Our Team
Sarah Bowen Savant
Professor, AKU-ISMC, and Principle Investigator of KITAB
Professor Savant is a cultural historian specialising in the Middle East and Iran ca. 600-1500. Read more…
Maxim Romanov
Senior Research Fellow
Dr Romanov is a Universitätsassistent für Digital Humanities at the Institute for History, University of Vienna. Read more…
Masoumeh Seydi
Digital Lead
Masoumeh Seydi is KITAB’s Digital Lead. While completing her PhD at the Institute of Informatics, University of Leipzig. Read more…
Sohail Merchant
Technical Lead
Responsible for managing the infrastructure and developing the application architecture for KITAB. Read more…
Claire Savina
Research Project Manager
After completing her Master in Comparative Literature and a 4 years degree of Arabic language, literature at the University of Sorbonne, and Culture. Read more…
David Smith
Sira Project
David Smith is an Associate Professor in Northeastern University’s College of Computer and Information Science. Read more…
Kevin Jaques
Sira Project
Kevin Jaques is an Associate Professor of Islamic Studies in the Department of Religious Studies at Indiana University. Read more…
Dr Abdul Rahman Azzam
Sira Project
With a BA and Dphil from Oxford University, Dr Azzam’s focus is on the development of Islamic thought from the medieval to the modern Muslim world and the interaction between traditional Islam and modernity. Read more…
Ryan Muther
Sira Project
Ryan Muther is a PhD student in the Computer Science program at Northeastern University advised by Professor David Smith. Read more…
Maroussia Bednardkiewicz
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Maroussia Bednarkiewicz obtained a BA in Russian and German from the University of Geneva Read more…
Gowaart Van Den Bossche
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Gowaart Van Den Bossche studied History and Arabic and Islamic Studies at Ghent University and the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo. Read more…
Mohamad El-Merheb
Research Associate
Mohamad El-Merheb joined the AKU-KITAB Project as a research associate in March 2019. Read more…
Razia Velji
Grant Manager
Razia Velji is the AKU-ISMC Grant Manager for KITAB with responsibility for administering the ERC grant and all other funding applications. Read more
Ahmad Sakhi
TKN Volunteer
Ahmad Sakhi is an IT professional, specializing in Enterprise Information and Content Management space. Read more
Malik Merchant
TKN Volunteer
Malik Merchant is a Software Consultant, specializing in Microsoft Technologies. Read more
KITAB’s team is supported by many members of the AKU computing staff, including:
- Jonathan Hughes
- Markus Bushell
- Eugene O’Donnell
- Mohammad Fahd
- Omer Manya
- Rafay Hassan