Centre for Iranian Studies at the University of Durham

The Centre for Iranian Studies (CIS) was founded in 1999 as a subsidiary research body of the Institute for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, Durham University. Its central aim is to facilitate and encourage debate, research and the growth of Iranian Studies in the UK. This will be achieved through three principal routes:

• By encouraging links and exchanges between academics and institutions in the UK and Iran
• By hosting seminars, workshops and conferences to bring together the latest research and to highlight and communicate to a wider audience, the richness and variety of Iranian studies
• By facilitating the publication of high quality studies, principally through the medium of the Durham Middle East Papers series.

The Centre is managed by a Board. The day-to-day running of the Centre is the responsibility of an Executive Committee consisting of Professor Anoush Ehteshami (a.ehteshami@durham.ac.uk) and Dr. C. Turner (c.p.turner@durham.ac.uk).

Controversy

In 2010 it was noted that the Centre had commenced an official relationship with the Iranian government, using a 'memorandum of understanding' to collaborate on exchange of faculty members and experts, joint research projects, activities and experiences, conferences, scientific meetings, educational workshops and joint book projects.^[1]

http://www.dur.ac.uk/iranian.studies/