The Australian Academy of Humanities (AAH) has elected Prof. Peter Riddell (a past LST lecturer and now Visiting Lecturer) to its Fellowship – the highest honour for achievement in and contribution to the humanities in Australia. The Australian Academy of Humanities reflect Australia’s diverse learned humanities community and its Fellows are recognised for their outstanding contributions in a broad range of fields ranging from bioethics and the philosophy of medicine to Indigenous Australian and Pacific languages and cultures; the Chinese justice system, digital media technologies, music performance and education, Islam and interfaith relations; feminism, and literary studies. Peter’s expertise includes Islam in Southeast Asia, Qur’anic commentary, interfaith relations; Malay commentary on the Qur’an; vernacularisation of Islam in the Malay-Indonesian world; historical development of Qur’anic commentary: Australian College of Theology.

Peter comments “My work at LST was absolutely vital in the process that led to my AAH election. Dr Peter Cotterell’s vision in conceiving the Centre for Islamic Studies provided me with the vehicle for my own work”. Peter was appointed in May 2003, as the third Professor at LST, following those of Max Turner and Tony Lane.