Islam Issa (academic)
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Islam Issa is an Egyptian-British scholar, author and broadcaster, a
Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...
of Literature and History at
Birmingham City University Birmingham City University (abbrev. BCU) is a university in Birmingham, England. Initially established as the Birmingham College of Art with roots dating back to 1843, it was designated as a polytechnic (United Kingdom), polytechnic in 1971 an ...
whose research has specialized in Early Modern English literature and the reception of
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
. Issa was named by the
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as "one of the UK's most significant new thinkers".
CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...
described Issa as "an Egyptian icon".


Career

Issa graduated as a
Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...
in English Literature from the University of Birmingham, where he was then a
Visiting Lecturer In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting scientist, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic fo ...
and
Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...
until he became a lecturer at the Birmingham City University in 2015. Issa has a media presence, with appearances on over fifty radio and television stations around the world. He has also given public lectures overseas, including work for the
British Foreign Office The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is the ministry of foreign affairs and a ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom. The office was created on 2 September 2020 through the merger of the Foreign an ...
. In 2017, the BBC identified his as one of its New Generation Thinkers, one of ten academics whose research was to be made into radio and television programmes. In 2012, according to ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
'', Issa disclosed that two
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
ian
soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
stars believed that the
Port Said Stadium riot The Port Said Stadium riot was a riot which occurred at Port Said Stadium in Port Said, Egypt on 1 February 2012, following an Egyptian Premier League football match between Al Masry and Al Ahly. Seventy-four people were killed and more than ...
had been planned. In 2016, Issa published research into the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
which stated that “at least 885,000 Muslims were recruited by the Allies”, with the
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noting that “Issa more than doubled the previously estimated figure of 400,000 soldiers after trawling through thousands of personal letters, historic archives, regimental diaries and census reports”. The findings came as he was curating the “first exhibition devoted to the
Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
ic contribution to World War I”. The exhibition was visited and praised by
King Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...
.


Media

In 2019, Issa presented the
BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002
television documentary ''
Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (; The name Cleopatra is pronounced , or sometimes in both British and American English, see and respectively. Her name was pronounced in the Greek dialect of Egypt (see Koine Greek phonology). She was ...
and Me: In Search of a Lost Queen''. He featured in ''Art That Made Us'' on
BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...
and
Jada Pinkett Smith Jada Koren Pinkett Smith (née Pinkett; born September 18, 1971) is an American actress, businesswoman, and talk show host. She is co-host of the Facebook Watch talk show ''Red Table Talk'', for which she has won a Daytime Emmy Awards, Daytim ...
's ''Cleopatra'' on
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, for which the
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named him the "star" of the show. He has presented
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
's
Free Thinking ''Free Thinking'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4 weekly from Friday 5 April 2024. It was previously broadcast on Radio 3 as part of its "After Dark" late night programming. The programme is a rebranded version of ''Night Wave ...
and four Sunday Feature documentaries on
BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...
, in addition to the BBC podcasts Arts and Ideas, the Radio 3 Documentary and the Shakespeare Sessions. For the BBC, he has appeared on television shows including
Newsnight ''Newsnight'' is the BBC's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. It is broadcast weeknights at 10:30 on BBC Two and the BBC News channel; it is also avail ...
, Have Your Say,
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,
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and
BBC News Arabic BBC News Arabic (), formerly BBC Arabic Television, is a television news channel broadcast to the Arab world by the BBC. It was launched on 11 March 2008. It is run by the BBC World Service and funded from the British television licence fee. H ...
. He has been a guest on radio shows including BBC Radio 4's Front Row, Free Thinking and PM; BBC Radio 3's Drama on 3, Music Planet, The Essay, Words and Music;
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's Up All Night and 5 Live Drive;
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's
Newsday ''Newsday'' is a daily newspaper in the United States primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI" ...
and Have Your Say;
BBC Asian Network BBC Asian Network is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station's target audience is people "with an interest in British Asian lifestyles", especially those between the ages of 18 and 34. The station has produc ...
's Big Debate and Reports; and BBC Arabic Radio. Outside the UK, Issa has appeared on television and radio in Algeria, Australia, Canada, Egypt, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey and the USA. In Egypt, he has been a guest on television channels including AlHadath Alyoum, Al-Hayah, CBC, Channel 2, Egyptian Satellite Channel, Hya, Modern, Nile Cinema and Nile Culture. Issa has written for ''BBC History Magazine'', ''
BBC Online BBC Online, formerly known as BBCi, is the BBC's online service. It is a large network of websites including such high-profile sites as BBC News and BBC Sport, Sport, the on-demand video and radio services branded BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds, t ...
'', ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', ''
The Guardian Weekly ''The Guardian Weekly'' is an international English language, English-language news magazine based in London, England. It is one of the world's oldest international news publications and has readers in more than 170 countries. Editorial conten ...
'', ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', ''
Al Jazeera Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English, which pro ...
'', ''
New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...
'', ''NOX Magazine'', ''
Times Higher Education ''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The THES''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education. Ownership TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...
'' and ''
The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...
''.


Awards and nominations

Issa's book ''Alexandria: The City that Changed the World'' was awarded the
Runciman Award The Runciman Award is an annual literary award offered by the Anglo-Hellenic League for a work published in English dealing wholly or in part with Greece or Hellenism. On some years the prize has been awarded jointly and shared between two or mo ...
. ''Alexandria'' was also shortlisted for the London Hellenic Prize. Issa won the Research Project of the Year at the Times Higher Education awards. Issa's book ''Milton in the Arab-Muslim World'' won the Outstanding First Book award of the Milton Society of America. He has also been named as Birmingham City University's Researcher of the Year. He is a winner of the Excellence in Community Relations at
The Muslim News ''The Muslim News'' is a monthly and digital newspaper. Established by Ahmed J. Versi in February 1989, it has grown to become the largest monthly ethnic paper in the UK. It describes itself as, "The only independent monthly Muslim newspaper in t ...
Awards and two-time finalist for Services to Education at the
British Muslim Awards The British Muslim Awards are an annual award ceremony that honours the success and achievements of British Muslim individuals, groups and businesses. It was established in 2013. Overview The British Muslim Awards was founded by Oceanic Consult ...
.


Publications

* ''Milton in the Arab-Muslim World'' (2016). * ''Alexandria: The City that Changed the World'' (2023).


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Issa, Islam British people of Egyptian descent British writers British literary historians Academics of Birmingham City University Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Runciman Award winners Alumni of the University of Birmingham