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Middle East Centre Since It Opened in 2010

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Middle East Centre Since It Opened in 2010 Middle East 1 Centre CELEBRATING A DECADE OF RESEARCH ON THE REGION TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 OUR PEOPLE 2 KEY RESEARCH THEMES 3 MAJOR RESEARCH PROGRAMMES 4 ENGAGING WITH THE LSE STUDENT COMMUNITY 5 IMPACT AND EVENTS 6 LOOKING TO THE FUTURE of academics and practitioners. Over 60 The majority of these projects have been run visiting fellows with rich talents have made a in full and valued partnerships with universities3 WELCOME marvellous contribution. Academics around and other research institutions in the MENA LSE have been immensely supportive, in region. We have been privileged to work with particular by running research projects and colleagues in countries including Lebanon, serving on the management committee. We Palestine, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Turkey, Iraq, appreciate the strong support of LSE’s service Kuwait, UAE and Yemen. This has contributed divisions, senior management, research to a flowering of research which is reflected in centres and teaching departments. The the 70 publications, 600k blog views and over This report celebrates the work of the LSE student community, at LSE and elsewhere, has 400 public events held since 2010. engaged enthusiastically and the career paths Middle East Centre since it opened in 2010. To mark the Centre’s 10th anniversary, we are of the 47 LSE students who received MEC Over the past decade, the Centre has grown excited to launch an Arabic content project scholarships are a source of pride. to become a large, thriving and vibrant which will encourage and disseminate social research community with deep connections Foundational support from the Aman Trust sciences research by scholars working in across LSE, within the Middle East and North and the Emirates Foundation established Arabic and for an Arabic-speaking audience. Africa, and internationally. The Centre’s the Centre and set up the Emirates Chair We hope this will make an important core work is generating research which is: and student scholarships, as well as the contribution to the understanding of the region multidisciplinary, rigorous and critical; rooted Academic Collaboration with Arab Universities as we look ahead towards the challenges of in the region through partnerships; and Programme which has been the main engine the next decade. effectively disseminated through the Centre’s of research and regional partnerships. The communications. This has all been driven Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of forward by the hard work, brilliance and warm Science has been a major funder since 2014, ROBERT LOWE collegiality of the 45 people who have worked when the Kuwait Programme and Kuwait Chair for the Centre. moved to the Centre. With funding from the UK DEPUTY DIRECTOR The MEC has been fortunate to have three government since 2017, we have established outstanding academics and colleagues a major research programme on the dynamics serve as Director over its first decade; Fawaz of conflict in Iraq. 19 other funders have Gerges, Toby Dodge and Michael Mason. supported numerous research activities and We have benefitted from the wisdom and we are very grateful to all for their generous encouragement of a high-level Advisory Board support. 4 1 OUR PEOPLE CENTRE STAFF 5 During the past decade, over 45 members of staff have joined the Centre. Some have been part of the Centre’s journey since the start, growing and developing in their role as our activities expanded; others have continued their career within academia or moved towards policy work, journalism and the third sector. Dania Akkad Ferdinand Eibl Kyra Luchtenberg Sophie Olver-Ellis Centre Administrator Research Officer Research Assistant Research Officer Taif Alkhudary Fatima El Issawi Bronwen Manby Alexandra Ostendorf Research Assistant Assistant Professorial Research Fellow Senior Policy Fellow BRISMES Conference Coordinator Nadine Almanasfi Toby Fenton Michael Mason Emma Pearson Events Coordinator Projects Assistant Director Communications Coordinator Aisha Al-Sarihi Courtney Freer Sara Masry Stella Peisch Research Officer Assistant Professorial Research Fellow Centre Administrator Projects Assistant Nesrin Alrefaai Mariam Ghorbannejad Jack McGinn Rosa Pérez Arabic Tutor Kuwait Programme Publications Editor Communications Coordinator Events Coordinator Manmit Bhambra Fawaz Gerges Chelsea Milsom Sandra Sfeir Postdoctoral Researcher Director Projects Coordinator Projects Manager Basia Borodziewicz Aula Hariri Zainab Mehdi Ian Sinclair BRISMES Conference Coordinator Research Officer Research Assistant Kuwait Programme Administrator Valeria Cetorelli Athanazia Kalaitzai Cristina Morena Almeida Ribale Sleiman Haidar Research Officer Research Officer Research Officer Communications Manager Muna Dajani Zeynep Kaya Aitemad Muhanna-Matar Jessica Watkins Research Officer Research Fellow Assistant Professorial Research Fellow Research Officer Filippo Dionigi Yasmine Kherfi Sinéad Murphy Polly Withers Postdoctoral Leverhulme Research Projects Assistant BRISMES Conference Coordinator Research Officer Fellow Kendall Livingston Haneen Naamneh Karen Young Toby Dodge Projects Assistant Research Assistant Research Fellow Kuwait Professor Robert Lowe Deputy Director VISITING APPOINTMENTS Through the Visiting Fellowship programme, the Centre has welcomed a large number of young academics, experienced practitioners and established pro- fessors who made a significant contribution to our work. Fellows take part in all Centre activities, conducting and disseminating their own research, and enrich- ing the wider research environment. Pejman Abdolmohammadi Silvia Colombo Yoav Peled Abdulkhaleq Abdulla Andrew Delatolla Harry Pettit Hessah Al Ojayan Leonardo Davoudi Marco Pinfari Omar Al Shehabi Heba El Sayed Elie Podeh Bader Al-Hashel Maryam Ficociello Nicola Pratt Mariam Alkazemi Florence Gaub Benedict Robin-D’Cruz Duha Al-Kuwari Fanar Haddad Rima Sabaan Khalid Al-Mezaini Jonathan Hill Shirin Saeidi Madawi Al-Rasheed Ginny Hill Amal Shlash Talal Al-Rashoud Martin Howard Mac Skelton Dr Pejman Abdolmohammadi Sharifa Al-Shalfan Elizabeth Iskander Martin Sparaggon was Visiting Fellow at the Centre Rahaf Aldoughli Saad Jawad Rebecca Steinfeld in 2015–2018. He is now Senior Dari Alhuwail Isabel Käser Aniseh Bassiri Tabrizi Assistant Professor of Middle Manuel Almeida Zelal Kizilkan Ghoncheh Tazmini Eastern Studies at the University Abeer AlNajjar Dunja Larise Priscilla Toffano of Trento’s School of International Sharifa AlShalfan Raphaël Lefèvre Mandy Turner Studies. Alissa Amico Davide Luca Benedetta Voltolini Ali Ansari Ruth Mabry Mai Yamani During his stay at the MEC, Sareta Ashraph Malihe Maghazei Pejman published his research Shamel Azmeh Kamil Mahdi in a paper entitled ‘The Revival Hannes Baumann Dina Matar of Nationalism and Secularism Carly Beckerman-Boys Toby Matthiesen Ian Black Nadia Mounajjed in Iran’. Together with Professor Virginia Bodolica Amer Moustafa Madawi Al-Rasheed, he organised Guy Burton Jim Muir a conference looking at Saudi– Kristian Coates Ulrichsen Umut Özkırımlı Iran rivalry in the region. 10 MINUTES WITH moved to my current position as Head of researchers with different expertise, are Refugee Registration and Eligibility Services at particularly suited to provide comprehensive 7 UNRWA. perspectives. The spread of digital VALERIA WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL BE THE technologies in the region brings opportunities BIGGEST CHALLENGES FACED BY THE to conduct innovative research and produce REGION OVER THE NEXT 10 YEARS? new knowledge. Intensified engagement CETORELLI between researchers, policy-makers and The region faces major political, practitioners is essential in order to translate socioeconomic, demographic and knowledge into action. TELL US ABOUT YOUR JOURNEY SINCE environmental challenges. Protracted LEAVING LSE conflicts have fragmented societies, reversed development gains and fuelled I was fortunate to join LSE the year the Middle severe humanitarian crises. In the absence East Centre was established. I first obtained of effective, accountable and inclusive an MSc in Population and Development institutions, the region remains unable to and then pursued a PhD in Demography generate sufficient employment opportunities with a focus on the Middle East. Since then, for its expanding population. Climate change my interests have revolved around the use coupled with population growth aggravates of demographic methods in the study of the problem of water scarcity and food import conflict-affected, forcibly displaced and other dependency, further increasing the region’s vulnerable populations to inform humanitarian vulnerability. and development policies and advance human rights and international justice. After HOW CAN THE RESEARCH COMMUNITY completing my PhD, I worked as Research BE BEST EQUIPPED TO DEAL WITH THESE Officer at the MEC and at the Johns Hopkins CHALLENGES? Center for Humanitarian Health, and served as Research Consultant for the UNICEF Regional We should contribute to identify viable Office for the Middle East and North Africa and solutions to these complex and intertwined UNFPA Regional Office for the Arab States. challenges and set the ground for a I was then appointed as Demographer and more peaceful and prosperous region. Statistician at UNESCWA, and more recently Multidisciplinary societal studies, involving 8 2 KEY RESEARCH THEMES 9 REFUGEE CRISIS AND INTERNAL DISPLACEMENT Protracted conflict in the region, mainly in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya, has caused the biggest humanitarian crisis in modern history. While Europe was concerned about an influx of
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