The Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation (ADI) is pleased to announce the appointments of Associate Professor Yamini Narayanan as Deputy Director (Partnerships, Impact and Engagement) and Professor Ihsan Yilmaz as Deputy Director (Research Development), effective 3 March 2025. 

Deakin Distinguished Professor Fethi Mansouri, founding director of ADI, welcomed the new Deputy Directors, highlighting the wealth of expertise they bring across different disciplines. 

“These appointments reflect the strength and breadth of talent we have at ADI,” Professor Mansouri said. 

“Ihsan and Yamini each bring unique and complimentary expertise to the Institute – from international relations and political science in relation to Muslim-majority and minority contexts, to animals as political actors in international relations, and global environmental politics in South Asia. Their leadership will be instrumental in shaping the next phase of ADI as we continue to deliver world-leading research.” 

Associate Professor Yamini Narayanan is an ARC Future Fellow at the Institute whose research intersects animal, political and environmental geography, multispecies ethnography, and South Asian studies. As a field scientist, her current research takes her into the heart of contiguous transboundary national parks in South Asian borderlands. Associate Professor Narayanan is a Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, a lifetime honour bestowed through invitation or nomination only.  

Associate Professor Narayanan conveyed her excitement at the new role.   

“I am genuinely excited to work across ADI and the larger Deakin community, toward impact via a radical exchange of knowledge, resources, and ideas through engagements with state, international, NGO partners, and grassroots actors,” Associate Professor Narayanan said. 

“I envisage creativity and flourishing to be at the heart of what we do – what can we create together by pooling our intellectual resources, and passions, ultimately toward flourishing – human, animal, ecological and planetary? I look forward immensely to working with ADI and Deakin colleagues across career stages and disciplines, to identify and enhance such new and existing globally and locally collaborative pathways. I am, as always, eager to work with early career scholars and mentor them toward all-round research excellence.”  

Professor Ihsan Yilmaz is Research Professor and Chair of Islamic Studies and 
Intercultural Dialogue and has been named by the Australian Research Magazine as Australia’s leading researcher in Religion studies for the past two years. 

Professor Ihsan Yilmaz is Research Professor and Chair of Islamic Studies at the ADI and has been named by The Australian’s Research Magazine as Australia’s leading researcher in Religion Studies for the past two years. An internationally recognized scholar, he had previously worked at the universities of Oxford and London. 

Professor Yilmaz expressed his enthusiasm for the new opportunity: 

“In an era of rapid political and social transformation, the need for interdisciplinary research that addresses complex local, transnational and global challenges is more pressing than ever. I look forward to supporting our researchers in driving innovative, impactful scholarship.” 

We would like to take the opportunity to express our heartfelt thanks to our former Deputy Directors, Professor Shahram Akbarzadeh and Deakin Distinguished Professor Emma Kowal, for their unwavering support and leadership over the last few years.