high-area rapid printing (HARP), anisotropic nanostructures via seed-mediated, light-driven processes, and supramolecular structures via the weaklink approach.

An author of >830 papers, Professor Mirkin was the first chemist to be elected a Member of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Medicine, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a Fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS), Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), Materials Research Society, National Academy of Inventors, and others. He has been recognized with >230 international awards, including the Kabiller Prize in Nanoscience and Nanomedicine, NAS Sackler Prize in Convergence Research, UNESCO-Equatorial Guinea International Prize for Research in Life Sciences, American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal, Society of Chemical Industry Perkin Medal, ACS Award for Creative Invention, RSC deGennes Prize, Wilhelm Exner Medal, and Netherlands Award for Supramolecular Chemistry. He served for eight years as a science advisor to President Obama.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

KM_C454e-20230211115933

Professor Dan Hung Barouch

by Medicine

Dan Hung Barouch  received his undergraduate B.A. degree summa cum laude from Harvard College in 1993, his Ph.D. degree from Oxford University in 1995 on a Marshall Scholarship, and his M.D. degree summa cum laude from Harvard Medical School in 1999. He completed clinical training in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in 2001 and in Infectious Diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 2004. He founded and currently serves as the Director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and he is the William Bosworth Castle Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Barouch’s laboratory focuses on studying the immunology and pathogenesis of viral infections and developing novel vaccine and treatment strategies. He pioneered the creation of a series of vaccine platform technologies, including novel recombinant adenovirus vectors such as Ad26. He utilized this technology to develop vaccine candidates for multiple pathogens of global significance, including HIV-1, Zika virus, tuberculosis, and most recently SARS-CoV-2. He utilized the Ad26 vector to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, which led to the Johnson & Johnson Ad26.COV2.S vaccine that has now been administered to hundreds of millions of people worldwide. This vaccine is stable without the need for subzero freezing and can be produced inexpensively, which are critical properties for a global COVID-19 vaccine. Dr. Barouch has authored over 350 research papers. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2020, and he is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Oswald Avery Award from the Infectious Diseases Society of America (2012), Bostonian of the Year (2016, 2021), Best Academic Research Team from the World Vaccine Congress (2019), Bloomberg 50 Most Influential People (2020), Global Citizen Hero from the American Red Cross (2021), STAT Madness Winner (2021), Ray Stata Leadership and Innovation Award from the Massachusetts High Technology Council (2021), George Ledlie Prize from Harvard University (2021), and Hero Among Us from the Boston Celtics (2021).

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

2023 - Professor Sarah Catherine Gilbert

Professor Sarah Catherine Gilbert

by Medicine

Sarah Catherine Gilbert received her undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences (specialising in Microbiology) from the University of East Anglia with a prize for the highest final examination marks in the School of Biological Sciences, in 1983, and a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Hull in 1986. She completed post-doctoral appointments at the Brewing Research Foundation and the University of Leicester before moving to Delta Biotechnology in 1989, working on the production of recombinant human blood proteins from yeast. She moved to Oxford University in 1994, as a senior post-doctoral researcher before being appointed University Research Lecturer (1999), Reader in Vaccinology (2004), Jenner Investigator (2006) and Professor of Vaccinology (2010). In 2021 Professor Gilbert was appointed to the Saïd Chair of Vaccinology and became Head of the Outbreak Pathogens Vaccine Group in the Pandemic Sciences Institute in the Nuffield Department of Medicine at Oxford University.

Professor Gilbert’s research has been on the development of vaccines against infectious diseases, including vaccine design, preclinical and clinical assessment of vaccines produced using viral vector platform technologies. This has included the initial development of the novel simian adenoviral vectored vaccine technologies ChAdOx1 and ChAdOx2. Her research has included the development of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) manufacturing processes and assays to allow ChAdOxvectored vaccines to be produced for clinical trials. She has led projects on the clinical development of ChAdOx1-vectored vaccines against influenza and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), with clinical trials of the latter taking place in the UK and in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In 2020 Professor Gilbert initiated and led the rapid production and development of a vaccine against SARSCoV-2 (Vaxzevria) which was licensed to AstraZeneca and is now in use in over 180 countries.

Professor Gilbert was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire in 2021 in recognition of her work during the 2020 pandemic. Her book, Vaxxers, describing the development of Vaxzevria was a Sunday Times bestseller. Other awards include the Royal Society of Medicine Gold Medal, the Princesa de Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research, 2021 and the Sunhak Peace prize 2022.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

2023 - Professor Abdelfattah Kilito

Professor Abdelfattah Kilito

by Arabic Language and Literature

Professor Abdelfattah Kilito studied at Mohammed V University, Rabat, at the Faculty of Arts, specializing in French literature.  He pursued his studies until he obtained a postgraduate diploma in 1971 on a theme about the novelist François Mauriac.

He started teaching at the Faculty of Literature in 1968 and continued to teach modern literary theories at the same Faculty until retirement in 2010. In addition to his interest in French literature, he never ceased to attach interest to Arabic literature. In 1967, on the occasion of preparing a certificate in comparative literature, he discovered ancient Arabic literature and closely studied the works of critics, including Ibn Qutaybah, Qudamah bin Ja’afar, Al-Amadi, Al-Qadi Al-Jurjani, and Abdul-Qaher Al-Jurjani.

At the close of the sixties, the movement of structural analysis of the narrative emerged, so Professor Kilito took an interest in it and read the writings of Roland Barthes, Gérard Genette, Tzvetan Todorov, and Algirdas Greimas. He then decided to devote his doctorate to ancient Arab narrative, so he registered at the new Sorbonne University a subject on the maqamats (Arabic prosimetric literary genre), focusing on the relationship of narrative with cultural systems. The thesis was published in 1983 and had widespread resonance among French Arabists, as some of them translated the texts he studied, including “Maqamat al-Hamdhani”, “Maqamat al-Hariri”, “The Tale of Abu al-Qasim” by al-Mutahhar al-Azdi, and “Doctors’ Call” by Ibn Batlan.  In the meantime, interest in “One Thousand and One Nights” grew stronger. The book was re-translated into French and tentative analytical writings were published, especially the analysis penned by André Mikkel, Jamal Eddine Bencheikh, and Claude Bremont. In this environment, Abdel Fattah Kilito wrote “The Eye and the Needle, a Study on One Thousand and One Nights” (1992). He was also concerned with the perceptions of Arab historians and news transmitters about the original language and the first poem. He wrote “The Tongue of Adam” (1995) on this topic, in addition to other studies in ancient biographies and in the literature of virtues.

With regard to Professor Kilito’s approach to these texts, he was keen on deepening his knowledge of various modern theories, while being very cautious not to be fascinated by them. In his view, this can only be achieved through a comprehensive assimilation of ancient theories, as well as familiarity with aspects of modern world literature, in order to avoid narrow-minded specialization.

Professor Kilito has been a visiting professor and lecturer at the New Sorbonne, Harvard University, Princeton University, the University of Chicago, the University of Oxford, and the College de France. In parallel, his writings have been translated into nearly ten languages, and he won a number of awards for his literary and critical output.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

2023 - Professor Robert Hillenbrand

Professor Robert Hillenbrand

by Islamic Studies

Robert Hillenbrand was educated at the universities of Cambridge (English Literature; B.A. 1963) and Oxford (Oriental Studies; D.Phil. 1974). Between those dates he worked in the Administrative Class of the Civil Service in London and began to undertake research for his doctorate. He taught at the Department of Fine Art in the University of Edinburgh from 1971 and was awarded a chair of Islamic art there in 1989. His travels have taken him throughout the Islamic world. He has held visiting professorships at Princeton, University of California at Los Angeles, Bamberg, Dartmouth College, Beirut and Groningen. From 1992 to 2004 he held a short-term visiting professorship at Leiden. In 1993 he delivered the Kevorkian Lectures at New York University, and in 2004 he was Distinguished Visiting Professor at the American University in Cairo. He delivered the Runciman Lecture at King’s College, London, in 2010. Prof. Hillenbrand scholarly interests focus on Islamic architecture, painting and iconography. He work with the following languages: German (native speaker), French (excellent), Italian (reading knowledge), Spanish (reading knowledge), Persian (colloquial) and Arabic (for epigraphic purposes). He lectured in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, India, China, Japan, Russia, Canada, and throughout Europe and the United States.

Professor Robert Hillenbrand has written the following twelve books: Imperial Images in Persian Painting; Islamic Art and Architecture (translated into German and Turkish in 2005, Danish in 2008 and Persian in 2009; revised and expanded ed. 2021); The Architecture of Ottoman Jerusalem: An Introduction; Studies in Medieval Islamic Architecture (2 vols.); the prize-winning Islamic Architecture: Form, Function and Meaning (translated into Persian in 1998 and 2000); The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque; Studies in Islamic Painting; The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. A landmark of modern Islamic architecture; Studies in the Islamic Decorative Arts; An unknown masterpiece from Mongol Iran; and Islamic Architecture in North Africa (co-author). In addition, he has edited seven books and co-edited five more. He also published some 190 articles on aspects of Islamic architecture and art.

In 2006 he was awarded the Book of the Year prize for The Visual Language of the Book of Kings. In 2008 he received the Iris Foundation Scholar’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Decorative Arts in New York. In 2013 he was appointed Ehrenmitglied (Honorary Member) of the Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft. In 2018 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Iranian Studies in California, and in 2019 he received, with his wife Carole, the Medal of the Royal Asiatic Society, the Society’s highest award, given periodically in recognition of outstanding contributions to the field of Asian studies.

A Festschrift for him appeared in 2005: The Iconography of Islamic Art. Studies in Honour of Robert Hillenbrand, ed. B. O’Kane, and a second two-volume Festschrift for him and his wife Carole, ed. M. Gibson and A. Ansari, is to be published in London by Gingko Press in April 2022. In 2006-7 he served as Director of the newly-established Centre for the Advanced Study of the Arab World, which comprises a consortium of the universities of Edinburgh, Manchester and Durham.

Professor Robert Hillenbrand was Slade Professor of Art at the University of Cambridge in 2008.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.