The 2026 Sir William Luce Fellow

The 2026 Sir William Luce Fellow is Professor Simon Smith.  

Simon C. Smith is Professor of International History at the University of Hull. His research focuses on imperialism, nationalism, and decolonization in South-East Asia, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East with a particular focus on the Gulf region. His publications include: British Relations with the Malay Rulers from Decentralization to the Malayan Independence, 1930-1957 (1995); British Imperialism, 1750-1970 (1998); Kuwait, 1950-1965: Britain, the al-Sabah, and Oil (1999); Britain’s Revival and Fall in the Gulf: Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and the Trucial States, 1950–71 (2004); British Documents on End of Empire Project: Malta (2006); Reassessing Suez 1956: New Perspectives on the Crisis and its Aftermath (2008); Ending Empire in the Middle East: Britain, the United States and Post-war Decolonization, 1945–1973 (2012); The Wilson-Johnson Correspondence, 1964-9 (2015); Britain and the Arab Gulf after Empire, 1971-1981: Kuwait Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (2020). He is currently completing a monograph entitled Slavery and the Slave Trade in Arabia and the Gulf, 1924-1971 for the Routledge Studies in Middle Eastern History series. He held a Fellowship at the Wilberforce Institute from 2023-2024.