Dr. Mutaz al-Khatib is currently Associate Professor of Methodology and Ethics at the Research Center for Islamic Legislation and Ethics (CILE), as well as the first-of-its-kind MA program in Applied Islamic Ethics at the College of Islamic Studies at Hamad Bin Khalifa University. He is a founding member of the Journal of Islamic Ethics and the Studies in Islamic Ethics book series, where he also serves as editor-in-chief of the latter. He holds a BA in Islamic Studies from Damascus (1997) and in Arabic Literature from Al-Azhar University. 

Al-Khatib was a founding member of al-Multaqā al-Fikrī li-l Ibdā’ (Intellectual Forum for Innovation, 1999), and the anchor of “Al Sharia wa-l Ḥayāt” program on Al Jazeera Channel (2004 -2013). He was also the Editor-in-Chief of the "Islam and Contemporary Affairs" section on IslamOnline.net (2003-2008). 

He was a visiting fellow at ZMO in Berlin (2006) and a visiting scholar at the Forum Transregionale Studien, Berlin (2012-2013), as well as a Visiting Lecturer at the American University of Beirut, the Islamic University of Beirut, and Qatar University. He has presented lectures at various reputable academic institutions, including University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Princeton University, University of Florida, University of California, University of Tübingen, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, and Lund University. 

He is a reviewer for a number of journals and has authored and edited several books and over 40 academic articles on Ḥadīth criticism, Islamic Ethics, Islamic intellectual history, Maqāṣid (the higher objectives of Sharia), and Islamic Law. He has also published extensively in Arabic-language newspapers and magazines.

Dr. Joseph Lumbard is Associate Professor of Quranic Studies at CIS. He has previously taught at the American University of Sharjah, Brandeis University, and the American University in Cairo. He also served as Advisor for Interfaith Affairs to the Jordanian Royal Court. He received his PhD in Islamic Studies from Yale University and has studied with scholars in Morocco, Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, and Iran. His scholarship contributes to the fields of Islamic philosophical theology, Sufism, and Quranic studies. He served as author, translator, and general editor for The Study Quran (HarperOne 2015), which has been heralded as one of the most important contributions to Islamic studies in the English language. His current research incorporates aspects of Quranic studies, philosophy, and theology to focus upon the development of epistemologies in Islam.

Dr. Alexandre Caeiro is an Associate Professor at CIS. He was trained in sociology and in Islamic studies in France, the Netherlands, and Egypt. His research deals broadly with the transformations of Islamic law in modern contexts. He is currently working on the legal history of Gulf sheikhdoms, focusing on the interaction between emirs, shari’a judges, merchants, and British agents in the context of the development of an oil economy and modern state institutions.

Dr. Dheen Mohamed is Program Director of the PhD program in Islamic Studies and Professor of Comparative Religion and Contemporary Quranic Studies at the College of Islamic Studies (CIS), Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU). He earned his BA (Hons.), MA, and PhD in Theology and Philosophy from al‑Azhar University. Before joining HBKU in 2013, he served as Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Qatar University (QU) and held senior academic roles as Dean, HoD, and Director of Academics at the International Islamic University, Islamabad (IIUI). His teaching and research span comparative religion, Sufism (taṣawwuf), contemporary Qur’anic studies, Islamic philosophy, and Islamic thought. Recent publications include the chapter “Introduction to Islam” in Contemporary Islamic Perspectives in Public Health (Cambridge University Press, 2025), and peer‑reviewed articles in Afkar (2024) and the Journal of Islamic Thought and Civilization (2024). He has supervised more than 35 graduate theses and contributed to curriculum design at IIUI, QU, and HBKU. At CIS, he works at Muhammad Bin Hamad Al Thani Center for Muslim Contribution to Civilization (CMCC) and contributes to the Digital Sīrah Initiative.

Ms. Rowaida Ziad Taha earned her Bachelor’s degree in Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology from Jordan University of Science and Technology, College of Science (JUST). In 2008, she joined Weill Cornell Medical College, Doha, Qatar, as a Research Technician. Her work was mainly on projects related to stem cell and cancer biology research, those which included a variety of molecular and cellular biology techniques. In 2010, she worked at Shafallah Medical Genetics Center (SMGC) as a Research Assistant focusing on delineating the spectrum and distribution of Family Mediterranean Fever (FMF) among Arab patients and on mutation identification for MEFV, to assist research into the genotype-phenotype correlation of these patients. In 2014, Ms. Taha joined QBRI as a Research Associate. She has mainly contributed to several variation verifications and sequencing validation for genes pertaining to Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Dr. Wesal holds a Bachelor’s in Medical Laboratory Sciences, a Master’s in Diagnostic Molecular Biology and Human Genetics, a Doctorate in Business Administration, and has a rich background in medical research and administration. Formerly a teaching assistant at Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST), she contributed as a research and laboratory supervisor, specializing in DNA extraction, mutation screening, and forensic gene scanning. Subsequently, she was a senior research associate at the Shafallah Medical Genetics Center, Doha, leading projects in the areas of genetics, Autism, and Exome Sequencing research.

In 2014, Dr. Wesal joined Qatar Biomedical Research Institute (QBRI), focusing on identifying mutations for Intellectual Disability. Currently, her work delves into molecular biology and biomarker identification in Autism. It centers on studying the properties of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and CRISPR-CAS9 of people on the Autism spectrum, exploring characteristics of cells differentiated into cortical neurons. Dr. Wesal's extensive expertise contributes significantly to cutting-edge research in neurological disorders.

Ms. Samia Ltaief obtained her Master's degree in Research in Life Sciences, specializing in Microbiology and Molecular Epidemiology from Sciences University of Tunis in January 2013. Her project was focused on the adaptation of BHK-21 cells in suspension culture and the study of their capacity for replication of the rabies virus. She carried out her project in the Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology, Biotechnology and Vaccine Development at the Pasteur Institute, Tunisia; she was supervised by Dr. Hella Kallel. Following the completion of her Master's degree, Ms. Ltaief worked as a Senior Lab Technician at a private medical laboratory in Tunisia for one year. She then moved to the XEN Lab of Dermocosmetic products in Tunisia in May 2014 and worked as a Quality Manager for one year. In February 2018, she joined National Center for Cancer Care and Research (NCCCR) in HMC in Qatar as a trainee, learning various immunological techniques.

Currenlty Ms. Ltaief works in QBRI as a senior research associate. Her research interest is focused on studying the role of the immune system among those with autism spectrum disorder and its correlation with neuronal phenotypes under the supervision of Dr. Abeer Al-Shammari.

Mrs. Neyla Al Akl received her Bachelor’s degree in Medical Laboratory Technology from the Balamand University, Lebanon and pursued her Master’s in Immunology and Microbiology from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. She worked as an assistant embryologist at EVE Fertility Center in Beirut and after obtaining her MS degree she joined the department of Experimental pathology, Immunology and Microbiology at the American University of Beirut as a Research Assistant. During her 7 years of laboratory research work she was involved in several projects related to the effect of bovine cartilage, antibiotics and Coley’s mixed bacterial toxin on tumor growth, in addition to defining the mechanism of action of certain vaccine adjuvants.

Mrs Neyla joined QBRI in 2018 and is part of Dr. Arredouani's team. She provides technical and administrative support to all members of the team and is also involved in a research project that focuses on the association between the salivary alpha- amylase and metabolic disorders in the Qatari population.

Ilham Yahya Abdi studied at the University of Westminster in London, U.K, where she completed her B.S.c in Biomedical Sciences in 2014, and her M.Sc. in Medical Molecular Sciences in 2015. For her M.Sc. research project, she studied the ‘Regulatory effects of estrogen on microglia function and behavior’. After her studies, Ilham completed a 3-month rotational training program at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) Pathology laboratories in Doha, in January 2018. She then continued her training at HMC were she was involved in a voluntary research internship at the Interim Translational Research Institute (iTRI) that she completed in April 2018. There she worked on various projects involving epidermal inflammation and the effects of various therapeutic agents on cutaneous inflammation under the supervision of Dr. Joerg Buddenkote. 

Ilham joined QBRI in July 2018 as a Research Assistant in Dr. Omar El Agnaf’s team. Her research interests lie in the field of neurological disorders, in particular, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, and developing diagnostic tools for them. Her current research project is developing immunoassays and discovering novel biomarkers for Parkinson’s disease and related disorders.

Dr. Diane received his Master’s degree in Nutrition and Dietetics from Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, Senegal. He completed his PhD in Human Nutrition at AgroParisTech Institute, Paris (France). After completion of his doctoral degree in 2006, Dr. Diané was awarded a Postdoctoral Research Training Fellowship in Obesity/Healthy Body Weight Program from CIHR with an opportunity to work at the the Lipid Research Centre at Laval University in Quebec, Canada; here he worked on cardiovascular complications of diabetes from 2007-2008.

In November 2008, he joined the Metabolic and Cardiovascular Diseases Laboratory at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada as a Postdoctoral Researcher/Research Associate & Teaching Assistant for 8 years. He worked on many research projects investigating the impact of nutrition and pharmacotherapies on cardiometabolic risk in animal models of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, metabolic syndrome, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

In 2014, he briefly joined (9 months) the Northern Medical Program, University of Northern British Columbia, Canada as a Postdoctoral Research Associate investigating the physiological and molecular mechanisms of the Pituitary Adenylate Cylase-Activating Polypeptide (PACAP) involved in adaptive thermogenesis.

In August 2017, he joined Dr. Dehbi’s group as a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Diabetes Research Center of QBRI working on many projects related to the role of heat shock proteins, in the pathophysiology of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

Dr. Diané has extensive experience in pre-clinical animal models of chronic metabolic diseases. He will help in the setup of functional vivarium at QBRI, developing animal models of metabolic diseases.