I am Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences, Education & Social Work.

Much of my research is at the intersections of linguistics and higher education. I currently pursue active research in writing, literacy studies — particularly in relation to heritage and religion — and digital humanities.

Between 2021-23, I was a recipient of a Leverhulme Research Fellowship for a study called Literacy & Harmony: A Study of Sino-Muslim Heritage Literacy in China.  This researched involved working with a team across various provinces in China. More on the project here. Following this, I won a British Academy grant to undertake a project on heritage literacy in Hong Kong SAR, and then a Leverhulme Research Project Grant 2025-27 for a wider study of heritage literacy across the Greater Bay Area.

My 2026 monograph (with Bloomsbury) is Heritage Literacy in the Lives of Chinese Muslims. Another recent book is titled A Semiotics of Muslimness in China (2023) and published with Cambridge University Press. Both books draw from extensive fieldwork in Sino-Muslim communities across China. 

Other works include: Critical perspectives on Teaching in the Multilingual University (2024); The Epistemology of Deceit (2021); a 2019 co-authored monograph Academics Writing: The Dynamics of Knowledge Creation; my 2017 monograph Assignments as Controversies (both published by Routledge/T&F); as well as various published research articles in these areas of interest.

Prior to joining Queen's University Belfast, I was a Senior Researcher on a 2 year ESRC project which investigated the changing nature of academic work, writing, and knowledge creation in English universities.

Previous affiliations include Lancaster University and the University of Bradford. I received my PhD from the University of Leeds (ESRC funded) for a thesis which investigated the impact of digital media on the literacy practices of adult learners.

I supervise doctoral projects on issues related to literacy and writing, language and religion, language education, and digital literacy and epistemology. Potential PhD students and collaborators are welcome to contact me about working in these areas.

Between 2018 and 2021 I was the Director of the MSc TESOL at Queen’s University Belfast. I currently lead on the module Digital Literacy & Communication (EDU7273) and also contribute to other modules.

I have conducted Visiting Professor activities at Jilin University (China), King Abdulaziz University (Saudi Arabia), Yogyakarta State University (Indonesia), Diponegoro University (Indonesia), and Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa University (Indonesia).

I have not always worked in Universities. My career began in community learning, Further Education (where I taught on Adult ESOL and Literacy courses), and awarding bodies. It is from this context that my interest in literacy and language learning began to emerge: Through observing how people who were otherwise marginalised and displaced could - through their digital literacies - become core participants of communities in digital environments, and thus radically transform their lives.

• Between 2018-2024 I served as a Trustee and Governing Council member for the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE)
• Executive Editor for the journal Teaching in Higher Education (T&F)
• Former convener of the SRHE's Digital University Network (2015-2022)
• Editorial Board member of the journal Post Digital Science & Education (Springer)
• Founder and co-convener of the SRHE's Multilingual University Network.
• External Examiner at the University of Edingburgh and Saint Francis University in Hong Kong
• Research Fellow for Prince Sultan University in Saudi Arabia
• External REF Reviewer for the University of Surrey (UK).

Online you can find me through:

• X: @ibrar_bhatt
• Personal website: http://ibrarspace.net
• YouTube: @IbrarBhattPhD
• WeChat official account: "语言 技术 社会" (Language, Technology & Society)