Professor Mohamad Abdalla

Professor Mohamad Abdalla
Director, Centre for Islamic Thought and Education (CITE), University of South Australia, Australia

Professor Mohamad Abdalla has been working in the field of Islamic Studies for over 25 years and played a leading role in establishing Islamic Studies across few Australian universities. In 2020, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM), the highest recognition for outstanding achievement and service, for his significant service to education in the field of Islamic studies. His PhD thesis examined ‘The Fate of Islamic Science between the 11th and 16th Centuries: A Critical Study of Scholarship from Ibn Khaldun to the Present.’ Over the last 25 years, he has studied various branches of traditional Islamic sciences from multiple scholars and autodidactically. In 2006, he established and led the Griffith University Islamic Research Unit (GIRU), at Griffith University in Brisbane. In 2008, he played a key role in the establishment of the National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies (NCEIS), a dynamic collaboration between the University of Melbourne, Griffith University and the University of Western Sydney. He served as the Director of the NCEIS at Griffith University until 2016. In 2016, he was invited by the VC of the University of South Australia to establish the Centre for Islamic Thought and Education (CITE), and serve as its Director. Throughout these initiatives, he has attracted more than $15 Million in funding. He successfully supervised more than 20 HDR candidates. He has had the pleasure of supervising the PhD by Publication of Former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mr. Anwar Ibrahim. Currently, He is supervising and co-supervising 10 HDR candidates. He published widely in the field Islamic studies. His co-edited books include Islamic schooling in the West: Pathways to Renewal (Palgrave MacMillan), Leadership in Islam: Processes and Solutions in Australian Organizations (Palgrave MacMillan), and Islam and the Australian News Media (Melbourne University Press). He has one monograph titled Islamic Science: The Myth of the Decline Theory. A forthcoming (2020) co-edited book with Routledge is titled Curriculum renewal for Islamic education: Critical perspectives on teaching Islam in primary and secondary schools.