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New article co-written by CMES researcher Torsten Janson. In the academic article Stirring Up the Ashes: Exhibiting the Great Fire of Smyrna in the Context of Turkish Politics of Memory, the authors examine how one of the most traumatic events in the late Ottoman period continues to shape historical narratives and public memory today. Focusing on museum exhibitions and commemorative practices, the

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/stirring-ashes-exhibiting-great-fire-smyrna-context-turkish-politics-memory - 2026-06-11

Read the director’s message, explore the latest research news, discover upcoming events, and browse our recent publications. Read CMES newsletter here.Spring is slowly transforming the lawns across Lund into brilliant shades of blue as early flowers come into bloom, also around the Forsman Villa, home to researchers at the Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies.  Another clear sign of the seas

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/read-latest-cmes-newsletter-59 - 2026-06-11

Researchers conducting fieldwork in repressive and illiberal countries face profound ethical, personal and professional challenges — particularly when they are native to the societies they study. These issues were at the centre of a well attended CMES seminar by professor Merouan Mekouar, York University, Canada, that brought together scholars to reflect on risk, responsibility and inequality in a

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/challenges-and-strategies-fieldwork-repressive-and-illiberal-contexts - 2026-06-11

How can the Middle East move towards sustainability and peace amid escalating conflicts and environmental crises? This question was at the heart of a well-attended panel discussion hosted by the Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) during Sustainability Week 2026. The event brought together researchers and students from across Lund University to share insights from political science,

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/sustainable-middle-east-turbulent-world - 2026-06-11

New article from CMES by Torsten Janson and Mattias Kärrholm. Read the article here (external link).This article is devoted to analysing the design and symbolics of the Safra Square (Kikar Safra) and City Hall complex, Western Jerusalem. Built around the historic Town Hall of the British Governate, and inaugurated in 1993, the City Hall complex is strategically located along the bustling Jaffa Str

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/squaring-israeli-nation-politics-poetics-and-performances-dominance-safra-square-jerusalem - 2026-06-11

How do Syrians navigate uncertainty and reshape their futures after years of conflict and upheaval? This question was at the heart of the CMES seminar “Worlds in the Making: Viability, Orientation and Recalibration in Syrian Lives,” with Andreas Bandak, University of Copenhagen. The event brought together students, researchers and practitioners to reflect on the shifting realities, challenges, and

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/worlds-making-viability-orientation-and-recalibration-syrian-lives - 2026-06-11

CMES director Ronny Berndtsson at the Division of Water Resources Engineering has cowritten a publication on Salinity–Chloride Interaction Effects on Novel Citrus Combinations Under Various Field Conditions. Read the article here (external link).Citrus production is increasingly constrained worldwide by rising soil salinity, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions. In Tunisia, the expansion of

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/salinity-chloride-interaction-effects - 2026-06-11

Recent developments in Iran highlight the complex interplay between domestic unrest, regional conflict and global geopolitics. At a CMES panel at Lund University, researchers and practitioners explored possible futures for Iran — emphasising uncertainty, internal dynamics and the limits of external intervention. The event opened with remarks by Lund University Vice-Chancellor Erik Renström.A compl

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/what-does-future-hold-iran-insights-cmes-panel-discussion - 2026-06-11

A full house at CMES gathered researchers, students and members of the public for a seminar on settler violence in Palestine, where legal perspectives on state responsibility sparked an engaged discussion and a lively Q&A. The CMES seminar brought together a large and engaged audience to hear Alice Panepinto (Queen’s University Belfast) present her research on settler violence in the occupied West

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/examining-state-responsibility-settler-violence-palestine - 2026-06-11

Special issue stemming from workshop held at CMES. Cowritten by CMES Board Member Sarah Anne Rennick and CMES researcher Rola El-Husseini Read full article here.AbstractThe 2019 uprisings in Algeria, Sudan, Lebanon, and Iraq, often framed as a ‘Second Wave’ of the Arab uprisings, present a critical puzzle: why did mass mobilization re-emerge nearly a decade after the 2011 revolutions, despite thei

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/edge-theorizing-role-post-conflict-dynamics-mobilization - 2026-06-11

Arabic cultural event organized by Rafah Barhoum Language training expert at Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies at Lund University: Teaching Arabic at CMES  with Rafah is not merely about teaching the Arabic language; rather, it is an immersive engagement with Arab culture, as well as the customs and traditions of Arab societies—an experience that students actively live through dialogue, p

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/arabic-cultural-event-cmes - 2026-06-11

Read the director’s message, explore the latest research news, discover upcoming events, and browse our recent publications. Read CMES Newsletter here.Message from the DirectorDuring an especially busy spring period, CMES organised several important public panels and seminars. On 13 April, in connection with Lund Sustainability Week, CMES hosted the panel A Sustainable Middle East in a Turbulent W

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/read-latest-cmes-newsletter-60 - 2026-06-11

The CMES seminar room was filled with researchers, students and interested attendees as Pelle Valentin Olsen presented his ongoing research on leisure and everyday life in modern Iraq. The seminar, based on a forthcoming book project, offered a shift away from traditional political narratives, instead focusing on how ordinary people experienced and shaped modern Iraqi society. Everyday life beyond

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/leisure-morality-and-modern-iraq-new-perspectives-cmes - 2026-06-11

The Center for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) organized an interdisciplinary workshop “Critical Approaches to Middle East and Islamic Studies: Power, Politics, and Decoloniality” with international scholars to analyze and evaluate major paradigms and methods used to study the Middle East and Islam. The workshop was convened by Sami Al-Daghistani (Associate Professor, Lund University) and i

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/critical-perspectives-middle-east-and-islamic-studies-cmes-workshop-summary - 2026-06-11

CMES researcher Filippo Verre has published the book chapter in the Scopus-index book "Smart Healthcare: Leveraging AI and Cloud Technologies for Enhanced Medical Solutions". Read the chapter hereAbstractWater resilience plays a critical role in ensuring uninterrupted function in modern hospitals. Disturbance to the supply of this precious material creates robust issues in care and patient safety.

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/ensuring-water-resilience-smart-hospitals-role-ai-crisis-management-and-resource-optimization - 2026-06-11

CMES researcher Lina Eklund has been elected as a new member of the Young Academy of Sweden, a multidisciplinary academy bringing together outstanding early-career researchers. The Young Academy of Sweden is an independent organisation that selects leading young researchers from across disciplines, with the aim of contributing to public debate and strengthening the conditions for research.Lina Ekl

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/cmes-researcher-elected-young-academy-sweden - 2026-06-11

This CMES Regional Outlook (2026:1) by Hebatalla Taha and Dina Tawfik examines Iran’s nuclear posture beyond assumptions of weaponisation, highlighting its pursuit of nuclear latency and the implications for diplomacy and regional dynamics. There is a tendency to assume that Iran wants ‘the bomb’. This claim has been repeated – in the press and in some policy circles – with little nuance. However,

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/future-irans-nuclear-activities - 2026-06-11

This article is over 5 years old, and the information may therefore be outdated. This book analyses the tensions that emerge within strong welfare states when faced with large migration flows. It also interrogates the phenomenon of the 2015 'refugee crisis' and its foreplay and aftermath in the context of Northern Europe and challenges the notion of crisis as a feature of contemporary realities. "

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/new-book-refugees-and-violence-welfare-bureaucracies-northern-europe-edited-cmes-dalia-abdelhady-and - 2026-06-11

How has one of the most enduring rivalries in international politics persisted for more than four decades—and why has it proven so difficult to change? At a recent CMES book talk, Dalia Dassa Kaye presented her book Enduring Hostility: The Making of America’s Iran Policy. Drawing on interviews with policymakers, she argued that US–Iran tensions cannot be understood by looking at Iran alone, but mu

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/book-talk-enduring-hostility-making-americas-iran-policy - 2026-06-11

ECO-Syria Project held their final two day Workshop on June 1 and 2, bringing together an interdisciplinary group of scholars to reflect on the politics and ethics of global solidarity in times of crisis. Through a combination of presentations and collaborative discussions, participants identified key conceptual and methodological overlaps across diverse case studies, with a particular focus on li

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/eco-syria-workshop-politics-and-ethics-global-solidarity-times-crisis - 2026-06-11