Dr. Stefano Bigliardi (SSAH) and Professor Nidhal Guessoum (AUS, UAE) have been awarded a grant from the Templeton Religion Trust totaling $255,300.
The funded project, titled "Islam & Science in Translation," will support and develop the Cambridge University Press series "Elements in Islam and the Sciences," which Dr. Guessoum and Dr. Bigliardi co-edit.
Dr. Guessoum will serve as project Director (Principal Investigator), and Dr. Bigliardi will serve as Co-Director (Co-Investigator).
The project will run for two years starting in September 2025.
The funding will support the translation of the books in the series into the languages of several Muslim countries (Turkish, Farsi, Arabic, and others); the organization of international workshops on Islam and science; and the creation of videos and articles on the topics addressed in the series, such as Islam and cosmology and Islam and evolution.
Stefano Bigliardi joined AUI in 2016 as an assistant professor. In 2020, he was promoted to associate professor. He teaches courses in Philosophical Thought and the History of Ideas, including several on Islam and Modern Science. His most recent publication is Islam and Pseudoscience (Cambridge University Press, 2025).
Nidhal Guessoum is an astrophysicist and a professor at AUS, United Arab Emirates. His YouTube channel, created in December 2015, is in Arabic; it often addresses topics relevant to Islam and the Islamic culture. Currently, it has more than 500,000 subscribers and contains more than 300 videos. In 2018 he delivered a Presidential Lecture at AUI. Among his books, one particularly suitable for young readers is The Young Muslim's Guide to Modern Science (Beacon Books, 2018).