Najam is associated with the Encyclopaedia Islamica project since 2012 providing support as an editor. Earlier he worked with IIS Central Asian Studies Unit 2003-2011.
Prior to joining the Institute of Ismaili Studies in early 2003, Dr Najam Abbas worked in Tajikistan with the Aga KhanA title granted by the Shah of Persia to the then Ismaili Imam in 1818 and inherited by each of his successors to the Imamate. Humanities Project for Central Asia (1997-2000). Between 2000 to 2002 Najam served as Outreach & Training Coordinator, University of Central Asia, at Khorog, Tajikistan campus piloting innovative distance education programs (including some through radio) for giving access to resources to adult learners in isolated communities. In 1998, he completed his PhD from Tajik National University, based on his postgraduate research on Kazakhstan’s Post-Independence Press at the Kazakh State University in Almaty (1994-97). Najam has a Master’s in Political Science. For his Bachelor’s degree, Najam studied Economics in Muslim settings, Fiqh and Arabic.
Najam is an Editorial Board Member for The International Journal of Policy Studies (IJPS) published in partnership with the Society for Social Sciences and Research Association (SSSARA) in Karachi, Pakistan, and, Central Eurasian Reader: A Biennial Journal of Critical Bibliography and Epistemology of Central Eurasian Studies. This journal is published by the Centre for Turkish, Ottoman, Balkan, and Central Asian Studies (CETOBAC), at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS) based in Paris. He is also on the experts’ panel for South and Central Asian Affairs of EastWest Institute, Brussels.
Najam has contributed book reviews to a number of academic publications, appearing frequently in the Muslim World Book Review.
