Post-Doctoral Fellows

Lydia Harrington 
PhD Boston University
In MIT residence 09/01/2022 – 5/31/2023
Topic: 
Vocational Schools and Shifting Arts and Crafts Pedagogy in the Late Ottoman Empire

Semra Horuz
In MIT residence 09/01/2023 – 5/31/2023
Topic: 
Ottoman Tour d’Europe: Architecture, Urbanism, and Late Ottom

G M A Balayet Hossain

In MIT residence 9/1/2023-12/31/2023

Topic:

A Lost Image of the ancient city of Old  Dhaka that integrates Islamic Urbanism with water.

2024

Roberto Fabbri

Zayed University, College of Arts and Creative Enterprises, UAE

In MIT residence 2/1/2024 – 6/30/2024

Topic:

Nomadic Narratives. Architectural Transplants

Nadi Abusaada 
University of Cambridge
In MIT residence 09/01/2021 – 5/31/2022
Topic: 
Founding the Profession: Arab Architects and the Making of the Modern Arab World

Hakim Sameer Hamdani  
School of Planning & Architecture, New Delhi
In MIT residence 09/01/2021 – 5/31/2022
Topic: 
Constructing Spaces of Worship:
Understanding Muslim Places of Faith in 19th Century Kashmir as Representatives of a Native Identity

Majdi Faleh
University of Melbourne
In MIT residence 09/01/2019 – 12/31/2019
Topic: 
Reconstructing National Identity
in the Context of Colonialism, Dictatorship, and Globalization

Atri Hatef Naiemi
University of Victoria
In MIT residence 09/01/2019 – 12/31/2019
Topic: 
The Mongol City of Ghazaniyya: Destruction, Spatial Reconstruction,
and Conservation of the Urban Heritage
Article

Nada Moumtaz
University of Toronto
In MIT residence 09/01/2019 – 05/31/2020
Topic: 
Horizons of Trust: Islamic Endowments and Postwar Reconstruction in Beirut

Ahmad Sukkar
Orient-Institut Beirut / Arab Reform Initiative
In MIT residence 09/01/2019 – 05/31/2020
Topic: 
Post-secular Syrian Space? Madani (Civil) vs Islami (Islamic) vs ‘Ilmani (Secular)

Al Kindi al-Jawabra
Barker Langham Cultural Consultancy
MIT Residency not fulfilled
02/01/2019 – 05/31/2019
Topic:
Heritage, Conflict and Reconstructions: From Reconstructing Monuments to Reconstructing Societies

Allison Cuneo
Cultural Property Consultants, LLC
In MIT residence 09/02/2018 – 05/31/2019
Topic: 
Disentangling the political constraints and societal consequences of post-conflict archaeological heritage management in Iraq

Deen Sharp
CUNY
In MIT residence 09/03/2018 – 06/01/2019
Topic: 
Reconstructing Violence

Amine Kasmi
University of Tlemcen
In MIT residence 02/01/2018-05/31/2018
Topic:
Rebuilding Abd al-Qadir’s Former Cities under French Colonial Administration: From Regulation to Renewal

Eisa Esfanjary Kenari
Isfahan University of Art, Iran
MIT Residency not fulfilled
01/01/2018-05/31/2018
Topic:
The Medieval Houses of Yazd

Aleksandar Stanicic
The Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America, Columbia University
In MIT residence 09/01/2017-05/31/2018
Topic:
Post-conflict reconstruction of Balkan and lessons for Middle East.
Article

Angela Andersen
The Ohio State University
In MIT residence 09/05/2016-01/04/2017
Topic:
Cem Evleri: An Examination of the Historical Roots and Contemporary Meanings of Alevi Architecture and Iconography
Keller Gallery Exhibition Review
Empathy and the Creation 
of Virtual Space

Eisa Esfanjary Kenari
Isfahan University of Art, Iran
Residency postponed to
01/01/2018-05/31/2018
Topic:
The Medieval Houses of Yazd

Julia Gonnella
Museum of Islamic Art, Berlin
Residency not fulfilled
Topic:
Friedrich Sarre, the Berlin Museum of Islamic Art and Oriental Taste in Berlin

Burak Erdim
North Carolina State University
In MIT residence 02/01/17-05/31/17
Topic:
The Valley and the State: Situating Planning Cultures in the Cold War Middle East

El Hadi Jazairy
The University of Michigan
In MIT residence 09/01/2016-05/31/2017
Topic:
Urbanism and Energy Systems

Filippo​ De Dominicis
University IUAV of Venice
In MIT residence 01/16- 05/16
Topic:
Islamic sub-Saharan Africa and Post-War Modern Urbanism. The Khartoum, Fort-Lamy and Dakar testing-ground experiences (1958-1968)

Jan Haenraets
Director, Atelier Anonymous, Vancouver
In MIT residence 09/15- 02/15
Topic:
The Mughal Terrace Gardens of Kashmir, India: A comparative inquiry into the origins, typology and horticulture

Mika​ Natif
The George Washington University
In MIT residence 09/15- 11/15
Topic:
Concepts of city-scape architecture, landscape and perspective in early Mughal painting

Anas Soufan
University of Geneva
Maison des Artistes de Paris
In MIT residence 09/15-02/16
Topic:
The appropriation of Syrian urban space by an Islamic art in the era of modernity: Case of Damascus 1839-1963

Farhan Karim
The University of Kansas
In MIT residence 3/15- 05/15
Topic:
The broken wings of postcolonial self: 
Muslim nationalism and the Western Architects in Pakistan, 1947-71

Dana Sajdi
Boston College
In MIT residence 9/14- 06/15
Topic:
Visualizing Damascus:
Arabic Textual Representations from the 12th to the 20th 

Anas Soufan
University of Geneva
Maison des Artistes de Paris
MIT Residence postponed until the Fall of 2015
Topic:
The appropriation of Syrian urban space by an Islamic art in the era of modernity: Case of Damascus 1839-1963

Zeynep Kezer
Newcastle University  School of Architecture Planning and Landscape
In MIT residence 9/13- 05/14
Topic:
The Limits of State: Borders, Belonging and Geography in Early Republican Elazi

Antonio Rotolo
University of Granada
In MIT residence 9/13- 03/14
Topic:
Collective Fortified Granaries and Strategies for Preserving Means of Subsistence in the Islamic Social Formation. From a Sicilian Case Study to a Global Approach

Sumayah Al-Solaiman
University of Dammam
In MIT residence 11/13-11/14
Topic:
Architectural precedents and the exploitation of terminology in the contemporary architectural design of Saudi Arabia

Elodie Vigouroux
French Institute of the Near East (IFPO) Beirut
In MIT residence 10/13- 03/14
Topic:
The Economic Topography of Damascus in the Middle Ages

Suna Cagaptay
Bahcesehir University, Turkey
In MIT residence 9/12- 05/13
Topic:
States Fall, Buildings Stand: Reading Buildings for a Mixed Cultural Past in Medieval and Early Modern Anatolia (1240-1460)

Beniamino Polimeni
Universita Mediterranea of Reggio Calabria
In MIT residence 1/13- 04/13
Topic:
The Ibadi Regions of the Mediterranean Maghreb: A Study on Settlements and Architectural Forms

Cinzia Tavernari
University of Urbino
In MIT residence 10/12- 03/13
Topic:
Architecture and archaeology of travel in Islamic countries (12th -16th century

Luis Jose García Pulido
Spanish Research Group HUM-104: Laboratory of City Archaeology and Architecture
In MIT residence 11/11- 02/12
Topic:
Adaptation Of Architecture Of Al-Andalus to the Climatic Change Produced from the “Medieval Warm Period” (10th To 14th Centuries) to the “Little Ice Age” (15th – 19th Centuries)
 
Article

Riyaz Latif
Ph.D from University of Minnesota
In MIT residence 9/11-5/12
Topic:
Anchoring the Fez Medina: Architectural Markers and European Interactions 

Samir Mahmoud
Jesus College PhD Candidate at the Faculty of Divinity
In MIT residence 2/12-4/12
Topic:
‘The Abstract’ and ‘The Geometric’ as a Visual System of Knowledge: 
The ‘Islamic’ Art of the Alhambra (Granada) & the Ince Minare Medresse (Konya)

Ipek Tureli
Ph.D., University of California Berkeley
In MIT residence 9/11-12/11
Topic:
Istanbul, Open City: Exhibiting Anxieties of Urban Modernity 

Benjamin Michaudel
Institut Français du Proche-Orient, Syria
In MIT residence 01/11 -05/11
Topic:
The Golden Age of Medieval Military Architecture 
under the Ayyubids and the Mamluks (12th – 15th c.)

Laura Parodi
University College Dublin
In MIT residence 02/11 -05/11
Topic:
The Chaharbagh Reconsidered: A Comparative Inquiry 
on Late Timurid, Early Safavid and Early Mughal Sources

Saleema Waraich
Smith College
In MIT residence 09/10 -02/11
Topic:
Contesting Muslim Spaces: 
Power, Place, and Representation in South Asia

Nicolas Prouteau
University of Nantes
In MIT residence 02-10 – 06/10
Topic:
The Building of Urban Walls in Islamic Cities (XIIth-XIIIth c.)

Mrinalini Rajagopalan
New York University
In MIT residence 01-10 – 04/10
Topic:
Islamic Monuments in Post-Colonial India

Martina Rugiadi
Gerda Henkel Stiftung (Düsseldorf)
In MIT residence 09-09 – 11/09
Topic:
The Significance Of Ghaznavid Marble Architectural Decoration (11th-13th Centurires)
Article

Imran Bin Tajudeen
National University of Singapore
In MIT residence 11/09 – 03/10
Topic:
A Typological and Stylistic Study of Tamil, Hadhrami and Chinese
Peranakan Mosques in Western Nusantara, c.1550-1850

Ahmed Zaib Khan Mahsud
Katholic University, Leuven
In MIT residence 09/08 – 05/09
Topic:
Making of Islamabad 1959-63

Adriana de Miranda
University of Bergamo
In MIT residence 09/08 – 11/08
Topic:
Renovation of Syrian Water Wheels in the Orontes Valley

Sarah Moser
University of Singapore
In MIT residence 11/08 – 05/09
Topic:
Emerging Middle Eastern Influences in Indonesian and Malaysian Seats of Political Power

Abdul Rehman (Affiliation)
Lahore University of Engineering and Technology
In MIT residence 07/08 – 09/08
Topic:
Islamic Garden Heritage of Pakistan

Salim Tamari
Birzeit University
In MIT residence 01/09 – 05/09
Topic:
Jerusalem: Late Ottoman & Colonial Modernity

Hanaa Mohamed Adly Hassan
Helwan University, Egypt
In MIT residence 10/07 – 12/07
Topic:
Human Figures in Metalwork in Iran and Central Asia (11-13th C)
Article

Stefan Heidemann
Friederich Schiller Universität, Jena, Germany
In MIT residence 09/07 – 02/08
Topic:
Transformation of Middle Eastern Cities (11-12th C)
Article

Nadeem Omar Tarar
National College of Art, Lahore
In MIT residence 12/07 – 05/08
Topic:
De-Scribing Miniature Pianting in Illuminated Manuscripts: The Transformation of a Genre
(Published by Third Text)

Nadia M. Alhasani
American University of Sharjah, UAE
In MIT residence 9/06 – 05/07
Topic:
Case Studies on the Making of Cultural Identity in the Contemporary Architecture of the Arabian Gulf

Ralph Bodenstein
German Orient Institute, Damascus, Syria
In MIT residence 03/06 – 06/07
Topic:
Dwelling at Distance: Rise and Social Implications of “Garden Suburb” Residential Patterns in Beirut, 1800-1900

Sibel Zandi-Sayek
College of William and Mary
In MIT residence 09/06 – 06/07
Topic:
Competing Modernities: Urban Transformations of a Late Ottoman City 1830s-1890s

Paolo Girardelli
Bogazici University, Istanbul
In MIT residence 04/06 – 07/06
Topic:
The Architecture of the Eastern Question: Diplomacy and Urban Space in 19th Century Istanbul

Mahmoud Hawari
Oriental Institute Oxford, England
In MIT residence 10/05 – 04/06
Topic:
Citadel of Jerusalem: 
A comprehensive Architectural and Archeological Study

Marcus Millwright
University of Victoria
In MIT residence 04/06 – 05/06
Topic:
The Archeology of the Islamic World: An Introduction

Article

Giulia Annalinda Neglia
Politecnico di Bari, Italy
In MIT residence 9/04 – 11/04
Topic:
Tartus: Local dialectical process of transformation of the building fabric of a Crusader Castle during the Ayyubid and Mamluk Periods

Article

Yosef Jabareen
Ben Gurion University & Technion-Israel Institue of Technology
In MIT residence 9/04 – 05/05
Topic:
“Space of Trust”: A New Socio-Cultural Approach for Understanding the Traditional Islamic Built Environment

Munir Jiwa
Eugene Lang College
In MIT residence 9/04 – 01/05
Topic:
Contemporary Muslim Artists in NY

Abier Shamma
Independent researcher
In MIT residence 01/05 – 05/05
Topic:

Epigraphy on the Dome of the Rock

Vlad Atanasiu
Ecole Practique des Hautes Etudes Sciences Historiques et Philologiques, Paris France
In MIT residence 10/03 – 7/04
Topic:
How Art Pleases: A Study of Regularity and Tension as Aesthetic Attributes in Arabic Calligraphy and Beyond
Article

Hussein Keshani
University of Victoria, Canada
In MIT residence 01/04 – 04/04
Topic:
Gender and Architecture in 18th and 19th Century North India
Article

Setrag Manoukian
Università di Milano-Bicocca
In MIT residence 01/04 – 03/04
Topic:
Urban Space and the Production of the Past in Contemporary Shiraz
Article

Cristina Pallini
Milan Polytechnic, Italy
In MIT residence 10/03 – 07/04
Topic:
The Continuing Presence, influencing later Expressions of Tradition Architecture in the Modernization (1850-1920) of Eastern Mediterranean Ports: Alexandria, Izmir, Istanbul and Salonika
Article

Samer Akkach
University of Adelaide, Australia
In MIT residence 09/02 – 11/02
Topic:
The Poetics of Concealment: 
Al-Nabulusiís Encounter with the Dome of the Rock 

Article

Kimiyo Yamashita
Kokushikan University & Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
In MIT residence 03/02 – 09/02
Topic:
Ottoman Water Systems in Istanbul

Bulent Tanju
Yildiz University, Istanbul, Turkey
In MIT residence 01/02 – 05-02
Topic:
Turkish Modernity

Mustafa Pultar
Bilkent University, Turkey 

Francoise Choay
Sorbonne

Valerie Gonzalez-Hanany
Univ. of Marseille-Luminy
Topic:
​Aesthetics and Artistic Creation in Islam: 
The Example of the Alhambra Palaces in Granada

Shakeel Hossain

Khalil Pirani
American Institute of Architects, GGA Associates
Topic:
Mosque Architecture in North America

Shakeel Hossain

Khalil Pirani
American Institute of Architects, GGA Associates
Topic:
Mosque Architecture in North America

Shakeel Hossain

Maurice Munir Cerasi
Faculty of Architecture of Genoa
3 Month Spring Appointment
Topic:
Research on language, culture, and typological concepts in the genesis of housing types in the Ottoman regions with comparison to western Slav, Syrian and Caucasian neighbors

Charles Hafez Chehab
University of New York, College at Brockport
Visiting scholar with the Program since 1991 and completed his term in December 1994. During his final semester, he completed an article on the “Lion of Baibars” at `Akkar al `Atiqa (North Lebanon).

Shakeel Hossain

Z. A. Desai
Archicrafts, Ahmedabad, India
Topic:
The Traditional Houseform of Bohras in Gujarat: Architectural Response to Cultural Ethos

Shakeel Hossain

Abd Al-Razzaq Moaz
Ministry of Culture, Syria

Amir Pasic
Yildiz University, Istanbu