Before joining SOAS in 2000, Professor Abouseif taught Islamic Art at the American University in Cairo and at the Universities of Freiburg and Munich in Germany. On two occasions, she was Visiting Professor at Harvard University at the Fine Art Department and the Graduate School of Design; she also was awarded a Bin-Ladin-fellowship to spend a semester at the Graduate School of Design. She has also been invited as a Visiting Professor at the Universities of Berlin and Bamberg in Germany and the University of Leuven in Belgium, and was "Distinguished Visiting Professor" at the American University in Cairo.