Biography
Dr Carool Kersten has been at King’s College London since 2007. Before that he was a faculty member at the Centre for International and Graduate Studies at Payap University in Thailand. He has also been an associate lecturer at the Open University (UK), a guest lecturer at the Institute of Ismaili Institute (IIS), a research associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and associate fellow at the Asia Research Institute (ARI) of the National University of Singapore.
Dr Kersten has a PhD in the study of religions from SOAS; an MA (cum laude) in Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies from Radboud University Nijmegen (Netherlands); and a Certificate in Southeast Asian Studies from Payap University (Thailand). He is also a sworn translator with the Courts in the Netherlands and a member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL) in the UK.
Before turning to an academic career, he worked for 12 years in the corporate sector, including 10 years as an expatriate in Saudi Arabia.
Research interests and PhD supervision
- Intellectual history of the modern and contemporary Muslim World
- Political Islam
- Islam in Southeast Asia
- Islam in Global and transregional contexts
- Theory and method in the study of religions
Teaching
Dr Kersten teaches undergraduate and postgraduate modules on modern and contemporary Islam with an emphasis on politics and intellectual history.
Expertise and public engagement
Dr Kersten is the founding editor of the book series Contemporary Thought in the Islamic World for Routledge and a founding member of BRAIS, the British Association for Islamic Studies, serving a second term on its council and advisory board.
Dr Kersten is a regular commentator on current affairs and developments in the Muslim world in the international media. He also featured in a 2-part documentary made by Islam Channel on the history of Islam in Indonesia and worked as a consultant to the BBC for the development of online content about Islam and Muslims. In 2015 this work was recognized with the King’s Award for Media Personality of the Year