We are delighted to share the news that our Chair, Nicholas Sims-Williams, Emeritus Professor of Iranian and Central Asian Studies at SOAS University of London, has been awarded the Farabi International Award for Iranian and Islamic Studies. Professor Sims-Williams travelled to Tehran at the end of January to receive the award, which honours his life’s work in Old and Middle Iranian philology – the study of the history of language, including the historical study of literary texts.
Aimed at developing Islamic Humanities, the Farabi International Award is now in its tenth year. It is presented by the Iranian Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, in collaboration with UNESCO and ISESCO and several scientific and research centres in Iran. It is named after Abu Nasr al-Farabi (c.878–c.950 CE), known in the West as Alpharabius, a renowned philosopher, jurist, scientist, cosmologist and mathematician.
Professor Sims-Williams was one of 30 domestic and 6 international recipients of this year’s award, presented by Es’haq Jahangiri, Vice-President of Iran, at a ceremony held at the Iran International Conference Center on 27 January.