'Our culture tends to make a false division between science and arts'

Mona Siddiqui is privileged to be among the broad band of new fellows elected to the Royal Society of Edinburgh

Islamic scholar Mona Siddiqui, head of Glasgow University's department of theology and religious studies, is one of more than 60 prominent individuals to be elected fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy.

She is senior lecturer in Arabic and Islamic studies and is well known as a broadcaster on religious affairs. She said: "To be recognised by the Scottish academy is a huge privilege."

She praised the RSE's breadth of expertise and disciplines. "I think we live in a culture where we really shouldn't distinguish too much in terms of a science and technology platform on the one hand and an arts platform on the other," she said.

"One tends to get the impression that science is about doing something and that arts contribute through thought processes, and that's a false distinction. The new list of fellows shows that the academy doesn't want to distinguish in such crude terms."