Dr. Glaire Anderson

Hatem Arafa is a graphic designer and calligrapher trained at the Faculty of Traditional Islamic Arts, FSMV University in Istanbul, and currently pursuing an MA in Graphic Design at Karatay University, Konya. His work bridges traditional Arabic calligraphy and contemporary design, with major projects including the logo and interior calligraphy artworks for Assassin’s Creed Mirage (Ubisoft, 2023), commemorative coins for Qatar’s World Cup (2022) and Djibouti (2024), and the interior calligraphy of the Cary Mosque (USA, 2022).

Isabella (Izzy) Inskip focuses on South Asian and Mughal visual culture, using digital visualisation to explore the social and political significance of Mughal encampments during the 17th c.  She is currently a PhD candidate in History of Art at the University of Edinburgh, where she also works as a Multimedia Technician in the uCreate Makerspace. Izzy has an undergraduate degree in Fine Art and a Master’s (MSc) degree in Global Premodern Art from the University of Edinburgh. During her undergraduate degree, Izzy studied Sculpture and History of Art, developing her practice as a digital sculptor as well as her interest in pre-modern Islamic visual culture. She is passionate about historically - informed storytelling and creating accessible outputs from  academic research.

Sarah Slingluff is a specialist in medieval Islamic art and history and the material culture of medieval al-Andalus (Spain and Portugal - PhD, University of Edinburgh). She is currently a Postdoctoral Associate in Medieval Islamic Art, Art History and Archaeology at the University of Maryland, having previously worked at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. Sarah's experience is grounded in her work on our consultancy and collaboration with Ubisoft and our internal games R&D projects, including our collaboration with Ubisoft World Design Director Maxime Durand. In addition, she brings 10+ years in the classroom, research with medieval Arabic language sources, and ongoing work in archaeology. These provide her with unique approaches to teaching the art, architecture, and archaeology of early Islamic empire for students and professionals in games and entertainment.​

Deniz Vural specialises in Ottoman and Islamic Art History, and fashion history (MA, MScR, History and Art History, University of Edinburgh). Her award-winning MSc thesis on the self-presentation of women in late Ottoman art looked specifically at the paintings and photographs of the artist Mihri Hanim (1885-1954). Deniz was born and raised in Istanbul, and her areas of specialty include cultural exchanges and Westernisation in the Ottoman Empire, self-Orientalising in Ottoman and Turkish media and the representation of the Ottoman Empire in Western art and media. Her experience is grounded in her work on the DLIVCC consultancy and collaboration with Ubisoft on Assassin's Creed Mirage, and our internal games R&D projects, including our collaboration with Ubisoft World Design Director Maxime Durand. She is interested in the possibilities that new media and especially video games offer for making Islamic visual and cultural history more accessible.

Ali Baig is a 3rd-year student at Edinburgh Napier University, studying Business Management with Entrepreneurship. In 2025, he completed a diploma in Islamic Studies with iSyllabus. Previously, He has worked as a Mail Sorter at Royal Mail and as a Consultant & UX/UI Researcher at Making Business Matter.

In 2025, Albeena completed her MLitt in Comparative Literature from the University of Glasgow. Her dissertation examined textual and visual representations of the 1857 revolt through a contrapuntal reading of Felice Beato’s photography alongside her translations of shahr-i-ashob (city lamentation) poems in the collection Fughan-e-Dehli (Lament of Delhi). Albeena holds a Master's and Bachelors in English literature from the University of Delhi. She also has extensive work experience across content development, publishing and communications across India and the UK.