I studied first Classics, and then Oriental Languages and Cultures at the university of my native town Ghent, Belgium. In 2005, I started a PhD project at Ghent University, which aimed at reconstructing the early Islamic landscape of southern Iraq and neighbouring Khuzestan, focused mainly on the river and irrigation systems. I cooperated closely with an interdisciplinary team of archaeologists, geologists and remote sensing specialists, which proved extremely fruitful. I received my PhD in October 2009.
I have worked in Egypt for nearly five years (2009-2014), as the Assistant Director at the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo (NVIC), where I was responsible for the teaching programs and research activities of the Arabic and Islamic Studies branch. My time in Egypt was made extraordinarily intense by the January 2011 revolution and its aftermath.
Since May 2014, I am working in the ERC project “The Early Islamic Empire at Work: The View from the Regions toward the Centre” at the University of Hamburg, where I am responsible for the key region of Fars, in Iran.
My research interests include historical geography, material culture and cartography of the early Islamic period. Methodologically, I believe in the power of interdisciplinary team work, and I’m interested in the use of digital tools to widen the possibilities of textual and geographical research.
Apart from my work at the University of Hamburg, I am still involved in research in Khuzestan, with Jan Walstra and Vanessa Heyvaert at the Geological Survey of Belgium. I am also working on a long-term project about the manuscripts and maps of al-Istakhri and Ibn Hawqal.
Most of my publications are available online at uni-hamburg.academia.edu/PeterVerkinderen
