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Today we celebrated Nowruz, the Persian new year at CMES. Text: Rafah BarhoumNowruz, meaning "new day" in Persian, is an ancient, 3,000-year-old festival marking the Iranian New Year and the spring equinox (March 20/21). Celebrating rebirth and the great victory of light over darkness, it is honored by over 300 million people across the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Caucasus.Haft Sin هفت سين
https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/nowruz-celebration-cmes - 2026-10-03
New Study by CMES Researcher Sinem Kavak: How Climate Change Shapes the Lives of Migrant Farmworkers. Read the article here (External link).HighlightsExamines climate change vulnerability of migrant farmworkers through a critical political economy lens. Synthesises a decade of qualitative data from multiple regions and historicises agri-labour migration in Turkey. Moves beyond hazard-based studies
This article is over 5 years old, and the information may therefore be outdated. In January-February 2020, three researchers affiliated with CMES travelled to Khartoum, Sudan for the official kick-off seminar and workshop of a 3-year project that is funded by the Swedish Research Council (VR), FORMAS and SIDA and entitled: "Resilience in Urban Sudan (RUS): An Interdisciplinary Spatial and Temporal
https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/cmes-affiliated-researchers-launch-climate-research-project-sudan - 2026-10-03
In a new article for The Conversation, CMES researcher Hossein Hashemi reveals how climate change is reshaping Saharan dust storms and their growing impact on Europe. Read the full article: (External link. The Conversation)Saharan dust storms are a natural phenomenon, often experienced in southern Europe, but climate change is altering their intensity, frequency, and paths, with growing consequenc
https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/climate-change-altering-saharan-dust-and-europe-downwind - 2026-10-03
Cowritten by CMES researcher Mo Hamza, this article sheds light on the often-overlooked human work that makes so‑called intelligent machines function. Read the full article here: External link to The Loop.Artificial intelligence is frequently presented as autonomous, efficient and almost frictionless. In The invisible labour behind “intelligent” machines, the authors challenge this narrative by sh
https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/invisible-labour-behind-intelligent-machines - 2026-10-03
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 - 2026-10-03
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 - 2026-10-03
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 - 2026-10-03
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 - 2026-10-03
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
CMES Researcher Torsten Janson has written a review of Alison Scott-Baumann’s study "Paul Ricoeur: Empowering Education, Politics and Society" (published in 2023). The review is published on The London School of Economics and Political Science website blog. Review summaryAlison Scott–Baumann’s Paul Ricoeur: Empowering Education, Politics and Society employs Ricoeur’s philosophy to unpack contempor
https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/paul-ricoeur-empowering-education-politics-and-society-review - 2026-10-03
Read the November CMES Newsletter about upcoming events, recent research activities, and new publications. The CMES Newsletter offers a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of Middle Eastern research. It is distributed regularly to a diverse audience of scholars, both within Lund University and beyond. Each issue features:Message From the DirectorLatest Research NewsUpcoming EventsRecent Publicat
https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/read-latest-cmes-newsletter-47 - 2026-10-03
CMES Researcher Lisa Strömbom was interviewed in the Danish newspaper Politiken on Israel's relations with the UN, following the UNRWA ban. Lisa Strömbom is Associate Professor in Political Science and researcher at CMES. She studies identities in conflict, conflict transformation and historiography, recognition in intrastate conflict as well as on grassroots peacebuilding. Her main empirical focu
https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/lisa-strombom-interviewed-politiken-israels-relations-un - 2026-10-03
LUCSUS researcher Sinem Kavak visited CMES to hold a seminar on Syrian refugees in Turkey and Lebanon. How can we understand the complex dynamics of gender and bodily strategies in the context of forced migration? As part of the CMES Seminar Series, Sinem Kavak, researcher at the Center for Sustainability Studies at Lund University (LUCSUS) and a research affiliate at the Raoul Wallenberg Institut
https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/gendered-refugee-bodies-feminist-analysis-syrian-refugee-mobility-turkey-and-lebanon - 2026-10-03
CMES researcher Sami Al-Daghistani has recently published an edited volume on premodern and contemporary economic and environmental approaches in Islamic traditions. Recovering Environmental and Economic Traditions in the Islamic World. Leiden: Brill’s Themes in Islamic Studies Series, Volume 9, 2024.The book is published in Open Access thanks to financial support from Lund University Library Fund
https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/recovering-environmental-and-economic-traditions-islamic-world - 2026-10-03
CMES researcher Altea Pericoli has co-authored an article published in The International Spectator. Donelli, F., Pericoli, A. (2024). Foreign aid, identities, and interests: Qatar and the UAE in Sudan. The International Spectator. DOI: 10.1080/03932729.2024.2416892.The article is published with Open Access. Read it here.About Altea PericoliDr. Altea Pericoli is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in ge
https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/foreign-aid-identities-and-interests-qatar-and-uae-sudan - 2026-10-03
Det händer mycket i Iran just nu. Irankännaren Laleh Foroughanfar, forskare vid Centrum för Mellanösternstudier vid Lunds universitet, analyserar läget just nu och vad som har lett fram till dagens situation. To the full article
https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/det-iranska-samhallet-mer-uppdelat-nagonsin - 2026-10-03
A 4-year fully funded PhD position at the Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) and Centre for Theology and Religious Studies (CTR) is now open for applications. Application deadline: 22 December 2024.About the PhD PositionThe Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies is coordinating the Strategic Research Area (SRA) and the research program “The Middle East in the Contemporary World”
https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/job-opening-phd-student-islamic-studies-islamic-ethics-and-moral-economy-middle-east - 2026-10-03
Applications are now open for the CMES Travel Grant of Spring 2025. Application deadline is 20 December 2024. The Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) supports research with high scientific potential through the Strategic Research Area Middle East in the Contemporary World (MECW). CMES provides travel grants for conducting field work in the Middle East and conference/workshop particip
https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/call-cmes-travel-grant-spring-2025 - 2026-10-03
CMES researcher Altea Pericoli has published an article in the Durham Middle East Papers. Pericoli A. (2024). Islamic Humanitarianism and Foreign Aid: Gulf States in conflict zones. Durham Middle East Papers, Sir William Luce Fellowship Paper n. 111.The Durham Middle East Papers series covers all aspects of the economy, politics, social science, history, literature and languages of the Middle East
https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/islamic-humanitarianism-and-foreign-aid-gulf-states-conflict-zones - 2026-10-03
