Profile

Arabic Manuscripts – Codicology

Textual studies – Papyrology

Divinatory and magico-therapeutic practices in Mediaeval Islam and in Contemporary Yemen – History of Sciences and Religious Anthropology

CV

1987 – PhD in Philosophy, University of Paris IV – Sorbonne

1983-1986 – Research Scholarship from the Egyptian Government, Egypt/French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cairo

1989-1992 – Research Allocation from the French Institute of Arabic Studies in Damascus (IFEAD), Syria

1993 – Teaching License in Arabic, National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO), Paris

1997-2003 – Research Associate of Centre of Religious Studies (CERL, CNRS/URA 152 – EPHE, Ve section), Paris

1998-2003 – Research Associate of  the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Studies and Research Group (GREMMO, CNRS/UMR 5647 – Univ. Lumière Lyon 2 – Maison de l’Orient méditerranéen Jean-Pouilloux), Lyon (France)

Since 2000 – Academic Manager of the French-Yemeni project for Safeguarding Manuscripts of the Private Libraries in Zabid (Yemen). Cataloguing, digitizing, and conservation. Project of the Centre for Archaeology and Social Sciences, Sanaa (CEFAS), Yemen

2003-2005 – EA 3578 “Traditions manuscrites du pourtour méditerranéen”, dir. Prof. François Déroche, Ecole pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Paris.

Since 2005, research group “Histoire du livre et de l’écrit au Proche-Orient médiéval et moderne”, dir. Prof. François Déroche, section of the UMR 7192 Proche-Orient-Caucase, Langues, Archéologie, Cultures, Collège de France, Paris

2003-2005– Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Arabic, AHRC–RQAD Project, Dept of Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Leeds, publication of the 1999-2003 Quseiri documents

2005-2007 – Grant holder (Max van Berchem Foundation, Geneva, Switzerland) for cataloguing the Edfu papyri in The Louvre, Dept of Islamic Arts

2006 – Temporary post in The Louvre, Dept of Islamic Arts

2007-2009 – Scientific collaborator, The Louvre, Dept of Islamic Arts

2009-2011 – Course leader at Paris IV-Sorbonne, « Contribution de l’épigraphie et de la papyrologie à l’archéologie »

2009-2011 – Course leader at Paris VII-Diderot, LOPHISS « Histoire des Sciences », Islam.

2012   Austrian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Social Anthropology

2012-2013 – Course leader, UFR d’Histoire de l’Art et de l’Archéologie, Paris IV-Sorbonne, « Contribution de l’épigraphie et de la papyrologie à l’archéologie ».

2012-2013 – Institut für Orientalistik, Université de Vienne, Autriche, « Introduction to Paleography and epigraphy ».

2013 – Course leader, « Comprendre les arts de l’Islam à partir de l’écriture (7e-18e s.) », Institut Européen des Sciences de l’Art (IESA), Paris.

Avril 2014- : Senior Researcher, project “Islam in the Horn of Africa”, Department of cross-cultural and regional studies, University of Copenhagen (ToRS), Denmark

Journals

2005 – AR establishes Chroniques du manuscrit au Yémen and invites Eric Vallet as coeditor.

2006 – Member of the editorial board of the Chroniques yéménites, Centre for Archaelogy and Social Sciences, Sanaa (CEFAS, Yemen)

2006 – 2014 Co-editor with Eric Vallet (University of Paris I) of the web page Chroniques du manuscrit au Yémen, Centre for Archaeology and Social Sciences, Sanaa (CEFAS, Yemen),

2012 – Director des Chroniques du manuscrit au Yémen.

2012 – Member of reading committee Arabian Humanities.

Memberships

Since 2003 – Member of the International Society for Arabic Papyrology (ISAP), Princeton

Since 2006 – Member of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Scientific Research in Music (ICSRIM), University of Leeds, Leeds

Since 2008 — Member of The Islamic Manuscripts Association (TIMA), Cambridge

 Since 2012 – Member of the Ethiopic Manuscripts Imaging Project (EMIP), George Fox University

Since 2011 – Collaborator of the project Bibliothèque Digitale Multilingue des sources Inédites de l’Ouest Saharien (BIBLIMOS) », Mauritania, Mali and Senegal, codicological metadata

Since 2010 – Member of The Yemen Manuscript Digitization Initiative (YMDI), University of Oregon / Library of Princeton / the Imam Zayd ibn Ali Cultural Foundation (Sanaa)

Grants

2005 – Max van Berchem Foundation, Geneva (Switzerland), edition of the Edfu papyrii, Louvre

2005 – Financial support from the Social Fund for Development, Sanaa, Program for safeguarding manuscripts in Zabid (Yemen)

2007 – Funding from  UNESCO, Paris, Program for safeguarding manuscripts in Zabid (Yemen)