Assistant Professor Dr Tuğrul Kurt began his academic career with a bachelor's degree in ‘International Islamic Theology’ at Marmara University in Istanbul, followed by a master's degree in ‘Religious Studies and History of Religion’. In 2023, he completed his doctorate at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt, where he focussed on the isrāʾīliyyāt traditions and their role in Quranic exegesis. In his academic career to date, Dr Kurt has worked at the University of Hamburg and the Humboldt University of Berlin, among others.

In his new role, Dr Kurt will further strengthen and expand Islamic textual studies. His aim is to provide a methodological foundation for the academic study of the primary sources of Islam and to promote interdisciplinary approaches.

A central aim of his research work is to explore the historical and cultural connections between Islamic texts, in particular the Koran. His research will focus on a historical-critical and comparative approach to religious texts. This perspective makes it possible to better understand the interreligious dynamics that contributed to the emergence and development of Islamic faiths. Dr Kurt would like to establish this methodological orientation at the University of Vienna and further develop Islamic theology as a centre for primary source research and textual studies.