Short Professional Biography
Simeon Evstatiev holds a Ph.D. in Middle
Eastern and Islamic History (1999) from St. Kliment Ohridski University
of Sofia where he currently has his tenure as Associate Professor of
Arabic and Islamic History at the Department of Arabic and Semitic
Studies of the Centre for Oriental Studies.In
2000 he specialized in Spain, where he worked on a project devoted to
Christian-Muslim relations as an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow at the CSIC
(Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas) in Madrid.
Currently, Simeon Evstatiev is working on his International Policy
Fellowship (IPF) Project entitled Islam, the Balkans and the European ‘Neighbourhood’ Project
at the Open Society Institute (OSI) and the Center for Policy Studies
(CPS) affiliated with the Central European University in Budapest (cf. www.policy.hu/evstatiev).Besides,
his main areas of interest and publications include Islamic
religio-historical thought, religious and political movements in the
Arab Middle East and their attitude to Europe as well as
Christian–Muslim relations. Simeon Evstatiev has directed and
participated in different research and educational projects on national
and international level. He visited and gave papers and lectures at
various academic forums in Great Britain, The Netherlands, Germany,
Hungary, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Belgium and Kuwait, India, Poland and
USA. Within his teaching and research activities he visited also
Turkey, Lebanon and Syria, Egypt, Macedonia and Kosovo, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro.Since
2003 Simeon Evstatiev is Founding Research Director of the
academy-based Center for Intercultural Studies and Partnership (www.cisp-bg.org) in Sofia where he also serves as Chair of the Board.The
international memberships of Simeon Evstatiev include: Union
Eurpéenne des Arabisants et Islamisants (UEAI), The European
Association for Middle Eastern Studies (EURAMES), Deutsche
Morgenländische Gesellschaft (DMG), Deutsche Arbeitsgemeinschaft
Vorderer Orient für gegenwartsbezogene Forschung und Dokumentation
(DAVO). Since 2004 Simeon Evstatiev is also National Representative of
Bulgaria and Coordinator for South East Europe at the UEAI as well as
Contact Person of EURAMES responsible for Bulgaria and the Balkans (www.eurames.de).