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On the 19th anniversary of 9/11 attacks, the debate surrounding al-Qaeda strength is still alive among scholars and experts. Along with other researchers Hasan Abu Hanieh and Marwan Shehadeh, CMES researcher Orwa Ajjoub assess the group's relevance and argue that al-Qaeda has never been weaker than now. The group has faced multiple challenges since the US invasion to Afghanistan in 2001:losing its

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/al-qaeda-has-never-been-weaker-now - 2025-11-19

The coming issue of Dragomanen, the annual publication of the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul, has been co-edited by Anders Ackfeldt and Leif Stenberg and is dedicated to the topic of leisure.  CMES researcher Helen Avery contributes with a piece written in Swedish "Strandliv", on what the beach means for people in Gaza. The article is based on impressions from the field trip to Rafah munic

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/coming-issue-dragomanenis-about-leisure - 2025-11-19

We cordially welcome the new Director for the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and as well the new Coordinator for the strategic research area Middle East in the Contemporary World, Prof. Karin Aggestam.  Karin is the former Director of Peace & Conflict Studies at Lund University and holds the Samuel Pufendorf Endowed Chair. She has a long research career within interdisciplinary research focussi

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/middle-east-forum-newsletter-september - 2025-11-19

Karin Aggestam, ny föreståndare för Centrum för Mellanösternstudier, om det nya fredsavtalet i Mellanöstern: För ett par veckor sedan slöt Bahrain och Förenade Arabemiraten ett fredsavtal med Israel. Det var första gången på 26 år som ett arabland erkänt Israel och Donald Trump tar på sig äran. Vad betyder detta för freden i Mellanöstern? Varken Bahrain eller Förenade arabemiraten har ju haft någo

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/vad-betyder-de-nya-fredsavtalen-som-med-trumps-hjalp-slutits-i-mellanostern - 2025-11-19

Very exciting to start up as new CMES director! Karin Aggestam: "It has been some hectic, but very exciting weeks as new director for CMES. I am deeply impressed by the large number of scholars at Lund University who conduct cutting-edge research on the Middle East.   The House on Finngatan 16 serves as a wonderful hub for interdisciplinary research collaboration. We are in the midst of planning t

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/newsletter-middle-east-forum-newsletter-october - 2025-11-19

The workshop is called: Unpacking ‘the Opposition’ in undemocratic regimes: The Role, Transformation and Challenges of the Oppositional Actors in Turkey and beyond The purpose of this workshop is to initiate a debate on the opposition in Turkey and contribute to the theorization of the role, transformation, mobilization strategies and different forms of the opposition in undemocratic regimes.  The

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/cmes-pinar-dinc-presenting-fake-news-understanding-conflict-and-forest-fire-nexus-through-media - 2025-11-19

Message from the director: New CMES board in place  While CMES 2.0 is still in the making some important steps have been taken in the last few weeks. We are pleased to announce that a new interdisciplinary board has been formed.  Four faculties are represented from Lund University, which include dean and prof Christofer Edling (chair), prof Martin Dribe, Economic History, prof Maria Gomez, LUDC, a

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/middle-east-forum-newsletter-15 - 2025-11-19

As part of the Climate Stress in Syria-research project, there was a closed interactive online workshop on October 14th to discuss the nexus around drought, vulnerability and conflict. This post describes the workshop that was held online on October 14th, 2020, as the first workshop in the Climate Stress Syria project. It was co-written by Cecilia Axelsson Örberg, Pinar Dinc and Lina Eklund who we

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/exploring-broader-field-environmental-dimensions-conflict-middle-east-region-and-beyond - 2025-11-19

Ten non-Armenians from ten European countries write about their interest in and experiences of Armenia. In moving and, at times, funny essays they depict dramatic events, lasting friendships, political struggles. We hear about lavash and brandy, genocide and revival, Yerevan and small God-forgotten villages in Hayastan and Artsakh.  The authors describe how their interest in Armenia started, how i

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/cmes-svante-lundgren-one-editors-new-book-armenia-mon-amour-ten-europeans-speak - 2025-11-19

CMES Spyros Sofos was awarded a PhD in Regional and Cross-cultural Studies at the University of Copenhagen after the examination of his thesis entitled “The Meanings of the People in Turkish Politics: A Genealogy” on Monday 7 December. This thesis is intended to make a contribution to ongoing efforts to enhance our understanding of the “popular” in the study of politics through a critical examinat

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/new-phd-thesis-meanings-people-turkish-politics-genealogy - 2025-11-19

Local weather often is not what news reports for cities and counties. As transient, local, and intense as a cloudburst, rainfall can be highly variable, impractical to measure for usual rain-gauge networks. Frequent extreme events with climate change call for fundamental knowledge developments on rainfall. With the new X-band weather radars initially installed to avoid urban flooding, high-resolut

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/cmes-hasan-hosseini-has-got-pre-seed-funding-2021-lu-innovation - 2025-11-19

The article has been published in Sustainability and is available online. Co-writers are Khaldoon A. Mourad and Hasan Hosseini, also from CMES. Farmers know much more than we think, and they are keen to improve their knowledge in order to improve their farms and increase their income. On the other hand, decision-makers, organizations, and researchers are increasing their use of citizen volunteers

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/role-citizen-science-sustainable-agriculture-new-article-cmes-helen-avery - 2025-11-19

Co-writer Lisen Dellenborg. The article is published in the book "FEMALE GENITAL CUTTING The Global North and South" (Malmö University). Open access. In recent decades, female genital mutilation has come to be regarded as a major breach of human rights. International anti-FGM agencies such as WHO, UNICEF and The Red Cross/Red Crescent have drawn up strongly worded documents designed to protect wom

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/cmes-maria-frederika-malmstroms-new-article-female-circumcisiongenital-mutilation-and-human-rights - 2025-11-19

It is during a difficult time that Akiça Bahri has taken over the responsibility as Minister of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries in Tunisia. But with a doctorate in water management from Lund University and many international missions on her CV, she was ready for the assignment. Since 2011 and the start of the Arab Spring, leading politicians in Tunisia have been trying to persuade Akiça

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/lu-doctor-water-focus-and-cmes-connections-new-minister-tunisia - 2025-11-19

Middle Eastern research news from Lund University Message from the director Seasonal greetings from the team at the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies  This has been a strange and challenging year. We have just closed down the Centre temporarily due to escalating Covid-19 pandemic.  However, in 2021 we hope to be moving towards brighter times! CMES is set to launch some new initiatives to consolida

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/middle-east-forum-newsletter-16-december-2020 - 2025-11-19

The majority of the new dust sources are due to environmental degradation caused by human activities. To prevent further dust source generation, the first step is to identify the new dust sources and predict the dust source occurrences in the vulnerable areas. We developed a novel approach that combines machine learning algorithms and remote sensing techniques for dust source detection and suscept

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/new-cmes-research-about-dust-source-detection-and-dust-source-susceptibility-mapping - 2025-11-19

This study identifies obstacles and barriers in distance learning and the use of electronic exams, comparing them to pursue success in the distance education system during the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). It also aimed to determine the similarity and differences between the two main components of distance education. This is based on a sample of evaluations from professors and students at unive

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/obstacles-distance-learning-and-applying-electronic-exams-during-covid-19-new-cmes-research - 2025-11-19

The demand for water supply is continuously rising due to population growth and development across the world. In arid and semi-arid areas, particularly the Middle East, aquifers form the central freshwater reserves, hence are being uncontrollably exploited to meet water demand for an ever-increasing population and industrialization. To achieve sustainability in groundwater supply, the potential of

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/application-advanced-machine-learning-algorithms-assess-groundwater-potential-using-remote-sensing - 2025-11-19

Groundwater resources provide a large share of the world’s water demand for various sectors such as agriculture, industry, and drinking water. Particularly in the Middle East's arid and semi-arid regions, with surface water scarcity and high evaporation, groundwater is a valuable commodity. Yet, groundwater data are often incomplete or nonexistent. Therefore, it is a challenge to achieve a groundw

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/application-extreme-gradient-boosting-and-parallel-random-forest-algorithms-assessing-groundwater - 2025-11-19

In this article CMES Spyros A. Sofos and Nazanin Shahrokni present a case analysis of Sahar Khodayari’s transformation into a global injustice icon, the #BlueGirl, after she set herself ablaze outside a courthouse in Tehran, Iran, allegedly in protest against the ban on women entering football stadiums. We focus on the ways in which ‘pity’ was generated, mobilized, and transformed into indignation

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/mobilizing-pity-dialectics-narrative-production-and-erasure-case-irans-bluegirl - 2025-11-19