Research at the Centre is carried out in a wide range of areas relating to the politics, political economy, history and international relations of the Middle East and Central Asia.

As of September 2012 the Centre is home to 22 PhD students:

Adel Abdel Ghafar:  A Political Economy of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution

Zaid Alsalami: The Philosophy of Mir Damad

Shuhrat Baratov: National Identity in Tajikistan

Nematullah Bizhan: State Effectiveness in Development of Afghanistan

Christian Bleuer: The Blurred Lines of Uzbek and Tajik 'Identity': Local Solidarity Groups and Factions During the Afghanistan and Tajikistan Civil Wars (Degree conferred)

Aminat Chokobaeva: The role of the 1916 'Great Revolt' of Central Asia in shaping national identity in Soviet and post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan

Brenton Clark: Tajik-Iranian relations

Adrian D'Hage: The Influence of Religion on US Foreign Policy in the Middle East

Yahya Haidar: Usūl al-Dīn and the Study of Doctrine in Islam

Raihan Ismail: The Education of the Ulama in Saudi Arabia

Faizal Kasmani: BBC and Al Jazeera Coverage of Islam and Democracy: A study of the Iran 2009 election (Submitted)

Hammaad Qayyum Khan: The Bush Administration's post-invasion policy towards Iraq

Caroline Ladewig: The Middle East Peace Process: Reconciliation through education

Jessie Moritz: An audit of Rentier Theory in light of the Arab Spring

Jerry Nockles: The Constitution of Crisis: An Empirical Study of US Decision-Making on Intervention in Middle East Crises

Lee Schrader: The Middle East Peace Process: The Politics of the Quartet

Sa'id Tehrani-Nasab: The relevance of Rumi's Legacy to today's science, philosophy and politics.

Grigol Ubiria: From Tribes to Modern Nations: Soviet Nation-Building in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan (Submitted)

Tom Vangelovski: Nationalism and Islamism in political mobilization of ethnic Albanians

Heather Yeates: The Gulf and Syria relations

Aly Zaman: The Domestic Impact of Patron-Client State Relationships: American Patronage and Pakistan’s Political Economy during the Cold War

PhDs awarded to date

2012

Dr Erika Schwarze: Palestinian Public Opinion Polling: The Impact of the People’s Voice on Decision-Making in a Transitional Democracy

2011

Dr Bruce Drummond: Armed Sub-State Actors and Fragile States: Afghanistan and Papua New Guinea

Dr Victoria Kelly-Clark: Clan Power Structures in Central Asia

Dr Penelope Kinch: The United States and Iran: Identity and Alliances in Middle Eastern Sectarian Conflict

Dr Barry Naughten: U.S. Foreign Energy Policy and Grand Strategy Choice:  The Challenge of Global and Regional Systemic Crises

2010

Dr Justin Leach: Comparison of Sudan’s post-independence peace accords

Dr Wendy Levy: The Politics of Governance in Post-war Sudan: problems and prospects of a unified state

Dr Hamish McGregor: Nationalism in the Islamic Republic of Iran 1979-2007

Dr Richard Scrivener: Australian Iranian relations and the Australian US alliance: 1979 to 2003

2008

Dr Abdulaziz M. Al-Wasil: Human rights in Saudi Arabia

Dr Shayeq Qassem: The Geostrategic Dynamics of Central Asian and South Asian Regions and Prospects for Stability in Afghanistan

2007

Dr Sarah Phillips: The Resilience of Authoritarianism in a Pluralised Arab State: A Case Study of Yemen

2006

Dr Yousuf Ali Humaid Al-Suwaidi: Court Management in Dubai between Present Challenges and Future Opportunities

Abu T.S. Ahmed: The Kashmiri Muslims Uprising of 1990: A Causal Study

2005

Dr Kees van der Spek: Political Economy and Social Relations of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna and Dr Abu el-Naga, Egypt

2004

Dr Enayatollah Yazdani: US policy towards central Asia since the collapse of the Soviet Union: changing objectives, priorities, and means

Dr Matthew May: Economic transition in Central Asia: a comparative approach

Dr Douglas Sturkey: The Arab-Israel dispute during the Clinton administration: the limits of American Power

2003

Dr Rizwan Hussain: Pakistan and the emergence of Islamic militancy in Afghanistan: a politico-historical analysis

Dr Khalifa Al-Falasi: The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf: United Arab Emirates-Oman axis

2002

Dr Mariam Al-Oraifi: Saudi Policy Behaviour Towards Iran: An Analysis of the Saudi-Iranian Relationship Since the British Withdrawal from the Gulf Region

2001

Dr Abdullah Al-Rashoud: Satellite Broadcasting & National Development: Relevance to Saudi Arabia

Dr Bob Bowker: UNRWA: Memories, Mythologies and the Palestinian Refugee Issue

Dr Aileen Keating: The Raj in Arabia and Frank Holmes, Father of Oil

Dr Matthew Webb: The right to secede and the case of Kashmir: a critical evaluation of contemporary normative theories of secession

2000

Dr Steven Barraclough: Responses to satellite television in Pakistan, Iran and Egypt

Dr Daryl Champion: Twilight of a Rentier State. Saudi Arabia and the Momentum of Reform

Dr Bruce Koepke: The Impact of Political Islam on Cultural Practices in Badakhshan, Afghanistan, during the Taliban Era

Dr Matthew B Gray: The relationship between economic liberalisation and tourism in the contemporary Middle East: a comparative political economy study of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan

1999

Dr Jetly Rajshree: Ethnicity and nation-building in South Asia: case studies of the Baluch movement in Pakistan and the Khalistan movement in India

1998

Dr Mikhail Alexandrov: Relations between Russia and Kazakhstan in the post-Soviet era (1992-1997)

Dr Mohammad Reza: Saidabadi Iranian-British Relations Since 1979

1997

Dr Kamran Taremi: Iran and the Middle Eastern security complex: challenge and response, 1979-1980

Dr Kirill Nourzhanov: Politics and change in Tajikistan

1992

Dr Latif Abul-Husn: The Lebanese Conflict: a Sociological Study of its Causes and Resolution

1991

Dr Ralph King: Egypt's Foreign Policy in the Decade after Camp David: An Interpretation