Brian Aivars Catlos is currently a professor of religious studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder and a research associate in humanities at the University of California Santa Cruz. His work centers on Muslim-Christian-Jewish relations and ethno-religious identity in medieval Europe and the Islamic World, and the history of the pre-modern Mediterranean. A board member of various academic journals, he also co-directs the Mediterranean Seminar, a forum for international and interdisciplinary collaboration in the emerging field of Mediterranean studies. Brian has published a number of award-winning books which have been translated into eight languages, including Infidel Kings and Unholy Warriors: Power Faith and Violence in the Age of Crusade and Jihad, and Kingdoms of Faith: A New History of Islamic Spain.

Brian’s awards and distinctions include the Governor-General of Canada's Gold Medal for Academic Achievement and two National Endowment for the Humanities research fellowships among many others. He has worked and studied in Spain, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Ecuador, the US, Canada, Syria and Israel, and has traveled extensively in the Americas, Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Asia.