M.H. Ilias, Professor and Director of Gandhian Thought and Development Studies, Mahatma Gandhi University completed his doctoral research in International Studies form Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. His areas of research interest include: Islam in South India, Society and Culture in the Gulf States, Government and Politics in the Arab World, Hadrami migration on the Malabar Coast, Film and Popular Culture in the Islamic World, Peace and Conflict Resolution and Muslims and New Media.
His recent publications include: Arabi-Malayalam: Linguistic-Cultural Traditions of Mappila Muslims of Kerala (co-authored), Society and Change in the Contemporary Gulf (co-edited) and Off-Campus Orientalism: Western University Branch Campuses in the Gulf and India-West Asia Relations: Understanding Cultural Interplays (co-edited) and Space Memory and Jewish National Identity.
Ilias has been the recipient of Ford Foundation Fellowship for Postdoctoral Research (2007) at Oxford University, SUSI Fellowship at Temple University, Philadelphia (2019), and Postdoctoral Visiting Research Fellowship (2008) at the Centre for Modern Orient, Berlin. His articles and chapters have appeared in many collections as well as internationally reputed journals including Oxford Review of Middle East Studies, Asian Journal of Social Sciences, International Journal of Politics, International Studies Journal, Africa Review, Indian Journal of Politics and International Relations, International Journal of Languages and Translations etc.