Faculty, staff, students, and donors of the IIS joined family members of graduating students for the 2025 graduation ceremonies of The Institute of Ismaili Studies. The latest graduates included Cohort 15 of the Secondary Teacher Education Programme (STEP), the Graduate Programme in Islamic Studies and the Humanities (GPISH), as well as the IIS’s Postgraduate Research Fellowship (PGRF) programme. Our graduates this year come from diverse backgrounds, with students and fellows from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Canada, Iran, Kenya, New Zealand, Pakistan, Syria, Tajikistan, and the United States.
Graduates entered the social hall of the Ismaili Centre London to traditional music performed by the IIS Student Ensemble. Emcee Farah Manji, Teaching and Learning Tutor, welcomed the graduates, their families, and others in attendance. Students Arifa Bibi (STEP 2026) and Gulguncha Lalbekova (GPISH 2025) recited a verse from Surat al-Nur and its translation. In her welcoming remarks, Professor Zayn Kassam, Director of the IIS, was delighted to share with the audience a letter received from His Highness on the occasion of the graduation. In the letter, His Highness extended his heartfelt congratulations to all the students graduating from STEP, GPISH, and PGRF, wishing them success in their future careers. His Highness noted that these educational programmes were a core element of the mandate of IIS and expressed his gratitude to the faculty and staff at IIS, as well as UCL and SOAS. Dr Laila Halani, who oversees the graduate programmes at the IIS, in her address to the graduands, reiterated the importance of education in a changing world.
“You are part of a global network of educators, thinkers, and changemakers, each with a unique role to play in addressing the needs of our time.”
Sophie Kerslake, lecturer in education at UCL, encouraged graduands to use their education to bring positive change: “You will be a guide, a mentor, and a source of inspiration for generations to come”, she said to the STEP graduands. “Through your efforts, you will shape not only the future of your students, but also the communities in which you work … I know you will have a global impact on their young minds.”
Professor James Caron, from the Department of History at SOAS, lauded the merits of GPISH and encouraged graduands to lean on their education for support, but also as an avenue to engage with pluralism in a changing world.
Professor Nacim Pak-Shiraz, an IIS Governor, gave the keynote speech where she reflected on the ethos of the IIS: “as bridges between traditions, across intellectual and spiritual inquiry, and between our past and future.” She emphasised the importance of spiritual and mystical exploration in an academic milieu, increasingly focused on the material conditions of reality. Professor Pak-Shiraz encouraged the graduands to promote Shi‘i and Ismaili heritages in fields that have historically described these communities unfavourably. Invoking Professor Walter Mignolo’s epistemic disobedience, encouraging the decolonisation of academic work, she said: “our forebears practised this epistemic disobedience quietly, carefully, and courageously.”
Professor Pak-Shiraz continued:
“Don’t be afraid to be bold in your thinking. Be adventurous… You now have the language, the history, the tools to reclaim that narrative, to speak from within, to write, to teach, to create, to question…”
Awards
IIS Director Professor Kassam and teacher educator Faheem Hussain presented the awards to STEP graduands, followed by a speech by valedictorian Sayed Munir Shah (STEP C15). Munir reflected on his journey through STEP in a pre-recorded message from Afghanistan. “Getting into the STEP programme was [about] belief in my potential, an honour for my family, and a hope for my community.” He encouraged his fellow graduands to build strong communities for future generations based on knowledge, pluralism, and compassion.
Professor Kassam and Dr Alex Henley, GPISH Programme Coordinator, then presented awards to the GPISH graduands, followed by a speech by valedictorian Saad Barcha (GPISH 2025). Saad expressed his gratitude to IIS, its people, and his classmates in his two-year journey at IIS. He then shared heartfelt anecdotes about each of his cohort-mates, concluding that: “[the time we shared] is a big gift. And as we step forward in our lives, it is this gift that we must carry with us: the responsibility to extend the same sincerity, the same kindness, and the same support to those around us.” Saad finished his speech by encouraging future IIS students to take full advantage of every opportunity to explore and engage with IIS ’s community and its offerings: “those stolen moments of joy just might fuel your success.”
Dr Farouk Mitha, Academic Director for PGRF, in a prerecorded video, introduced the programme and its five graduates. “I like to think of PGRF as producing scholar-practitioners,” he noted before describing the responsibilities and research of PGRF fellows. PGRF’s current research largely surrounds Ismaili communities, religious identity, and its practice in places like North America, East Africa, and South Asia.
The Institute of Ismaili Studies and Alumni Chapter Groups are excited to see the latest cohort of STEP, GPISH, and PGRF graduands off into the world as they continue the Institute’s mission of exploring and sharing important research in the field of Islamic studies and beyond.
