Starmus VII
Dr Rim Turkmani is senior policy fellow at London School of Economics and Political Science
leading research programmes on peace and conflict in the Arab world. She is also a member
of the Women’s Advisory Board to the UN Special Envoy to Syria.
Prior to joining LSE in 2014, Dr Turkmani was an Astrophysicist working at the Imperial
College and Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellow of the Royal Society. The escalation of war in
her home country prompted her to make the gradual transition into conflict studies. Her
scientific background influences her empirical approach and emphasis on using technology
and science for modelling and data collection. She pioneered new methods of collecting
data in conflict zones and co-developed new conflict database. Dr Turkmani’s research is
centred around legitimate governance in the Middle East, local conflict and peace drivers
and the role of civil society in conflict zones. She has produced wide -reaching research on
the lack of democracy and persistent violent conflicts in the Arab World. Using historically
grounded and contextualised approaches, she tackles key issues that continue to drive
protests and conflicts in the region.
She is also active in the field of Historic Arabic and Islamic science and its influence on
Europe. She curated the international Arabick Roots exhibitions which traced the influence
of Arabic/Islamic science and culture on 17th century Europe, exhibited at The Royal Society
in London in 2011 and at the Doha Museum of Islamic Art in 2012. Amongst her
publications, she has authored a book entitled ‘Arabick Roots’ She has contributed to
several exhibitions and documentaries including Cosmos and Culture at the Science Museum
in London, and 1001 Inventions. In 2015 she was named in the top twenty most influential
women in Science in the Islamic World by Muslim science magazine.
