Aid Smajić Editor

Dr Ines Aščerić-Todd is a Senior Lecturer in Arabic and Middle Eastern Cultures, and Head of the Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Edinburgh, UK She has special interests in Middle Eastern, and particularly Ottoman, cultural and religious history, especially Sufism and Ottoman dervish orders, conversions to Islam, and interfaith relations in the Ottoman Empire and Ottoman Europe.

Dr Aid Smajić is a professor of psychology at the Faculty of Islamic Studies, University of Sarajevo. He graduated in Psychology (2002) and Islamic Studies (2001); obtained his master's degree at the International Islamic University in Malaysia, and received his PhD in 2010 at the Department of Psychology at the University of Sarajevo.

Dr Janet Starkey formerly worked at KISR, Kuwait, and elsewhere in the Middle East; at the British Museum, London and the Oriental Museum, Durham; and as a lecturer in anthropology and Middle Eastern studies at Durham University, UK. Following her retirement from Durham, she lectures for the u3a in the Scottish Borders.

Professor Paul Starkey is Emeritus Professor at Durham University, UK and was the first Chair of ASTENE. A specialist on Arabic literature and culture, he is Chairman of the Banipal Trust for Arab Literature and until 2018 was Vice-President of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES). In summer 2021 he was the recipient of the BRISMES Award for Services to Middle Eastern Studies.