The Annual Graduate Conference 2026 is a platform hosted by 国产视频 (IIS) to showcase emerging student-led research. The conference fosters intellectual exchange on diverse themes related to Muslim societies, cultures, and traditions.
This year’s conference explores the diverse ways Muslim lives are shaped by continuity and change. Presentations span themes including ritual, migration, identity, education, digital media, ethics, spirituality, and cultural heritage. Further details will be available in due course.
Image caption
Detail from the Third Discourse of Nasir al-Din Tusi’s Akhlaq-e Nasiri, depicting a gathering engaged in discussion and exchange 鈥 themes of knowledge-sharing and communal dialogue that echo this year’s conference. Image courtesy of the Aga KhanA title granted by the Shah of Persia to the then Ismaili Imam in 1818 and inherited by each of his successors to the Imamate. Museum, Creative Commons License.
Please note filming and photography may take place during the event, and be used across our website, newsletters and social media accounts. These could include broad shots of the audience and lecture theatre, speakers during the talk, and of audience members participating in Q&A.
Views expressed in this conference are those of the presenting scholars, and do not necessarily express the views of IIS.
Schedule
Opening Remarks
Professor Zayn Kassam, Director at 国产视频
Welcome note
Dr Daryoush Mohammad Poor, Associate professor, IIS
Chair: Dr Aliyyah Datoo
Navigating Dual Religious Frameworks: Religious Education as a Site of Identity Continuity and Change for Ismaili Youth in Syria
Reham Hwaijeh (STEP 2025)
Respecting the Body, Nurturing the Self
Sahil Himani (STEP 2026)
Historical Empathy and the Aga Khan Case of 1866: Teaching Evolution of Ismaili Identity through the IIS Connecting Worlds Module
Aalmeen Daredia (STEP 2026)
Chair: Dr Karen Bauer
Duur Korik (Homemaking): The Role and Agency of Women in the Reconstruction of 鈥楬ome鈥 and Household Decision-Making Processes in the Aftermath of Climate-Induced Migration in Upper Chitral
Ameeqa Qureshi (GPISH 2027)
Negotiating Tradition in the Age of Consumption: Marriage Practices as a Case Study of Indigenous Identity Negotiation in Upper Chitral
Javeria Khan (STEP 2027)
The Shaista Narrative: Competing Memories of Honour, Love and Gendered Violence in Burushaski-Speaking Hunza
Aleena Amin (STEP 2026)
Chair: Dr Yahia Baiza
Encountering Iran through Instagram: Emotional Experience and the Negotiation of National Identity among second-generation Iranians in London
Elnaz Basiri (GPISH 2027)
The Power of Storytelling in Stand-Up Comedy
Maya Dayoub (GPISH 2026)
The Diaspora Within: Cultural Persistence, Hybridity and Intra-Communal Belonging among Northern Pakistani IsmailisAdherents of a branch of Shi’i Islam that considers Ismail, the eldest son of the Shi’i Imam Ja士far al-峁⒛乨iq (d. 765), as his successor. in Karachi
Urooj Baig (GPISH 2027)
Chair: Dr Alex Henley
Listen to This: Re-staging Ritual Aesthetics between Chir膩gh-e Rawshan and the Queer Techno Rave
Junnade Ali (GPISH Cohort 31)
Monetary Giving in the Ismaili Tradition: A Case Study of Young Ismailis in Nairobi
Ahad Tharani (GPISH 2027)
Listening Across Transitions: Qawwali, Spiritual Experience and the Continuity of Devotion in Contemporary Pakistan
Salima Hameed (STEP 2026)
Chair: Dr Aslisho Qurboniev
Seeing Continuity through Change: Generative AI and the Enduring Purposes of Muslim Education
Shabnam Barkat Ali (STEP 2024)
Before Verification: Generative AI, Blasphemy Allegations and the Risk of Extrajudicial Harm
Asifa Fida (GPISH 2027)
Pedagogical Approaches to Teaching the Theme of Self-Knowing in Sufi Literature: Deepening Reflective Practice among Secondary Students
Abida Nasreen (STEP 2026)
Dr Gurdofarid Miskinzoda
Co-head, Department of Education, IIS
