The First Global Enlightenment Forum

Poster for the Global Enlightenment Forum on Saturday, April 12th, 2025. The background features a detailed painting of classical sculptures, architecture, and artworks in an art gallery.

Saturday, 12th April 2025

The First Global Enlightenment Forum centred around the origins, growth, proliferation and application of Enlightenment thought and philosophy to the Arab and non-Western world. As modern academia continues to discover the global roots that found some of history's most important philosophical movements, we wish to tease apart the intellectual heritage and impact of the Enlightenment vis-à-vis its closest neighbour; the Middle East. This spans the breadth and depth of intellectual canon: philosophy, literature, science, history, economics and politics.

We were delighted to hear from the following academics and intellectuals:

Professor Nicholas Cronk

Professor of French Literature and European Enlightenment Studies at St Edmund's Hall and Wolfson College; Director of the Voltaire Foundation at the University of Oxford,

on Voltaire in the Arab World.

A man with glasses and gray hair, wearing a tan jacket, white shirt, and red tie, stands at a podium with a microphone, giving a presentation. A large screen behind him displays text discussing Islamic traditions and history.

Dr Dmitri Levitin

Fifty-Pound Fellow in History at All Soul's College, University of Oxford,

on European and Islamicate Intellectual Change, 1300–1800: Knowledge, Institutions, and the Market.

A man standing at a podium giving a presentation. He is raising his right hand and wearing a suit with a white shirt and glasses. Behind him is a projection screen with a presentation slide titled "European and Islamicate Intellectual Change, 1300-1800". To the left, there is a banner with the logo and name of the "Adam Smith Institute".
A young man in a dark suit and white shirt speaking at a podium with a microphone during a formal event, with a wooden background and a banner behind him.
A conference room filled with attendees seated at tables, listening to a presenter at the front who is standing near a screen. There are multiple large monitors, and a camera is set up in the room. The setting appears professional and formal.
People attending a conference or seminar, sitting at tables in a wood-paneled room, listening and taking notes.
People attentively listening in a formal setting, likely a conference or meeting, with some taking notes.

Professor Nahyan Fancy

Al-Qasimi Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter,

on The History of Science as Entanglement across the Mediterranean.

A man with glasses and gray hair giving a presentation at a podium during a conference.

Professor Ali M. Ansari FRSE

Professor of Iranian History at the University of St. Andrews; President of the British Institute of Persian Studies,

on Whiggism and Iranian Intellectuals.

A man giving a lecture at a podium with the University of St Andrews crest. A presentation slide behind him reads '1906: Iran's Constitutional Moment: the spiritual child of Great Britain?' and features a historical photo of a large crowd of people.

The Rt Hon The Lord Hannan of Kingsclere

Conservative life peer in the House of Lords; Adviser to the Board of Trade; President of the Institute for Free Trade,

on Islam and the birth of market capitalism.

A man in a gray suit giving a presentation at a wooden podium with a small shield emblem, with a display screen behind him showing a slide titled 'Islam and the birth of market capitalism' by Lord Hannan of Kingsclere.

Essay Competition Winners

We were also delighted to hear from the three winners of our student Enlightenment Essay Competition, Noreen Salah, Walid El-Khatib, and Rachel Kennedy. They presented on the Application of Enlightenment Values in the Contemporary Middle East.

Three individuals and an academic appear to be at an award ceremony, holding certificates and standing in front of a screen with a presentation slide.
Young woman speaking into microphone at a podium with Adam Smith Institute logo behind her.

Attendees had the opportunity to discuss Enlightenment principles and comparative intellectual history over breakfast, lunch, tea, coffee, and biscuits. Academics and attendees mingled freely, bringing the heights of academe to the public. And it helped that everyone had a lovely time too!

Gallery

Group of eleven people standing in a conference room in front of a large screen that reads 'Global Enlightenment Forum' with the date 'Saturday 14th April'.
People standing around a high table in a spacious room, engaging in conversation and enjoying coffee, with a counter and clock in the background.