Tying the Past with the Present Migrant Flows Have Always Been a Part of Human History, but the a Shared Identity

AGYA in action AGYA Newsletter 2/2017

Tying the Past with the Present Migrant flows have always been a part of human history, but the a shared identity. His novels, written in German, not only speak perception of these flows has changed. The international AGYA of identity and integration but also open windows to foreign workshop ‘Refugee Transfers in the Euro-Arab Mediterranean Zone’ worlds for his readers. In the Middle Ages, the flight of Europe’s explored how host communities viewed and dealt with migration Jewish and Muslim populations from the Christian Reconquista of throughout the centuries. Spain and the Inquisition illustrates knowledge transfers trough migration. They were re-integrated in the Eastern Mediterranean, Over 65.6 million people worldwide are refugees or internally bringing Andalusian achievements, for example in the field of displaced.1 This, arguably, is the largest migrant flow in the Arabic grammar, with them. history of mankind, surpassing even World War II. AGYA members Tamirace Fakhoury and Jenny Oesterle organised an international The workshop’s findings will be published in an edited volume. AGYA workshop to put current events into a transhistorical Transnational Migration is one of AGYA’s cross-cutting topics, perspective. Jenny Oesterle explained: ‘Flight, displacement, which started with the AGYA Conference on Migration in 2016. persecution, and protection of refugees are not only currently The goal is to address issues of migration from an Arab-German relevant but have a historical dimension which reaches far perspective. back to the premodern era’. From 10 to 12 April 2017, the workshop brought together researchers specialised in different time periods and disciplines in Byblos, Lebanon to discuss how societies received refugees and how migration might enrich communities both of arrival and origin.

FROM THE FIRST MUSLIM REFUGEES TO THE FIRST MODERN MIGRANT CODE The contributions of the workshop participants showed how host communities dealt with the frequent population transfers between major ethnic and religious groups within the Mediterranean. Jenny Oesterle focused on the first Hijrah in the seventh century, when early Muslims fled religious persecution in Mecca and crossed the Red Sea to the Kingdom of Abyssinia (Ethiopia). Recognizing their similarities as worshippers of a monotheistic faith, the Christian king welcomed the refugees and granted them protection. Another example are the aftermaths of the Ottoman-Russian wars of the nineteenth century, which pushed over two million ethnic Muslims from Russian into Ottoman territory. The Ottoman Empire reacted by setting up refugee camps, even opening the imperial mosque Hagia Sophia as a reception camp. In 1857, the Ottomans created one of the CONTENTS first modern migrant codes that allowed refugees to build homes and exempting them from taxation and conscription to ease their AGYA in action: Tying the Past with the Present 1 Cultural Exchange Across Borders, Oceans, settling and integration. AGYA insight: 2 and Times AGYA in discussion: Date Fruit – a Link between 3 REFUGEES’ CULTURAL, POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND Traditional and Regenerative Medicine SOCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS A Brave New Smart World? The Potential and Limitations Another aim of the workshop was to look at refugees as ‘agents 4 and transmitters of cultural, political, economic and societal of Nano-Technology AGYA in outreach: AGYA Tandem Projects norms’, as Tamirace Fakhoury highlighted. The works of Iraqi- 5 AGYA in progress: News & Contact German writer Hussein al-Mozany, for example, demonstrate how 6 immigrants culturally enrich their host communities and foster

1UNHCR 2017: https://goo.gl/27Mbxw AGYA Newsletter 2/2017 1 AGYA Newsletter 2/2017 Oceans, and Times of an East African island. A more recent and curious example is example curious and recent more Aisland. African East an of specificities climatic the to adapted is and plan, floor U-shaped the islandthroughitsornamental façadewithatraditionalOmani on influences Indian combines architecture hybrid Its Zanzibar. the ‘OldofDispensary’,landmark well-preserved a 1849, in built is here example good Aisland. the on synthesised and adapted styles fromdifferent countries andtimeperiodsthatwere Zanzibar’s ‘Stone Town’ is a conglomeration of various architectural Zanzibar: of architecture Bilal Orfali and Architect Ayman Jalloul analysed the city.AGYAmember cosmopolitana of landscape architectural the in manifest society.commonlybecomea They also of values and traditions, Cultural exchange processes affect identity, language, artefacts, FORTRESSES TO GERMAN PLATTENBAUTEN vres ertr o te utnt o Oa i te fifteenth the in Oman century. of Sultanate the of territory overseas an became even Zanzibar century. seventh the since tradition merchant Arab long Zanzibar’saccount into taking without nor century,nineteenth the in Germany and Zanzibarbetween trade without takingalook atthehistory of culturalexchange and The history of the Apfelstrudel (applestrudel)cannotbe told Zanzibar, Germany. of and example Oman the on based of interactions effects cultural contemporary historic explored Zanzibar’ of Heritage Cultural The AGYA conference ‘Dynamics of Cultural Impact: Arab and German

ZANZIBAR’S ARCHITECTURE: FROM PORTUGUESE Cultural Exchange Across Borders, motn wr fr itrcl n cneprr women’s contemporary explored. academically and scarcely is it though even studies, historical for work important an also thus is It stereotypes. down breaking of aim the with the sametime, shedirected herstories ataEuropeanaudience, the life of anOmaniwoman inthenineteenth century, while, at on information rare give memoires Her out. pointed Domeier Norman AGYA member as history, German-Zanzibari-Omani of published by an Arab woman. They reflect an episode important name, German her EmilyRuete, considered autobiographyare first the written and under published (1888), Zanzibar’ from moved to Hamburg, Germany. Her ‘Memoirs of an 1867and in Arabian tradesman German a Princessmarried princess 1924).The (1844 – Oman and Zanzibar of PrincessSalme, Sayyida of life individuals. This is certainly the case regarding the extraordinary Cultural entanglementsalsobecome visible inthelives of OMAN, BECAME EMILY RUETE sad y i esl rmmee rhymes. remembered easily his by island this to guided once were sailors happiness, of place a as Mājid in and on Zanzibar. Praised in the poems of famous navigator Ibn AGYA member Kirill Dmitriev focused on pre-modern Arabic poetry literary studies, of field the In language.Arabic the of status the on keynote a with Language, Arabic the of Dictionary Historical Doha the for council academic the of and opened head Baalbaki, was key Ramzi by Salalah a in workshop is The language compass. identity, a sometimes cultural to comes it When as a sovereign state in 1964. in state sovereign a as GDR the recognized officially Zanzibarafter gift, a as 1970s the Plattenbauten, built by the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in so-called Tower blocks, project: housing public Michenzani the

( THE POEMS OF ARAB NAVIGATOR AHMAD IBN MĀJID HOW SAYYIDA SALME, PRINCESS OF ZANZIBAR AND D. 1500 Bilal Orfali. was organized by Nuha Al-Shaar, KirillDmitriev and Group Commonand CommonHeritage Challengesand The workshop was aproject of theAGYA Working ) LED SAILORS TO ZANZIBAR 2 AGYA insight in discussion AGYA

Date Fruit – a Link between Traditional and Regenerative Medicine

Over the past ten years, the heritage discourse in the Gulf countries laboratory with which my team and I were able to prepare the natural has underlined the significance of date fruit in the tradition of the Arab extracts. The analysis of these extracts is currently being conducted culture as an authentic local resource and as a source for sustaining at German universities, since I have always worked in close and human life. According to tradition, the Prophet Muhammad broke productive collaboration with German partners. his fasting by eating dates; a ritual which is still practiced by the majority of Muslims today. DOES THE PERCEPTION OF NATURAL PRODUCTS DIFFER AGYA members Younis Baqi (Chemistry) and Mohamed Abou BETWEEN THE ARAB AND GERMAN MEDICAL SYSTEMS? El-Enein (Health Sciences) are analysing the medical potential of Mohamed: The use of natural products is considered as part dates for fighting cancer in their Tandem Project ‘Investigating the of traditional medicine, also known as ‘folk medicine’. In my Bioactive Properties of Natural Products of GCC Origin’. experience, conventional medicine, which is mostly palliative, is more commonly used in the German society, rather than WHY DO SCIENTISTS FROM CHEMISTRY AND HEALTH traditional medical approaches. Although, in the case of everyday SCIENCES WORK TOGETHER ON DATES? diseases such as the common cold, natural remedies and healing Mohamed: As head of clinical development at the Berlin- herbs are also widely utilised. In Arab countries, both of these Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies at Charité Berlin, concepts of medicine are employed alongside each other; I am responsible for transforming research findings into clinical however, with different preferences: traditional medicine is applications. My primary interest within the field of regenerative considered a collection of the assembled knowledge of practices medicine focuses on the clinical translation of cell and gene that are thousands of years old, some even based on religious therapies. I am very interested in how natural bio-products , such beliefs, and it is held in high esteem. as dates, can stimulate cell growth. Younis is in the process of analysing date extract to determine its Younis: From the scientific point of view, natural product compounds medical application in the treatment of diseases such as cancer. have been a successful medicinal source for the pharmaceutical This is how dates bring us together. industry. Since natural products are naturally biosynthesized, they are found to interact with very crucial biopolymer molecules in WHAT ARE THE SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF DATES the living cells, such as proteins, DNA, and RNA. Drugs target the WITH REGARD TO THEIR MEDICAL APPLICATION? same molecules. It has been estimated that 62% of all modern Younis: The fruit of the date palm possesses high nutritional and drugs originate from natural products, of which 14% either mimic therapeutic value, with a significant amount of antioxidant, antibac- natural products or contain the natural product pharmacophore. terial, antifungal, and antiproliferative properties. Antioxidants are The remaining 38% of current drugs are either purely synthesised also known as ‘free radical scavengers’; they are chemical compounds (27%), or synthesised to mimic a natural product (11%). that react with and neutralize free radicals, thus preventing them The results on cancer research show that dates, with their highly from causing damage and diseases such as cancer. favourable compounds, have great potential for implementation in To investigate the health-promoting properties of dates, I am currently the field of regenerative medicine. I personally believe that natural focusing on the species which is native to Oman: the Omani Elite products, with their ability to bind cell molecules, will have positive Variety ‘Khalas’. Recently, the Chemistry Department at Sultan Qaboos effects on enhancing cell recovery. Let’s investigate this potential University, where I work as an assistant professor, has been equipped together and expand our current Tandem Project within AGYA to with a well-advanced natural products isolation and extraction implement our findings in the area of regenerative medicine.

Younis Baqi is Assistant Professor at the Sultan Qaboos University. Mohamed Abou El-Enein is Professor and Head of the Clinical Development His research focuses on the product isolation and synthesis of new Platform at Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT) organic compounds for development of pharmaceutical products. He at Charité University Hospital. He is mainly responsible for transforming is a member of the AGYA Working Groups Arab and German Education, research findings of the scientists into clinical applications. He is member Energy, Water and Environment, Health and Society, and Innovation. in charge of the AGYA Working Group Health and Society.

A review article about this project was published in the journal Frontiers in Plant Sciences in May 2017: Baqi et al. 2017: Date Palm Tree (Phoenix dactylifera L.): Natural Products and Therapeutic Options. In the second quarter of 2017, it was among the top 5% most viewed and downloaded articles in the journal Frontiers in Plant Science.

AGYA Newsletter 2/2017 3 in discussion AGYA

A Brave New Smart World? The Potential and Limitations of Nano-Technology

Have you ever wondered about the different aspects of our future Kalman: Similar to ants, nano-scale communication devices can ‘smart world’? Can you imagine how smart cities will change urban locally interact with each other. This novel technology helps to life? build future applications in health and society. What we need to AGYA members Kalman Graffi (Computer Sciences) and Ahmed S. understand today are the manufacturing processes that create G. Khalil (Physics) work together on the potential and limitations nano-scale devices that can communicate, as well as identify, of nano-scale device-to-device communication through their suitable communication protocols. Within our AGYA collaboration, joint AGYA Tandem Project ‘Egyptian-German Partnership on the our PhD students from Germany and Egypt engage in exploring Modelling and Simulation of Networked Nano-Scale Devices’. the limitations of this technology, combining knowledge from physics and nano-manufacturing as well as from the field of WHAT ARE THE CURRENT AND FUTURE APPLICATIONS communication networking in computer science. OF NANO-SCALE DEVICE-TO-DEVICE COMMUNICATION? Kalman: The topic of communication between nano-scale devic- HOW CAN WE IMAGINE THE APPLICATION OF es presents a wide range of relevance for society, as it has ap- NANO-TECHNOLOGY IN CITIES AND TOWNS? plications in health (inner-body robot swarms), city development Kalman: Just recently, Darmstadt won a competition for becoming (smart cities and smartdust) as well as entertainment and so- Germany’s most digital city. It will become an example of how an cial interaction (wearable computers). In the future, we will have interconnected environment can benefit society in terms of the comprehensive computing, where the devices will not be visible economy, traffic, day-to-day life, and health. The city will profit but can be found everywhere, for example in our clothes and our from city-wide free WiFi connection, assistance systems for the furniture. elderly who live alone, and smart parking, through which free parking spots can be found more quickly. Ahmed: The future of the health applications envisages having nano-robot swarms in our bodies that will perform Ahmed: Egypt is also planning a new digital capital along the monitoring and diagnostic services. Having information from corridor between Cairo and the Red Sea. The new smart capital inner-body robot swarms will provide up-to-date information is planned to serve as a hub for innovation and will be fully on the conditions of patients, which can be processed and connected to a smart transportation network, an ecological waste analyzed by doctors or artificial intelligence services across management system, and sustainable water systems. the globe. This will allow for better diagnoses and treatments in the future. CAN YOU STILL IMAGINE SOME LESS POSITIVE PERSPECTIVES ABOUT THE WHOLE DEVELOPMENT? HOW DOES YOUR AGYA TANDEM PROJECT CONTRIBUTE Kalman: Nano-scale devices of course pose many challenges to TO THE INNOVATIVE RESEARCH OF NANO-TECHNOLOGY? society in terms of privacy. Smart technology could indeed be Ahmed: In this interdisciplinary project we explore the limitations used to comprehensively monitor citizens in a ‘smart city’. In our of physics and computer science and identify the common viable research, however, we are still engaged in basic research of local paths to create smart communication networks for nano-scale nano-scale communication, and far-removed from dealing with devices. We achieve this through simulations of device-to-device the details of regulating its potential application. communication at a swarm level and, in a second step, through the creation of nano-scale devices.

Kalman Graffiwas AGYA Co-President 2016-2017. He is Junior Professor Ahmed S. G. Khalil is Associate Professor of Physics and the Director and Head of the Laboratory for Technology of Social Networks at the of the Center for Environmental and Smart Technology at Fayoum Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf. His research focuses on secure University in Egypt. His research focuses on the surface and interface and reliable protocols for distributed systems, innovative concepts engineering of functional devices used for different applications, for social networking, and distributed markets in service-oriented including solar energy, water desalination, and printed electronics. architectures. He is member in charge of the AGYA Working Group He is member of the AGYA Working Group Innovation and member in Innovation. charge of the Energy, Water and Environment group.

AGYA Newsletter 2/2017 4 AGYA Newsletter 2/2017 PHYSICS challenge of sustainablebioenergy production:Could of thesolution?. halophytes bepart In:Journalof Biological Engineering. 11:27. Baqi etal. 2017: Date Palm Tree (Phoenix dactylifera L.):NaturalProducts and Therapeutic Options. In:FrontiersinPlantSciences. 8:845. Sources quoted: You may ﬁ nd Orfali’s working paperaswell asthepolicy andconference onthe reports AGYA website: www.agya.info work together onatopic of theirsharedresearchinterest. in theformat of Tandem Projects. Within thisformat, one Arab andoneGermanmemberof AGYA projects of the6 AGYA Working Groups, AGYA membershave carriedout67 joint researchprojects interdisciplinaryEuros infundingto support AGYA researchprojects. Along with36 research In 2016, theGermanFederalMinistry of EducationandResearch (BMBF)granted AGYA 4 million 2016 Policy Report onMigration). German perspective (alsosee AGYA’s the Mediterranean froman Arab- present migrationmovements around Jenny Oesterle compared pastand AGYA members Tamirace Fakhoury & on Migration Opening New Perspectives Projects have been carriedout. 23 Since 2016, AGYA members who engagedinthe Tandem Projects contributed from expertise GERMANY LEBANON SAUDI QATAR BAHRAIN ARABIA ALGERIA 5 FACTS YOU CAN LEARN FROM AGYA TANDEM PROJECTS SUDAN TUNISIA AGYA TandemProjects academic disciplines. Mostfrequently represented are:

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11,79 55 1,3 0,6 69,2 38,3 6,58 88,5 AND MEDIA STUDIES MEDIA AND UNITED ARAB UNITED COMMUNICATION EMIRATES language teaching. Bilal Orfali`sworking paper(2016)onchangesin Arabic Arabic asanactive academic language. Pleasealsosee by AGYA membersBarbara Winckler &BilalOrfalipromoted summer schoolfor young Arab andGermanscholarsrun as alanguageof everyday communication. The Arabic isbecoming increasingly important et al. 2017). energy produc tion (Debez of salt-tolerant plantsfor investigated theuse Carsten Montzka, with JanFriesenand Elleuche, together Debez &Skander AGYA members Ahmed with SalineSoil? What Can BeDone Practicing “Blickwechsel” JORDAN ARABIA SAUDI MAURITANIA POLITICAL QATAR SCIENCE IRAQ LEBANON BAHRAIN LIBYA ENGINEERING PALESTINE TUNISIA OMAN – HISTORY READ MORE ON AGYA TANDEM PROJECTS ON AGYA.INFO 2014 MOROCCO KUWAIT EGYPT BIOLOGY COMPUTER COMPUTER SCIENCES

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UNITED ARAB 23 02.55 The 10 Largest Date Producers Worldwide (in tons) EMIRATES (Baqi etal. 2017). diseases suchascancer potential for ﬁghting investigate itsmedical Omani date fruitto El-Enein chosean Mohamed Abou & members YounisBaqi existence,in AGYA date variations2000 From themorethan Medicine? Dates as SAUDI countries inthe ARABIA 03.10 EGYPT 04.17

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Time Spent on Social Media Each Day (in h) 5 AGYA in outreach Egyptian Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research visits AGYA The Egyptian Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Prof. Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, visited the Arab-German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities (AGYA) on the occasion of his official stay in Germany. In a solemn AGYA event, a Memorandum of Understanding between the Arab-German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the Egyptian Academy of Scientific Research & Technology (ASRT) was signed. This

agreement seeks as a concrete step to establish an AGYA regional office at the Egyptian in progress AGYA Academy ASRT in Cairo.

(Sitting, from left to right): Prof. Dr. Verena Lepper, AGYA Principal Investigator (PI), Prof. Dr. Martin Grötschel, President of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW) and Co-Chair of the AGYA Advisory Board, Prof. Dr. Mahmoud Sakr, President of the Academy of Scientific Research & Technology (ASRT) and Member of the AGYA Advisory Board. Standing: Prof. Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research of the Arab Republic of Egypt