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At a CMES seminar, the ECO‑Syria research team presented findings from a three-year interdisciplinary project examining how conflict and cross-border hostilities shape environmental change and development in North and East Syria. Bringing together researchers from multiple disciplines, the project combined satellite imagery analysis, surveys, content analysis, and qualitative interviews to capture

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/eco-syria-presentation-findings-three-year-interdisciplinary-project - 2026-10-09

This article is over 5 years old, and the information may therefore be outdated. The rise of sectarianism in the Middle East and North Africa after the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq has led to a new conceptual category – arguably as political as it is religious – which Rola El-Husseini has previously termed the ‘new Shi’a’. In this formulation, groups not traditionally associated with Twelver Shiism,

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/political-exigency-or-religious-affinity-sectarianism-contemporary-arab-world-new-article-cmes-rola - 2026-10-09

At a time when developments in Gaza remain central to global politics and public debate, the future of the territory is marked by uncertainty. During a CMES seminar this semester, Swedish journalist and long-time Middle East correspondent Cecilia Uddén reflected on the current situation and possible trajectories ahead. A situation that has not fundamentally changedDespite periods of ceasefire, the

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/cecilia-udden-what-going-happen-gaza - 2026-10-09

Read the director’s message, explore the latest research news, discover upcoming events, and browse our recent publications. Read CMES Newsletter here.Subscribe to the CMES-newsletter.Message from the DirectorAs the spring semester comes to a close and the summer holidays approach, we are wrapping up an exceptionally busy and productive period of research activities at CMES.The semester included s

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/read-latest-cmes-newsletter-61 - 2026-10-09

This article is over 5 years old, and the information may therefore be outdated. This article compares the discourses of building nations and national identities fostered in the content of school textbooks in the Republic of Turkey—a modern, territorial nation‐state—and the Autonomous Administration of North and East of Syria (hereafter Rojava)—an alternative state system model established in the

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/content-school-textbooks-nation-states-and-stateless-autonomies-comparison-turkey-and-autonomous - 2026-10-09

Anne Lene Stein has been awarded the EISA Best Dissertation Award 2026 for her thesis, “Agonism against the Odds: Epistemic Disruptions and Bodies of Dissent in Palestine and Israel”. Congratulation, how does it feel to receive this award, and what does it mean to you personally and professionally?I am incredibly happy and honoured to receive the EISA Best Dissertation Award. Writing a PhD is such

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/anne-lene-stein-wins-eisa-best-dissertation-award - 2026-10-09

A Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) seminar on 8 September marked the launch of Three Scandinavian Missionary Women and the Armenian Genocide, a new book edited by Svante Lundgren and Maria Småberg that sheds light on the humanitarian work of three Scandinavian women who assisted Armenians during one of the twentieth century's most devastating atrocities. In the  opening remarks, C

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/new-book-highlights-scandinavian-womens-humanitarian-efforts-during-armenian-genocide - 2026-10-09

More than 50 people attended the CMES Open House on 14 September to meet the Centre’s affiliated researchers and learn about twelve current research projects. The programme featured presentations, conversations at the researchers’ poster stands and information about CMES courses in Arabic. The day began with CMES Director Ronny Berndtsson introducing the Centre and its activities. The affiliated r

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/cmes-open-house-attracts-students - 2026-10-09

This article is over 5 years old, and the information may therefore be outdated. Middle Eastern research news from Lund University Message from the director The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is an exceptionally dynamic area that has undergone great changes politically as well as economically during the latest decades. The region is likely to continue to display rapid and sudden developments

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/middle-east-forum-newsletter-8-february-2020 - 2026-10-09

Interest in CMES Arabic language courses has reached a new high. This semester, the Centre received a record number of applications from Lund University students and staff seeking to develop their language skills and deepen their understanding of the Arabic-speaking world. The courses, which are exclusively available to Lund University students and staff, are designed for those interested in worki

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/record-number-applications-cmes-arabic-language-courses - 2026-10-09

Around 70 people gathered at Domkyrkoforum when journalist and author Joakim Medin visited the CMES to discuss press freedom and freedom of expression in the Middle East. Drawing on his recent experiences in Turkey and his new book Imprisoned by Erdoğan, Medin reflected on the risks facing journalists working under authoritarian rule. During the seminar, organised by Centre for Advanced Middle Eas

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/joakim-medin-press-freedom-repression-and-hope-change-turkey - 2026-10-09

How does the growing market for investment migration reshape citizenship, belonging and the role of the state? These questions were at the centre of a recent CMES seminar, where researchers Sara Kalm, Leysan Storie and Markus Gunneflo presented their new MECW-funded research project, Elite Mobility: Investment Migration in the Middle East. The project examines investment migration programmes that

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/new-mecw-project-explores-investment-migration-middle-east - 2026-10-09

How is North Africa’s renewable energy transition reshaping local communities, landscapes, and power relations? Bringing together researchers from across disciplines and regions, an international workshop at Lund University explored the social, political, and environmental implications of large-scale renewable energy projects, with a particular focus on extractivism, environmental justice, and loc

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/international-workshop-towards-research-agenda-expansion-renewable-energy-frontiers-and-local - 2026-10-09

CMES researcher Hossein Hashemi and his colleagues from engineering, natural sciences, and social sciences, has been recognised as one of the standout studies published by researchers in Sweden. Their paper "Unraveling the link between agricultural patterns and dust storm occurrence in Mesopotamia", has been selected for a special collection celebrating high-impact research published in 2025 by IO

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/cmes-research-dust-storm-earns-international-recognition - 2026-10-09

How does armed conflict reshape landscapes? In a new study, CMES researchers Pinar Dinc and Purnendu Sardar (together with Milena Ayvazyan) examine how warfare, extractivism, and environmental degradation have transformed Kurdish-majority regions in Syria and Turkey. The open-access publication reveals how environmental destruction can become intertwined with strategies of territorial control, res

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/armed-conflict-extractivism-and-environmental-degradation-remote-sensing-and-discourse-analysis - 2026-10-09

CMES researchers Mo Hamza and Sinem Kavak have published a new article examining the relationship between social class and forced migrants’ onward mobility. Focusing on Syrian refugees in Turkey and Lebanon, the study highlights how class-based resources and constraints shape migration aspirations and opportunities. Read the article here (External link).Article at Lund University Research Portal (

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/social-class-and-forced-migrants-secondaryonward-mobility-decision-making-syrians-turkey-and-lebanon - 2026-10-09

CMES researcher Sami Al-Daghistani has published a new article exploring the role of maqāsid (the higher objectives of Islamic law) in shaping ethical approaches to economic life. The study investigates how material and non-material values are negotiated within contemporary discussions of markets, morality, and the common good. Read the article at Brill website (External link)Article at Lund Unive

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/maqasid-and-market-ethical-reasoning-between-material-and-non-material-values - 2026-10-09

What happens when the desert becomes a laboratory for the city of the future? A new MECW research project will critically examine how ambitious smart-city visions are imagined, promoted and translated into urban development across the Gulf region. At a CMES seminar, researchers Lorena Melgaço, Dalia Mukhtar-Landgren and Sandra Kopljar introduced Utopian Desert: Investigating Smart Cities in the Gu

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/new-mecw-project-examines-promises-and-tensions-gulf-smart-cities - 2026-10-09

At a CMES seminar on 8 October, Fredrik Meiton of the Swedish Institute for Foreign Affairs (UI) presented a tentative analysis of an emerging regional order in the Middle East, shaped less by ideology than by economic competition, security interests and control over strategic infrastructure. In the seminar, The New Middle East: Bloc Politics and Geoeconomics, Meiton argued that the region is incr

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/new-regional-blocs-reshape-power-politics-middle-east - 2026-10-09

This article is over 5 years old, and the information may therefore be outdated. An innovative project has received support from the Swedish Institute under its “support for cooperation with academics from Turkey” scheme. “Turkey Beyond Borders: Critical Voices, New Perspectives” aims to foster collaboration between academics in Sweden and scholars from Turkey whose academic freedoms are implicitl

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/seminar-and-vodcast-series-draws-attention-infringements-academic-freedom-turkey-and-provides-forum - 2026-10-09