Islam in Medieval England

Dr Lubaaba Al-Azami is Lecturer in English at Queen Mary, University of London.

She is a cultural historian specialising in Shakespeare and the Global Renaissance, with expertise in gender, race and travel. Her first book, Travellersin the Golden Realm: How Mughal India Connected England to the World was shortlisted for the British in India Book Prize 2025. Lubaaba is Founding Editor of Medieval and Early Modern Orients (MEMOs), a digital platform on England’s premodern interactions with the Islamic Worlds. She is also Founding Convener of Network of Sisters in Academia (NeSA), a professional network for Muslim women academics.

Dr Shazia Jagot is Senior Lecturer in Medieval and Global Literature at the University of York.

Her research focuses on cultural and intellectual interaction between the Islamic world and Medieval Europe. She holds a PhD from the University of Leicester and has worked in Jordon, Denmark, and the UK. She is a member of Medieval and Early Modern Orients (MEMOs).

Dr Münire Zeyneb Maksudoğlu completed her BA in English at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM).

She did her master's at Lincoln College, Oxford through Middlebury College BLSE program. She taught and studied at the University of Sussex where she received her D.Phil in English Literature. Her research considered Anglo-Ottoman encounters on the page and on the stage in Early Modern England. Her research interests include Renaissance Drama, histories of diplomacy and material culture in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. She is a member of Medieval and Early Modern Orients (MEMOs) and co-editor of Islam in Victorian Liverpool: An Ottoman Account of Britain’s First Mosque Community.

Rebecca Rideal is a historian, bestselling author, award‑winning producer, and the Director of the history festival HistFest.

She launched HistFest in 2018 to offer history events and digital content deeply grounded in current research. She specializes in early modern history, particularly the Stuart Dynasty, the Anglo‑Dutch Wars, the history of plague, and historical true crime. Her first nonfiction book, 1666: Plague, War and Hellfire was published in 2016.