Dr. Pradines completed his PhD in Islamic Archaeology from Sorbonne University, Paris IV in 2001. Dr. Pradines, Associate Professor, is an archaeologist specialising in the Middle East and East Africa. Prior to joining Aga Khan University, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilizations in 2012, Dr. Pradines was in charge of Islamic Archaeology at the French Institute in Cairo from Sept. 2001 to Sept. 2012. Dr. Pradines also was Lecturer in Islamic Archaeology at Cairo University and created later the First Field School of Islamic Archaeology in Egypt. Dr. Pradines’ fieldwork includes the direction of Excavations of the Fatimid and Ayyubid Walls of Cairo, Excavations of Kilwa, Swahili medieval harbour of Tanzania and of Gedi, Swahili medieval harbour of Kenya and more recently Excavation of Dembeni (Mayotte, French Comoros). His publications include Fortifications et urbanisation en Afrique orientale, Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology, 2004 and Gedi, une cité portuaire swahilie. Islam médiéval en Afrique orientale Monograph of the French Institute of Archaeology, 2010.