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In my role as Book Review Editor of the Journal of Arabian Studies, I must give thanks to the contributors to our latest issue. Volume 14, number 1, is formally dated June 2024, but was published online on May 7, 2025. Our authors include Amal Sachedina, Fariz Alnizar, Maha Fallatah, Simon Coppieters and Thomas Lippman. I thank Bloomsbury, Cambridge University Press, Routledge and Stanford University Press, for publishing the works under review and sending copies. I worked most directly with Gerd Nonneman and Fatemeh Teimoorzadeh in editing the pieces. Joselle Duculan-Macarandan, our production editor, completed essential work further in the background. You can find the contents of this issue on the website of Taylor & Francis:

Alf mabrūk (a thousand congratulations) to Maryam Al-Tajer on successfully defending her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) thesis at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar! Her project is entitled “Vessels of Spirituality: Merging Faith and Form.� I thank my fellow committee members, Giovanni Innella and Yasmeen Suleiman, for advising Maryam in this work together with me. I also say grazie to Marco Bruno for scheduling the oral defenses and thanks to Rab McClure for directing our MFA program. Our colleagues at our VCU Graduate School in Richmond, including Manu Gupta, Sarah Steele, Kat Roberson and Cynthia Myron, provided additional support. Maryam’s objects are on display at our show Art and Design Now at M7 till July 5, 2025. Her thesis is available on our Scholars Compass:

As Associate Editor of the Review of Middle East Studies (RoMES), I have to say a big thank you to the contributors to our most recent issue (volume 57, number 2). I am particularly indebted to Zarqa Parvez and Wolfgang G. Schwanitz, the authors of an article and a review respectively. I have worked most closely with the two of them. Additionally, I thank my colleagues in our Editorial Office, Heather Ferguson, Ghayde Ghraowi and ErisJames Elliot, plus our collaborators at Cambridge University Press for their leadership and efforts. The new issue of RoMES is formally dated December 2023, but was published online in its entirety on April 25, 2025. You can scroll the contents on Cambridge Core:

A very big thanks and diolch yn fawr iawn to Nicholas Campion of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David for writing a long and detailed review of my book Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Astronomy: A Modern History (Springer)! He engages with my work over ten pages (293�302) in the Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage (JAHH) 28, no. 1 (2025). Nick concludes: “Overall, this is an important and thought-provoking book, which provides a valuable addition to the work on the history of modern astronomy, and of the emerging field of cultural astronomy, a reminder that astronomers, like any other professional group, have a culture. Determann should be congratulated for opening complex new academic terrain with sensitivity and rigorous attention to detail.� The JAHH is published by the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). I express sincere gratitude to the editorial team and especially to Clifford Cunningham and Wayne Orchiston. Read and download this open access content on SciEngine:

My profoundest gratitude to Peter Martin, Nimer Murshid and Sahar Mari for commissioning a new website for our Qatar Teaching and Learning Forum (QTLF)! Reem Kensouh, Hiba Hamad, and Khalifa Al Thani, three students at Carnegie Mellon University Qatar, built the site for us under the mentorship of their professor, Mohammad Aazam. They used Squarespace. You can browse our new pages and find links to our Instagram and LinkedIn profiles here:

Very many thanks to Wayne Orchiston and his colleagues at the Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage (JAHH) for publishing a paper by our Working Group on Star Names, which is part of the International Astronomical Union! Our article is entitled “The IAU Working Group on Star Names (WGSN): A Review of Recent Activities.� It appeared in the JAHH 28, no. 1 (2025): 280�86. Special thanks to Susanne Hoffmann, our group’s chair, and to Yang Boshun for making this possible! My further appreciation goes to Doris Vickers, Eric Mamajek and Danielle Adams for their leadership and to all our co-authors for their contributions. The JAHH is a publication of the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). Find this open access content on SciEngine:

Thank you, teşekkürler, takk, and dank u to Merve Tabur of the University of Oslo and Utrecht University for reviewing my book Islam, Science Fiction and Extraterrestrial Life (I.B. Tauris). Her discussion appeared in the International Journal of Middle East Studies (IJMES) 56, no. 4 (November 2024): 686�88. She writes: “As a text that offers South–South comparisons by putting into dialogue texts that have never been studied together before, Islam, Science Fiction and Extraterrestrial Life is commendable in its scope, goals, and methodological choices. The book’s accessible language and interdisciplinary approach make it a compelling read not only for scholars and students of history, literature, and cultural and religious studies but also for general readers curious about ufological imaginations.� IJMES is published by Cambridge University Press under the auspices of the Middle East Studies Association of North America. This content first appeared on Cambridge Core on February 28, 2025. .

I have an abundance of gratitude to Esmat Zaidan and Byrad Yyelland for moderating a panel with Ghizlane Bendriss, Yasemin Celikkol, Sara Hillman, Maryam Al-Sada, Mysti Rudd, Jeffrey Squires and me. This edition of the Qatar Faculty Forum was entitled “Privileging Multiple Ways of Knowing: Perspectives from Education City.� It took place at Northwestern University in Qatar on April 23, 2025. I thank Caroline Rodrigues, Rodel Losa and Roberto Billote for their essential logistical and technical support. You can view the slides of my presentation “Researching Science Fiction with Diverse Teams of Students� on Academia.edu:

My congratulations and تهانيني to my daughter Maria on being one of the winners of the Arabic calligraphy competition at Doha English Speaking School (DESS). I thank the school’s Department of Islamic Studies and Arabic for awarding her a certificate. My special appreciation and تقديري الخاص go to her Arabic and Qatar history teachers, Amany Housiny and Hadeel Alrejjal, for developing her handwriting. You can find the list of winners and their pictures in the school newsletter dated April 24, 2025:

I have a sky full of gratitude to Amanda Coleman and Ayman Beydoun of McKesson Corporation for inviting me to speak about astronomy in celebration of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Heritage Month. My presentation, which I gave on April 23, 2025, is entitled “Space and the Stars in Middle Eastern Heritage.� Yousra Lahbabi served as event contact for our session on Microsoft Teams. I also thank my colleague Michael Forder at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond for introducing me to Amanda back in September. You can find my visuals on Prezi: