The inaugural lecture was given by Dr Abbas Mirakhor on 3 April 2004 in London on The Instrumentalisation of Islamic Financial Institutions to Alleviate Poverty in Muslim Countries.

Dr Mirakhor was the Executive Director – International Monetary Fund (IMF), and was the co-author of many papers and books on Islamic finance. He received the Islamic Development Bank’s (IDB) 2003 prize in Islamic economics together with Dr. Mohsin Khan, Director of the IMF Institute.

On 10 October 2008, a lecture was delivered by M. Umer Chapra on The Global Financial Crisis: Can Islamic Finance Help?

Dr Chapra was a Research Advisor at the Islamic Research and Training Centre of the Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.