ACADEMIC PROFILE:
Leon is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology at the University of Liverpool, UK.
Leon is currently leading on two substantial projects about decolonising the university. Firstly, he is guest editing a special issue of the International Journal of Social Research Methodology which focuses on decolonial research. Secondly, he is coordinating a mentorship programme for women scholars in Brazil and Indonesia. This project is funded by a large research grant from The British Academy and involves collaborating with Dr Camila Prando (University of Brasilia) and Professor Nina Nurmila (Indonesian International Islamic University).
Leon joined the University of Liverpool in 2012, soon after completing his PhD.
Between 2013 and 2022, Leon was based in Singapore where he was the Director of the University of Liverpool in Singapore. In 2016, Leon’s team in Singapore was nominated for a University of Liverpool Staff Award and received an official commendation.
Leon returned to the home campus in Liverpool in 2022.
Leon’s research interests fall within three interrelated areas. Firstly, he specialises in racism, Orientalism, whiteness, and white privilege. Secondly, he researches British Muslim converts and Islamophobia. Thirdly, he writes about epistemic decolonisation, decolonising the curriculum, decolonising criminology, and the limitations of decolonial projects. In 2024, Leon was nominated for a University of Liverpool Staff Award in relation to his work in these areas.
Amongst his most notable works are The Decolonial Bandwagon and the Dangers of Intellectual Decolonisation (2020) and The Racialization of Muslim Converts in Britain and Their Experiences of Islamophobia (2015).
In 2021, Leon founded The Decolonial Critique, a global network of more than 2,000 scholars and activists who have an interest in theoretical and applied approaches to coloniality/decoloniality within and beyond the university. In 2023, Leon was shortlisted for the National Centre for Research Methods Impact Prize in relation to this initiative.
Leon is routinely invited to deliver talks, seminars, and workshops about his research expertise. He has been invited as a keynote speaker in multiple academic conferences and he has delivered more than 60 invited talks for institutions in the UK, Latvia, Switzerland, Iran, Turkey, Germany, Australia, Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Lebanon, Netherlands, Belgium, and South Africa. Leon has also delivered presentations at more than 35 academic conferences around the world.
Leon is a regular expert contributor to international news media. He has also been invited to provide expert advice to a large number of governmental and non-governmental organisations around the world. Recently, the UK Parliament’s Education Select Committee published Leon’s written evidence in relation to their inquiry about international students in English universities.
Leon is keen to supervise PhD projects that relate to any area of the sociology of race and religion. In particular, Leon would welcome PhD proposals about the following areas:
– Coloniality and neo-colonialism
– Decoloniality and decolonisation
– Post-colonialism
– Racism and racialisation
– Islamophobia
– Hate crime
– Critical Whiteness Studies
– Mixed Race Studies
– Orientalism
– Muslims in the West
– Conversion to Islam
– Religious sectarianism
– Interfaith dialogue
– Social theory