The University of Granada is a public university located in the historic city of Granada. It was founded by Emperor Charles V in 1531 and is one of the most important universities in Europe in terms of its historical importance, as it has previous roots in the Middle Ages, with the founding of the Madrasah Yusufiyya in 1349 by Yusuf I, the Sultan of Granada. It also has campuses in the cities of Ceuta and Melilla in North Africa, making UGR the only European university with campuses on two continents.

The excellent infrastructure, facilities and equipment on UGR’s campuses allow its 3,000+ researchers to stay at the forefront of their respective fields. The UGR is currently ranked among the world’s leading higher education institutions, classified by the Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities as the 326th best university in the world.

The UGR vows to remain a university open to all, regardless of culture, creed or personal beliefs, and is fully committed to pioneering research, innovation, and delivering world-class education.

Research at UGR is thoroughly multidisciplinary in nature as demonstrated by the fact that there are currently over 1,400 active lines of research. The professors at UGR are thoroughly committed to investing in the future and excelling in research and innovation. Thanks to this sustained commitment, some of the leading research institutes and centres are found here.

With regard to international mobility, in recent years UGR has occupied the leading position in both outgoing and incoming Erasmus student mobility at the European level and a leading position in teaching staff, non-teaching staff and placement mobility at national level. In recognition of this, it was awarded the Erasmus Gold Star in 2007.

UGR is also a leading participant in the Erasmus Mundus programme for cooperation beyond the borders of Europe, and has a strong non-EU mobility programme financed by its annual budget.

The researchers who will be directly involved in the project are members of two research groups: ‘Contemporary Arab Studies’ and ‘Andalusian cities under Islam’ and the three of them are colleagues at the Department of Semitic Studies, where they have different research, teaching and administrative responsibilities. As researchers, they have an intense experience of working closely with other departments and research units, not only in Granada but also at the national level and in international networks.

Key personnel

Elena Arigita, Principal Investigator, Assistant Professor in Arabic and Islamic studies, holds an MA and PhD from the University of Granada (Spain). After her MA she pursued further studies in Egypt, where from 1994 to 1998 she was also language lecturer at Cairo University and Al-Azhar University. Her PhD thesis, published as El islam institucional en el Egipto contemporáneo (Granada, 2005), received an extraordinary Doctorate award of the doctoral programme and focused on the adaptation of the traditional religious institution and religious authority to the state in contemporary Egypt. From 2004 to 2006, Elena was a postdoctoral fellow at the International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM) in the Netherlands, and from 2007 to 2012 she was a senior researcher at Casa Árabe (Spain), were she was responsible for the Muslims of the West programme. In 2012 Elena joined the University of Granada, where she currently holds a position as assistant professor. She is a member of the research group on contemporary Arab studies. Her research interests and publications deal with religious authority and institutionalisation of Islam as well as the politics of inclusion and exclusion of Islam in Europe. Since September 2017 she holds a position as Director of Internationalization at the International School for Postgraduate Studies (UGR).

María Dolores Rodríguez Gómez, Associate Professor (tenured), is a specialist in the field of cultural exchange. Her PhD thesis, published as Las riberas nazarí y del Magreb (siglos XIII-XV). Intercambios económicos y culturales, (the Nasrid and Maghribi shores from the 13th to the 15th Centuries: economic and cultural exchanges. Granada: Universidad, 2000), is an important contribution to understand the continuities of the socio-economic and cultural trends in this Mediterranean region characterized as a civilizational border between Islam and the West. From 2001 until 2003 she conducted a postdoctoral research project at the University `Abd al-Malik al-Saadi in Tetouan (Morocco). She is an active member of her research group, ‘Andalusian cities under Islam’, and has contributed to 7 research projects of the Spanish National Plan and a number of other projects of the University and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC).

Antonio Peláez Rovira, Associate Professor (tenured), holds two degrees in Arab and Islamic Studies and Hebrew and Jewish Studies from the University of Granada and the PhD with a thesis about the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada in the 15th Century. He was granted by the Spanish Ministry of Education to pursue his postdoctoral training at the Genoa University (Italy) and after that became an associate researcher at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), where he has contributed to several research projects. Since 2016 Antonio holds the position of Associate Professor (tenured) at the University of Granada. He has visited as undergraduate student and as researcher institutions and universities of Israel, Yemen, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco and Europe. His research interests are on the political power, the socioeconomic activities and the law in medieval Western Islam, with a particular focus on al-Andalus.

Relevant publications and/or other products and services

Elena Arigita (2015), ‘Al-Azhar y la función de la religión en el espacio público-político egipcio” (Al-Azhar and the role of religion in the Egyptian political-public space)’, in Juan Antonio Macías Amoretti and Elena Arigita Maza(eds.) (Dis)continuidades árabes. Discursos e imaginarios en un contexto de cambios.(Arab (dis)continuities: discourses and imagineries in a context of change). Granada: Comares, 2015, pp. 80-94.

Elena Arigita (2013), ‘The “Cordoba Paradigm”: Memory and silence around Europe’s Islamic Past”, in Frank Peter, Sarah Dornhof and Elena Arigita (eds.). Islam and the politics of Culture in Europe: Memory, Aesthetics, Art. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag, 2013, pp. 21-40.

Antonio Peláez Rovira (2010), ‘De la dynamique sociopolitique entre Grenade et Malaga au xve siècle’, Annales Islamologiques, 44 (2010), pp. 79-98.

Elena Arigita (2009), ‘Spain: the al-Andalus legacy”, in Stig Jarle Hansen, Atle Mesøy, Tuncay Kardas (eds.). The borders of Islam: Exploring Hungtington’s Faultlines, from Al-Andalus to the vitual ummah. London: Hurst, 2009, pp. 223-234.

Elena Arigita (2006), ‘Representing Islam in Spain: Muslim identities and the contestation of leadership’, Muslim World, 96, 4 (oct. 2006), pp. 563-584. Elena Arigita is co-editor with Frank Peter of this special issue ‘Authorizing Islam in Europe’.