Dionisius A. Agius is Al Qasimi Professor of Arabic Studies and Islamic Material Culture at the University of Exeter. He is the author of numerous books including Seafaring in the Arabian Gulf and Oman (2005), winner of The Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah Foundation and British-Kuwait Friendship Society Book Prize, and Class Ships of Islam (2008). He is a Fellow of the British Academy, the Royal Society of Arts and the Royal Geographical Society.