About the School of Abbasid Studies

The activities of the School of Abbasid Studies (SAS) centre on the organization of a two-yearly conference held at one of the universities of its directors or at a host institution. The conferences of the School are small-scale and by invitation only. The duration of a conference is three to four days and a maximum of twenty-six papers of 30 minutes each are scheduled. All papers are publicly discussed. Apart from the conferences, the SAS also provides The Journal of Abbasid Studies. This is a spin-off from the School’s activities and in lieu of the former publications of the School, the Abbasid Studies Series.

Directors

The SAS is lead by seven directors: Monique Bernards, Maaike van Berkel, Hugh Kennedy, John Nawas, Letizia Osti, Shawkat Toorawa, and James Weaver.

Membership

Membership of the School of Abbasid Studies is on invitation only.
Currently, the SAS contains 99 members.

Next conference

The Seventeenth Conference of the School of Abbasid Studies will take place at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, July 2026. More details will be posted in due course.

Scopus acknowledgement

The Journal of Abbasid Studies has been accepted for Scopus. The Scopus Content Selection & Advisory Board (CSAB) has reviewed the journal’s application and approved it for coverage. The editors are pleased with the Scopus acknowledgement and hope that the journal’s inclusion in the Scopus database will attract even more excellent work for publication in the Journal of Abbasid Studies.

New publications