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Portrait of Dr. Wael Saleh
Portrait of Dr. Wael Saleh
Researcher · Author · Advisor

Ph.D. in Applied Human Sciences · Islamic Studies and Political Science

Two decades of scholarship at the intersection of political Islam, post-Arab-Spring transformations, and the geopolitics of religion, translated into books, peer-reviewed studies, and advisory work for universities and international research institutes.

Know more about me Selected publications

Research Centers and Academic Memberships

Acfas IPRA Institut du Pluralisme Religieux PLURIEL

About

A scholar of ideas, and the politics that move them.

Dr. Wael Saleh is an associate professor at the Institut d’études internationales de Montréal (IEIM, UQAM), and Political Islam Affairs Advisor at TRENDS Research & Advisory, where he also directs the organization’s offices in Canada and France.

His research traces the religio-political imagination of the contemporary Arab world: the conception of the state, the place of religiosity in public life, and the long shadow of Islamist movements before and after the Arab Spring. He is the co-founder of the Institute of Post-Arab Spring Studies and head of PLURIEL’s research group on the epistemological and methodological challenges of studying violence in the name of Islam.

Across five monographs, dozens of peer-reviewed chapters and articles, and frequent international media commentary, his work seeks one thing: to make the study of political Islam more rigorous, more humane, and more legible across linguistic and cultural divides.

  • 10+
    Books authored
  • 15+
    Years of research
  • 3
    Working languages

Areas of Specialization

Where the work concentrates

Four interlocking fields of inquiry, applied across academia, advisory practice, and public discourse.

Islamic Studies

Discourse analysis, hermeneutics, and comparative reading of contemporary Arab-Muslim thought.

Geopolitics of Ideas

How religio-political ideas circulate, mutate, and contend across the Arab world and its diasporas.

Political Islam

Islamism, post-Islamism, the Muslim Brotherhood’s international dynamics, and pathways of radicalization.

Religion and Globalization

Pluralism, interreligious dialogue, and the place of faith in late-modern public spheres.

Methods and recurring themes

Discourse analysis Hermeneutics Comparative studies State and nation Civil society Religious freedom Radicalization Religion and violence Post-Arab Spring Muslim Brotherhood Interreligious dialogue

Experience and Employment

A trajectory across institutions

From Montreal classrooms to international advisory work, bridging academic research and applied policy analysis.

  1. TRENDS Research & Advisory

    2021, Present

    Political Islam Affairs Advisor; Director, Canada and France Offices

    Leading flagship publications including the Muslim Brotherhood International Power Index (MBIPI), and overseeing TRENDS’ research presence in Canada and France.

  2. Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)

    2019, 2022

    Associate Professor, Institut d’études internationales de Montréal (IEIM)

    Teaching geopolitics of religion, post-2011 Arab worlds, and Islam and modernity.

  3. Université de Montréal

    2017, 2022

    Researcher and Teaching Assistant, Institute of Religious Studies (IER)

    Senior research advisor on political Islam, post-Arab Spring trajectories, and contemporary Arab thought.

  4. Raoul-Dandurand Chair, UQAM

    2013, Present

    Associate Researcher, Observatory on the Middle East and North Africa

    Long-running affiliation with one of Canada’s premier strategic-studies chairs.

  5. Institute of Post-Arab Spring Studies (IEPPA)

    2017, Present

    Co-founder and Director

Selected Publications

Books, monographs, and reports

A selection from a body of work spanning monographs at L’Harmattan, peer-reviewed chapters and articles, and TRENDS research publications, in English, French, and Arabic.

L’Harmattan · 2018

À la recherche d’un aggiornamento de l’islam

Des voies arabes contemporaines · ISBN 978-2-343-14830-4

L’Harmattan · 2017

L’islam politique à l’ère du Post-printemps arabe

with Patrice Brodeur · ISBN 978-2-343-13669-1

L’Harmattan · 2017

La conception de l’État dans la pensée égyptienne contemporaine

Comprendre le Moyen-Orient · ISBN 978-2-343-11353-1

TRENDS · 2024

The Muslim Brotherhood’s International Power Index 2022, 2023

English and French editions
Applied Islamismology cover

TRENDS · 2021

Applied Islamismology

Toward an Arab Epistemological Reference Framework for Studying Political Islam

TRENDS · 2022

Muslim Brotherhood: Side Glances

edited with Mohamed Al-Ali, Fatouh Haikal, Leyla Ozmenekse

TRENDS · 2024

Déconstruire des idées reçues sur l’islamisme frériste égyptien

with Patrice Brodeur
Université de Sherbrooke · 2010 La prise de décision politique chez les Frères musulmans

Université de Sherbrooke · 2010

La prise de décision politique chez les Frères musulmans

Convictions idéologiques ou considérations opportunistes ? · Mémoire de maîtrise

Peer-Reviewed

Articles and book chapters

A selection of refereed contributions appearing in journals and edited volumes across France, Canada, and the Arab world.

RG View on ResearchGate

Selected publications in Arabic

TRENDS Research and Advisory · العربية

Funded Research and Project Collaborations

A track record of competitive funding

Selected research grants and project collaborations conducted with Patrice Brodeur, Aurélie Campana, Dominique Avon, and Saʻd al-Dīn al-Hilālī, among others.

SSHRC · Savoir 2018

Études sur l’islamisme au post-« printemps arabe »

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

Co-investigator with Patrice Brodeur (principal applicant).

SSHRC 2013

Freedom of Religion in Tunisia and Egypt

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

Co-investigator with Patrice Brodeur (principal applicant).

BRDV · UdeM 2017

Dynamiques contemporaines de l’islamisme

Bureau Recherche-Développement-Valorisation, Université de Montréal

IER · UdeM 2017

Vers une nouvelle typologie de l’islam politique

Institute of Religious Studies, Université de Montréal

Project collaborations

  • Al-Azhar (2011, 2018): actors, debates, dynamics, with Prof. Dominique Avon (EPHE, Chair “Sunni Islam,” Paris).
  • Offers and agents of Islamist radicalization, with Prof. Aurélie Campana (Laval University).
  • How to live together in peace in Islam, with Saʻd al-Dīn al-Hilālī (Al-Azhar University).
  • Mapping post-Arab-Spring Islamist actors, with Patrice Brodeur (Université de Montréal).

Conferences and Teaching

Lectures, plenaries, and courses

Plenary addresses at PLURIEL international congresses, sessions at the Acfas annual congress, and graduate courses in Montreal.

Courses taught

  • Geopolitics of Religions
  • Introduction to Islam
  • Islam and Modernity
  • Post-2011 Arab worlds: actors, socio-political evolutions, and geopolitical issues

  1. February 2024 · Abu Dhabi

    Co-organizer, Congress “Islam and Fraternity”

    PLURIEL and TRENDS Research and Advisory.

  2. December 2024 · Lyon, France

    Du dialogue interreligieux au dialogue inter-Weltanschauungen

    Faculté de Théologie, Lyon, invited address.

  3. May 2022 · Université Laval

    L’étude de l’islamisme entre l’Occident et le monde arabe

    Co-organizer, 89th Congrès de l’Acfas.

  4. June 2018 · Rome

    Appartenance(s) et territoire(s) au prisme de la religiosité

    2nd International PLURIEL Congress, “Islam et appartenances.”

  5. March 2019 · CÉRIUM, Montréal

    Islamisme et violence : débats et enjeux

    Co-organizer, Université de Montréal.

  6. October 2018 · Montréal

    Aggiornamento de l’islam et penseurs de la rupture

    Festival du Monde Arabe de Montréal.

Memberships and Profiles

Find Wael across the academic world

LinkedIn

Professional profile and updates

Expert profile, Political Islam advisor
Dandurand

Associate researcher, UQAM
Acfas

Francophone Association for Knowledge
PLURIEL

University Research Platform on Islam
CÉRIUM

Université de Montréal
RG ResearchGate

Research profile and publications
IPRA Institut du Pluralisme Religieux

France

Get in touch

For lectures, collaborations, and press inquiries

Open to academic collaborations, advisory engagements, and invited talks. Email is the fastest way to reach me.

wael_saleh@hotmail.com

Based in

Montréal, Canada

Working between

Canada · France · UAE

Languages

Arabic · French · English