Dr. Edward Zychowicz Coghill

Biography

Edward Zychowicz-Coghill grew up in rural north-east England and attended Teesdale School in Barnard Castle. He pursued his undergraduate and graduate studies in History at the University of Oxford, and has spent time at universities in Damascus, Chicago, and Princeton. After receiving his doctorate, he spent years at the University of Cambridge as a postdoctoral researcher in the Classics Faculty, a Junior Research Fellow at King’s College, and a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. In 2022, he joined King’s College London. His research interests focus on early traditions of Arabic historical writing, particularly regarding the rise of Islam and the pre-Islamic world, examining the socio-political contexts that produced Arabic histories and the dominant ideas conveyed through these works. His work has included 'Arabic Annals: Fragments of Umayyad History' (Berlin, 2021) and the forthcoming publication 'Writing the Conquest of Egypt: The Formation of Early Islamic Historiography' (Cambridge), which contextualizes the emergence of local traditions in Arabic history-writing. Edward is also involved in teaching at both undergraduate and graduate levels on topics including Medieval History and Early Islamic History.

Research Interests