The Institute for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies is concerned with Middle Eastern studies, teaching and research. Research areas mainly include:
- Middle East Politics
- Middle East History
- Contemporary Islamic Studies
- Middle East Development
- Islamic Political Economy
- Arabic Literature
- Arabic-English Translation
The Institute contains two research centres, the Centre for Mahgreb Studies for the study of contemporary North Africa and the Centre for Iranian Studies.
The Institute publications include Durham Middle East Papers and Durham Modern Middle East and Islamic World Series, which focus on politics, political economy, security and international relations, and modern history. The Durham Unversity Library has large collections of resources relating to the Middle East and particularly Sudan which can be searched online.
The website features, information about the Institute’s work, staff and publications as well as links to other major Middle Eastern resources .