About
Dr Leon Moosavi is a sociologist of race and religion.
Leon is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology at the University of Liverpool.
Leon is also a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (Advance HE) and an Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology at Stellenbosch University, South Africa.
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 on decolonial research. Secondly, along with his co-applicants (Dr Camila Prando (University of Brasilia) and Prof Nina Nurmila (Indonesian International Islamic University), he is coordinating a mentorship programme for women scholars in Brazil and Indonesia which is funded by a large grant from The British Academy.
Leon also has the following roles within the department:
- Director of Education.
- Co-chair of the Liverpool Sociological Research Cluster.
- Global Opportunities Academic Adviser and member of the internationalisation committee.
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'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, the limitations of decolonial projects, and how these initiatives are portrayed in public discourse. 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 awarded a £500 prize as a runner-up 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 currently sits on the Editorial Board of Sociology Compass and the Reviewer College of the International Journal of Social Research Methodology. He previously served terms on the Associate Editorial Board of Sociology and the Editorial Board of Sociological Research Online.
Leon began teaching sociology at Lancaster University when he was 22 years old. Since then, he has taught hundreds of students on various modules, particularly in relation to sociological theory, crime and deviance, hate crime, and the sociology of religion. Leon also periodically teaches a short course on decolonial research for the National Centre for Research Methods.
In 2024, Leon and his co-applicants (Prof Michael Mair, Dr Phillip Brooker, and Dr Geraldine Reid (National Museums Liverpool)) were awarded a CASE studentship by the ESRC to fund a decolonial study about knowledge production in the Islamic Golden Age. Leon has previously supervised 3 PhD students to completion (Dr Saleena Saleem, Dr Imane Ghezal and Dr Mohammad Masud Noruzi) and he currently supervises 4 more PhD students (Mr Mohammad Alsalman, Mr Jack Clark, Ms Neha C and Ms Sabreen Syeed). Leon has also supervised a large number of Undergraduate and Masters dissertations.
Leon has examined 4 PhD candidates in the UK and Norway.
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
Leon's postgraduate qualifications were funded by a prestigious scholarship from the ESRC.
Leon obtained his PhD in Sociology from Lancaster University in 2011. His thesis was entitled "Islamophobia, Belonging and Race in the Experiences of Muslim Converts in Britain". He was supervised by Prof Anne-Marie Fortier and Prof Nayanika Mookherjee.
Prior to this, Leon completed a MA Sociological Research Methods at Lancaster University in 2007, obtaining a Merit. His MA dissertation was entitled "The Representation of Islam and Muslims by the British Government".
In 2006, Leon achieved a First Class undergraduate degree in sociology from Lancaster University. As an undergraduate, Leon spent a year at Carleton University (Canada). His undergraduate dissertation was entitled "Al Jazeera, Al Qaeda and the War on Terror".
Leon also possesses a Postgraduate Certificate in Learning & Teaching in Higher Education from Lancaster University.
Leon is trained in Mental Health First Aid from MHFA England.
Leon volunteers as a mentor for the Council for At-Risk Academics which involves mentoring a junior scholar who has been displaced due to persecution, violence or conflict. Leon also volunteers as a mentor of an early career scholar via the British Sociological Association's Race and Ethnicity mentorship scheme.
Leon is a member of the following advisory boards:
- The Liverpool City Region's Race Equality Hub.
- Stockport County Football Club's EDI working group.
- The University of Liverpool's review of its historic links to slavery (2022-2025).
- The Decolonising Education for Peace in Africa project (2022-2024).
Leon was a Visiting Scholar at Queensland University of Technology (Australia) in 2017.
Leon is a member of the British Sociological Association.
Leon was born and raised in Manchester.