National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies launched

By David Towson, IEU Organiser

The Hon. Daryl Melham MP (Member for Banks), Professor Janice Reid (UWS Vice-Chancellor), Professor John Ingleson (UWS Deputy Vice-Chancellor), Professor Bryan Turner (Centre Director).

The IEU was honoured to accept an invitation to the launch of the University of Western Sydney’s Centre for the Study of Contemporary Muslim Societies at its Bankstown Campus, writes IEU Organiser David Towson.

The Centre forms part of the umbrella of the National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies (NCEIS) which is now hosted between UWS, Griffith University and the University of Melbourne.

Many IEU members are alumni of UWS and there are 140 student members currently studying at UWS.

The Hon Daryl Melham MP, Member for Banks, gave the opening address at the launch and pointed out just how appropriate UWS was as the NSW site for the expansion of the NCEIS: “It is fitting that the NSW base for the National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies be located here in western Sydney. Eight of the 10 seats in the House of Representatives with the highest proportion of persons of the Islamic religion are based in Western and South Western Sydney, including my own seat of Banks."

The Centre’s Director, Professor Bryan Turner, said the University’s latest, independent research centre “aims to develop research programs that will advance Australian and international understanding of Islam and promote harmony and cultural inclusiveness”. Professor Turner said the Centre would place a strong emphasis on researching the experiences and aspirations of Muslim youth in contemporary Australia. 

Professor Turner stated that the Centre would focus on “the study of Muslim communities and how they fit into and adapt to secular societies”. An international approach to the study of Muslim culture and societies will be adopted by the Centre as it conducts comparative studies on minority Muslim communities living in multicultural societies such as Australia, USA, England, France and Singapore.

The IEU congratulates the UWS on the launch of the Centre and shares Daryl Melham’s aspirations for the Centre and the role it will hopefully play in combating some of the prejudices prevalent in corners of our society:

“This Centre will take a significant step toward overcoming the prejudice that quite frankly exists in the community about Muslim people. As we know prejudice is firmly based in ignorance and misunderstanding.

“The best way to overcome prejudice is to provide facts about that which is misunderstood. It is through intellectual rigour and application that society can be persuaded that their assumptions may well be ill-informed and ignorant. It is in confronting our prejudices and bringing them out into the open that we grow and mature as a society”.