prof.dr. Dick Douwes

**Dick Douwes is Professor of Global History, at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Since 2006 he is also dean of the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication** Professor Douwes studied Arabic Language and Culture at Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands. In 1993 he received his PhD at Nijmegen University. He lectured on the history of the Middle East at the universities of Nijmegen and Leiden. From 1994 to 1998 he was coordinator of the programme Indonesian-Netherlands’ Cooperation in Islamic Studies (INIS) at Leiden University. As of 1998 onwards he was academic coordinator - later executive director - of the International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM) and editor of the *ISIM Newsletter/Review* and *ISIM Papers* series. He has published on late Ottoman history in Syria and on religious plurality in the Middle East, as well as on Muslims in Western Europe.