Olivier Roy (1949) is currently joint-chair at the RSCAS and SPS department of the EUI, and Adjunct Professor at the EUI School of Transnational Governance. Previously he has been senior researcher at the French CNRS and a Professor at the EHESS (Paris). He headed the OSCE’s Mission for Tajikistan (1993-94) and was a Consultant for the UN Office of the Coordinator for Afghanistan (1988).

His field works include Political Islam, the Middle East, Islam in the West, Islamic norms in the public sphere, conversions and apostasy, and comparative religions.

Prof. Roy received an ‘Agrégation de Philosophie’ (1972) and a Ph.D. in Political Sciences. In 2008-2009 he was a visiting Professor at Berkeley University.

He is the author, among other books, of ‘Globalized Islam’ (Columbia University Press), 2004, and ‘Holy Ignorance’ (Oxford UP, 2010), or ‘En Quête de l’Orient perdu’ (Seuil 2014).