Dr Samad obtained his PhD from St Antony’s College, Oxford University where he was a British Academy Doctoral Scholar and was history graduate from London Metropolitan. His doctoral thesis was on the relationship between ethnicity and nationalism in the Pakistan movement. He then was a Wingate Postdoctoral Scholar and Associate Fellow of the Cecil Rhodes Chair of Race Relations, Oxford University researching on Muslim identity politics in the UK and was teaching at Oxford and Sussex University. He subsequently went on to become a Research Fellow at the Centre for Research on Ethnic Relations, Warwick University and then later joined the University of Bradford where he held a number of leadership roles including Director of the Ethnicity Social Policy Research Centre and Director of Post-graduate Research as well as Professor of South Asian Studies. He is an emeritus Professor of the University of Bradford.
He was a member of the Expert Group on Humanities advising the European Commission on its FP 7 Research Programme and a Trustee of the Charles Wallace Pakistan Trust. He has played a prominent role in the organisation of a number of learned societies: was Vice-chairman of the British Association for South Asian Studies (BASAS), Executive Committee member of the European Association for South Asian Studies (EASAS), was Deputy Director of the South Asia Research Centre, Geneva and member of the Co-ordinating Council of Area Studies Associations. He is on the editorial board of Contemporary South Asia and was a visiting fellow at Jawaharlal Nehru University and Hanns Seidel Foundation Distinguished Fellow, Institute for Strategic Studies Islamabad.
He is a leading expert on the study of South Asia and its diaspora, has published several books on the topic of Pakistani nationalism, ethnicity, Islam and the War on Terror and the diaspora. He regularly comments for the media on the Muslim diaspora and on politics and security issues in Pakistan for a number of media outlets. He advises a number of European governments on issues related to South Asia and the diaspora.
He is the author of The War and Terror and Pakistan: Jihadis, Military and the People – the struggle for control, Christopher Hurst and Co, London, 2011 and A Nation in Turmoil: Nationalism and Ethnicity in Pakistan 1937-58, Sage, New Delhi, 1995. He co-authored with Gayen Pandey, Faultlines of Nationhood, Roli Press, New Delhi, 2007 and with John Eade, Community Perceptions of Forced Marriage, FCO, 2003. He co-edited with Kasturi Sen, Islam in the European Union: Muslim Youth and the War on Terror, Oxford University Press, Karachi, 2007 and with T. Ranger, and O. Stuart (eds.) Culture Identity and Politics: Ethnic Minorities in Britain, Avebury, Aldershot, 1996. His latest collection of essays Beyond Islam and Security: State and Nation-building in Pakistan since 1947 with R. Long, G. Sing and I. Talbot; and with Gerry Boucher, Social Cohesion and Social Change in Europe, were both published by Routledge (2105) and the latter was reprinted in paperback in 2017.
At present, he is collaborating on the following projects:
• Aligning Migration Management and the Migration-Development Nexus (MIGNEX) with Rashid Memon and Furrukh Khan, funded by the European Union under the Horizon 2020 programme.
• Governance, Masculinity and Radicalization: Attitudes to Violence, with Hassan Javid , funded by LUMS Faculty Initiatives Fund
• Belt and Road Initiative: A comparative Study, with Katherine Adney, Nottingham University
Samad, A. (2017). Elections and Democratic Transition in Pakistan: One Step Forward and Two Steps Backwards. Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, 55 (4), 509-530, doi:10.1080/14662043.2017.1323399.
Samad, A. & Khan, A. (2016). Emerging Counter-Extremism Strategy. Strategic Studies, 36 (2).
Samad, A. (2014). Understanding the insurgency in Balochistan. Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, 52 (2), 293-320, doi:10.1080/14662043.2014.894280.
Samad, A. & Boucher, G. (2013). 'Community Cohesion without parallel lives in Bradford'. Patterns of Prejudice, 47 (3), 269-287, doi:10.1080/0031322X.2013.812343.
Samad, A. (2010). Forced Marriage among Men: An Unrecognised Problem. Critical Social Policy, 30 (2), 189-207, doi:10.1177/0261018309358289.
Samad, A. (1999). 'Nuclear Pakistan: The Emergence of a Peace Movement. Critical Asian Studies, 31 (2).
Samad, A. (1998). Media and Muslim Identity: Intersection of Generation and Gender. Innovation: European Journal of Social Science, 11 (4), 425-438, doi:10.1080/13511610.1998.9968580.
Samad, A. (1998). Editorial: Muslim identities, Islam and Europe. Innovation: European Journal of Social Science, 11 (4), 373-375, doi:10.1080/13511610.1998.9968576.
Samad, A. (1997). Reflections on Partition: A Pakistani Perspective. Journal of Punjab Studies, 4 (1).
Samad, A. & Rex, J. (1996). Multi-Culturalism and Political Integration in Birmingham and Bradford. Innovation: European Journal of Social Science, 9 (1), 11-31, doi:10.1080/13511610.1996.9968470.
Samad, A. (1995). Kashmir and the Imagining of Pakistan. Contemporary South Asia, 4 (1), 65-77, doi:10.1080/09584939508719752.
Samad, A. (1995). Pakistan or Punjabistan: Crisis of National Identity. Journal of Punjab Studies, 2 (1), 23-42.
Samad, A. (1994). Military and Democracy in Pakistan. Contemporary South Asia, 3 (3), 189-201, doi:10.1080/09584939408719741.
Samad, A. (1992). Book Burning and Race Relations: Politicisation of Bradford Muslims. New Community, 18 (4), 507-519, doi:10.1080/1369183X.1992.9976326.
Samad, A. (2016). Post Election Blues: Pakistan-US Relations and Withdrawal from Afghanistan, Published. Shaun Gregory (Eds.), Democratic Transition and Security in Pakistan, Routledge.
Samad, A. (2016). Afghanistan, Pakistan and India: Opportunities for Peace and Conflict, Published. David Vestenskov (Eds.), Regional Stability & Peacebuilding: Initiating Reconciliation Between Afghanistan, Pakistan and Beyond, Royal Danish Defence College.
Samad, A. (2014). Religious Freedoms in Pakistan: Alternative Futures, Published. Sustainable Development in South Asia: Shaping the Future (SDPI's 15th Sustainable Development Conference), Sang-e-Meel Publications.
Samad, A. (2013). Pakistani Diaspora in the UK and USA' in South Asian Diaspora, Published. Joya Chatterji and David Washbrook (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of the South Asian Diaspora, Routledge.
Samad, A. (2012). Diaspora in the Global City, Published. Gerry Boucher, Annette Grindsted and Trinidad L. Vicente (Eds.), Transnationalism in the Global City, University of Deusto.
Samad, A. (2012). Making Sense of Chaos: National Security, Militancy and Interpersonal Violence, Published. Iqbal Haider Butt (Eds.), Securing a Frontline State: Alternative Views on Peace and Conflict in Pakistan, Heinrich Boell Stiftung.
Samad, A. (2011). Transnational Islamic Militancy: A Sociological Perspective, Published. Konrad Pedziwiatr, Patryk Kugiel and Aleksander Danda (Eds.), Current Challenges to Peacebuilding Efforts and Development Assistance, (pp. 263-274), Tischner European University.
Samad, A. (2009). Media and Muslims in the UK: Race Relations and the Changing Representations of Pakistanis, Published. Kerem Öktem et al. (Eds.), Muslims and the Media, Oxford University Press.
Samad, A. (2006). The Religious Right and Violence in Pakistan, Published. Ian Talbot (Eds.), The Deadly Embrace: Religion, Violence and Politics in India and Pakistan, Oxford University Press.
Samad, A. (2005). I giovani musulmani in gran Bretagna: dall' indentia etnica all' indentia regliosa, Published. Jocelyne Cesari and Andrea Pacini (Eds.), Giovani Musulmani in Europa: Tipologie di Appartenenza Religiosa e Dinamiche Socio-culturali, Centre Di Studi Relgiosi Comparati Edoardo Agnelli.
Samad, A. (2002). In and Out of Power but Not Down and Out: Mohajir Identity Politics, Published. Christophe Jaffrelot (Eds.), Pakistan: Nationalism without a Nation, Zed Books.
Samad, A. (1999). Reflections on Partition: Pakistan Perspective, Published. Ian Talbot and Gurharpal Singh (Eds.), Region and Partition: Bengal, Punjab and the Partition of the Subcontinent, Oxford University Press.
Samad, A. (1999). Le "Problème Mohajir' in Le Pakistan carrefour de tensions régionales, Published. Christophe Jaffrelot (Eds.), Le Pakistan carrefour de tensions régionales, Éditions Comlexe.
Samad, A. (1998). Imagining a British Muslim Identification, Published. S. Vertovec and A. Rogers (Eds.), Muslim European Youth: Reproducing Ethnicity, Religion Culture, Ashgate/Avebury.
Samad, A. (1997). The Plural Guises of Multiculturalism: Conceptualising a fragmented Paradigm, Published. Tariq Modood and Pnina Werbner (Eds.), Politics of Multiculturalism in New Europe: Racism, Identity and Community, Zed Books.
Samad, A. (1996). Pakistan or Punjabistan: Crisis of National Identity, Published. Gurharpal Singh and Ian Talbot (Eds.), Punjabi Identity: Continuity and Change, Manohar Publications.
Samad, A. (1996). The Politics of Islamic Identity among Bangladeshis and Pakistanis in Britain, Published. Terence O. Ranger, Yunas Samad and Ossie W. Stuart (Eds.), Culture Identity and Politics: Ethnic Minorities in Britain, Ashgate/Avebury.
Samad, A. (1992). Islam and Islamic Organizations in Germany' and 'Islam and Islamic Organizations in Britain, Published. F. Sheikh (Eds.), Islam and Islamic Organizations: A World Reference Guide, (pp. 81-84, 261-266), Longman.
Samad, A. & Boucher, G. (2017). Social Cohesion and Social Change in Europe (paperback edition), Routledge.
Samad, A., Long, R. & Singh, G. (2016). State and Nation-Building in Pakistan, Routledge.
Samad, A. & Boucher, G. (2016). Social Cohesion and Social Change in Europe, Routledge.
Samad, A. (2011). Pakistan-US Conundrum: Jihadis, Military and the People – the struggle for control, Hurst.
Samad, A. (2010). Muslim Community Cohesion: Bradford Report, Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Samad, A. & Pandey, G. (2007). Fault Lines of Nationhood, Roli Books.
Samad, A. & Sen, K. (2007). Islam in the European Union: Transnationalism, Youth and the War on Terror, Oxford University Press.
Samad, A. & Eade, J. (2003). Community Perceptions of Forced Marriage, Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Samad, A., Ranger, T. & Stuart, O. (1996). Culture Identity and Politics: Ethnic Minorities in Britain, Aveury.
Samad, A. (1995). A Nation in Turmoil: Nationalism and Ethnicity in Pakistan 1937-58, Sage Publications.
Samad, A. (2018). 'CPEC and Security: Foreign Policy'. The Great Transformation? The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and Culture, Economy and Society in Pakistan, LUMS and Nottingham University, Lahore, Pakistan.
Samad, A. (2018). 'Democratization Process, Hybrid Regimes and Judicial Activism: Courts and Politics in Pakistan'. LUMS Annual Conference, Lahore, Pakistan.
Samad, A. (2014). 'Democratization Theory and Elections in Pakistan'. Elections in South Asia Panel, European Conference on South Asia, Zurich, Switzerland.
Samad, A. (2012). 'Military, Politics and Democracy in Pakistan'. South Asia History Seminar, St Antony's College, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (2012). 'Pakistan-US Relations: A Rocky Marriage'. Seminar, Centre for the Study of Pakistan, SOAS, London, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (2012). 'Pakistan's Current Dilemma'. Democracy Forum, LSE, London, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (2012). 'Making Sense of Chaos: Militancy and Interpersonal Violence in Pakistan'. South Asia Seminar, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (2010). 'Managing Diversity in Pakistan: Going Beyond Federalism'. SDPI's Thirteenth Sustainable Development Conference, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Samad, A. (2009). 'Democracy: Who Wants It?': Pakistan. Visiting Parliamentary Seminar Series, St Antony's College University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (2008). 'Muslim Youth and the War on Terror'. INTRAC Seminar, ?Beyond the Security Agenda, Wolfson College, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (2008). 'Transnational Militancy and the Pakistani State'. State Management of Religion in Pakistan, King's College, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (2008). 'How Can Ethnic and Sectarian Tensions be Best Addressed?'. Pakistan: Sources of Stability and Instability, Wilton Park, Sussex, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (2007). 'Forced Marriage among Men: An unrecognized problem'. Troubling Men: Identities, Diversities and Practice, Bradford University, Bradford, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (2006). 'Visible Difference to Cultural Difference: Rise of Islamophobia'. COMPAS, Oxford University, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (2002). 'Sorcerer's apprentice: USA, Pakistan and Jihadi Islam'. World Civil Society Forum, Geneva, Switzerland.
Samad, A. (2002). 'Democracy in Pakistan'. South Asia Seminar, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (2002). 'Jihadi Islam and Kashmir'. 17th European Conference for Modern South Asian Studies, Heidelberg, Germany.
Samad, A. (2002). 'Gender, Generation and Multiculturalism'. Governing Multicultural Societies: Comparative Lessons for Public Policy, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (2001). 'Identity Politics in Pakistan'. Conference on Dialogue on Democracy and Pluralism in South Asia, New Delhi, India.
Samad, A. (2000). 'Breaking the Deadlock'. Nuclear South Asia panel, 16th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (1999). 'New Social Movements in Pakistan: Case Study of the Peace Movement'. South Asia Seminar, Edinburgh University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (1999). Theorising the Peace Movement in Pakistan. Conference on Nuclear South Asia, St Antony's College, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (1999). 'Opposition to the Nuclearisation of South Asia: The Peace Movement in Pakistan'. International Seminar on The Post-test Scenario in South Asia: Issues, Problems and Alternative Strategies, Humbolt University, Berlin, Germany.
Samad, A. (1999). 'Multiculturalism and Identity Debates in Britain: Problematizing Muslim Identity'. International conference on South Asian migration in comparative perspective - Movement settlement and diaspora, the Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, Japan.
Samad, A. (1999). 'Social Change and Organised Labour'. International conference on Labour in Pakistan, PILER, Karachi, Pakistan.
Samad, A. (1999). Nuclear Pakistan: The Emergence of a Peace Movement. Contemporary South Asia Seminar, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (1999). Theorising the Peace Movement in Pakistan: New Social Movements in the North and South. Pakistan Peace Conference, Karachi, Pakistan.
Samad, A. (1998). Ethnicity, Racism and Islam: Identity, Gender and Generational Debates. Ethnicity and the Diaspora panel, at the 15th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies, Prague, Czech Republic.
Samad, A. (1998). Muslims In Britain and France: Influences From Abroad. Conference on Muslims in Britain and France, Franco-British Council, Paris, France.
Samad, A. (1998). Ethnicity and Identity. Conference on Identity and Deafness, ESPRU University of Bradford, Bradford, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (1998). Muslim Youth. Conference on Muslims in Britain, IPPR, London, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (1997). Media and Muslim Identity. Research seminar, St Anthony's College, Oxford University, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (1997). Deconstructing Saladin: Jinnah and the Idea of Pakistan. Conference on Pakistan, St Antony's College, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (1997). Pakistanis in Bradford. ESRC Conference on 'Diasporic Identities and the Media: Two British Muslim Cases' Leicester University, Leicester, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (1997). Gender and Generation Debates: Pakistanis in Bradford. Conference on Muslim Voices in Europe, Manchester University, Manchester, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (1997). Mohajir Identity Politics: Transition from opposition to Ruling Party. Conference on Pakistan at Fifty, CERI, Paris, France.
Samad, A. (1996). Apparatchik and the Chameleon. Research seminar, Department of Social and Economic Studies, University of Bradford, Bradford, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (1996). MQM and Karachi. Conference on 'Democracy and the State in South Asia', Maison Francais, Oxford University, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (1996). Reflection on Partition: A Pakistani Perspective. 14th European Conference of Modern South Asian Studies, Copenhagen University, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Samad, A. (1996). Globalisation, Islam and Bradford Muslims. Conference on 'State and Civil Society in Pakistan, Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford University, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (1995). Reflections on Multiculturalism. Race Relations Seminar, BICC/University of Bradford, Bradford, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (1995). Muslim Politics in Britain. Research seminar, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (1995). Notions of Multiculturalism. Research seminar at SPRU, University of York, York, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (1995). Muslim Identification in Britain. Research seminar, Department of Sociology, Manchester University, Manchester, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (1995). Social Construction of Muslim Identity. Research seminar, Department of Sociology, Bristol University, Bristol, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (1994). Pakistan: State Power and Ethnic Exclusion. Tribe, State, Nation Seminar Series, St Antony's College, Oxford University, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (1994). Pakistan or Punjabistan: Crisis of National Identity. 13th European Conference of Modern South Asian Studies, Toulouse University, Toulouse, France.
Samad, A. (1994). Rethinking Multiculturalism. Conference on 'Culture, Communications and Discourse: Negotiating Difference in Multi-ethnic Alliances', European COST workshop organised by the International Centre for Contemporary Cultural Research and Policy Studies Institute, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (1994). Kashmir and the Imagining of Pakistan. Punjab Research Group, Coventry University, Coventry, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (1994). Multiculturalism in Britain and Holland with Specific Reference to Muslims. Conference on 'Education and Minorities' Minority Rights Group, London, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (1993). Multiculturalism and Political Integration in Urban Britain: Birmingham and Bradford. Conference on 'Multiculturalism and Democracy in Urban Europe', the Interdisciplinary Centre for Comparative Research in the Social Science, Vienna, Austria.
Samad, A. (1993). Imagining a British Muslim Identification: Context and Strategy of Umbrella Organisations. Conference on Islam in Europe: Generation to Generation, St Catherine's College and School of Geography, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (1993). Constructing a British Muslim Identification. Social Anthropology Faculty Seminar, Sussex University, Falmer, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (1993). Multiculturalism in Birmingham: A Case Study of the Afro-Caribbean Leadership. Ethnic Relations Seminar, St Antony's College, Oxford University, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Samad, A. (1992). British Muslim Politics. Islam, Europe and Local Development, organised by the European Co-ordination Centre for Research and Documentation in Social Science and the Netherlands Interuniversity Institute for the Co-ordination of Research in the Social Science, Amersfoot, Netherlands.