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Head of the Research Department of Sociology of Religion:
Seyyed Mahmoud Nejati Hosseini (Khorasani)

Overview:
The Research Department of Sociology of Religion was established in 2010 at the institute of Social Studies and Research, University of Tehran, as a central and strategic research division with three primary objectives: theoretical development, applied research, and strategic insight.

The department’s key research areas include:

1. Theoretical Studies on the relationship between religion and society, religion and culture, religion and the individual, and religion and the state.
2. Historical and Comparative Research on religious cultures and communities, religious institutions and organizations, sects and denominations, religious rituals and ceremonies, religious events, liturgical calendars, intellectual-religious movements, and religiously motivated social movements.
3. Empirical Assessment of religion in the modern world, including the social reality of religion in contemporary Iranian society and the religious cultural landscape of the contemporary Islamic world.
4. Historical Sociology of Islam and Shi’ism.
5. Socio-cultural Studies of the Qur’an and other sacred texts, Islamic knowledge systems, Shi ‘a thought, Islamic philosophy and theology, and Islamic jurisprudence.
6. Sociological Analysis of the global processes affecting religion, including religion and modernity, secularism and laicism,, post-secularism, fundamentalism, Islamism, religious science, and the Islamization of the social sciences and humanities.
7. Urban Studies in the context of the Islamic city.
8. Cultural Studies on popular religion and everyday religious practices

During its first phase of development (2010–2019), the Research Department of Sociology of Religion operated independently of conventional bureaucratic formats and hierarchical structures. It followed a flexible, program-oriented model focused on research, relying on collaboration with seminary and university-based scholars of religion, students, independent researchers, and honorary fellows. Key initiatives during this period included:

1. Hosting specialized forums on topics such as: critical evaluations of empirical research on religiosity and belief in Iran.
2. Academic collaboration with university departments and organizations focused on religion.
3. Research projects on topics including: religious culture in universities, the Islamic university model, and religious citizenship.
4. Joint seminars on the sociology of religion, co-organized with scientific associations and professional networks in the social sciences, including the Sociology of Religion Group of the Iranian Sociological Association and the Research Institute of Islamic Seminary and University.
5. Publication of seven issues of the peer-reviewed academic journal Social Studies of Religion (2012–2019).
6. Advisory support to university institutions conducting research and organizing academic events on religion.
7. Organizing the first “National Conference on the Iranian-Islamic City”, in collaboration with the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tehran (notably with Dr. Abdolhossein Kalantari and Dr. Mohammad Reza Javadi Yeganeh), held at Tehran Municipality. The conference proceedings were compiled and published under the supervision of the department head, Seyyed Mahmoud Nejati Hosseini, in collaboration with Dr.Payam Roshanfekr.
8. Establishing the Secretariat for the Iranian-Islamic City within the Tehran Municipality’s Center for Urban Studies and Planning, and forming its academic council (members included the late Rouhollah Alemi, Abdolhossein Kalantari, Ali Entezari, and Seyyed Mahmoud Nejati Hosseini). The council contributed to the publication of ten research volumes on the Iranian-Islamic city

from 2010 to 2019, Alireza Ghobadi, a scholar trained in both seminary and university settings, served as the coordinator of the Research Department of Sociology of Religion and as the executive director of the Social Studies of Religion journal.

From 2020 to 2024, Dr. Hamid Parsania—a seminary-trained sociologist, associate professor at the University of Tehran, and a member of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution—assumed the leadership of the department.

After a period of reduced activity between 2020 and 2024, the department resumed its work in April 2025, as part of the new phase of institutional development under the leadership of Dr. Hossein Imani Jajarmi, Associate Professor of Sociology at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tehran. In this renewed phase, the roles of head of the Research Department of Sociology of Religion and editor-in-chief of the Social Studies of Religion have once again been entrusted to Seyyed Mahmoud Nejati Hosseini (Khorasani)

Building on the foundation laid during the department’s first active phase (2010–2019), the current agenda will focus on revitalizing socio-cultural approaches to the study of religion, relaunching the Social Studies of Religion journal (starting from Issue No. 8), and organizing a series of Scholarly Roundtable research projects. This new phase aims to deepen interdisciplinary religious studies through collaboration with academic and professional communities, as outlined below:

1. Collaboration with seminary and university-based scholars and Academic Staff in the sociology and anthropology of religion.
2. Partnership with translators and authors of scholarly works in the field of religious studies.
3. Engagement with online platforms and digital networks focused on religious research.
4. Cooperation with the Union of Iranian Social Science Associations.
5. Collaboration with the Social Science Division of the House of Humanities Thinkers.
6. Joint programs with the Religion Groups of the Iranian Sociological Association, the Iranian Anthropological Association, and the Iranian Association for Cultural and Communication Studies.
7. Cooperation with research institutions affiliated with seminaries and academic centers in the humanities and social sciences.
8. Collaboration with publishers specialized in religious studies.
9. Engagement with academic journals focusing on the sociology and study of religion
    

Email:  nejati.hosseini@gmail.com