Dr David Hansen is a Norwegian-Pakistani scholar who has carried out extensive studies and research on and in Pakistan since 2001. Hansen has a broad and multidisciplinary background. The main bulk of his education falls within South Asian Studies in which he holds a Ph.D. His scholarly focus is primarily on contemporary expressions of Islam, political Islam and Islamism, and the radical dimension often associated with Islam in South Asia in general, and Afghanistan and Pakistan in particular. Hansen is currently Associate Professor in Peace and Conflict Studies at Bj�rknes College, Oslo-Norway.