MENA-related Events Calendar

Bashir Abu-Manneh (Hunter College) comes to QMUL to speak about his new book Disposable Palestinians: Israel’s Wars and Genocide in Gaza.

This event, hosted by the QMUL Centre for the Study of Race, Class and Empire, is a conversation between Bashir Abu-Manneh (Hunter College, NYC) and Matan Kaminer (QMUL) about Abu-Manneh's new book Disposable Palestinians: Israel’s Wars and Genocide in Gaza, out with Polity this year. What explains the genocide in Gaza? How is it connected to Israel’s previous wars of politicide against the Palestinian people? And what can Palestinians do to end their condition of disposability under occupation? Join us for a dialogue about Palestine/Israel and the role of international law in a new Palestinian strategy of liberation.

"I am beginning to wonder what profit I shall get out of it all" Exploring Gertrude Bell's Journey to Arabia and Its Significance by Mark Jackson, Professor of Byzantine Archaeology at Newcastle University and co-curator of the Gertrude Bell Archive. 

2026 commemorates the centenary of the death of Gertrude Bell. Having been one of few British people to have ventured into Arabia, Bell returned from a journey to Ha'il just weeks before the outbreak of World War I. She confided in one of her diary entries that her journey was proving to be a failure. But by 1915 the value of her work had been recognised by the War Office. Indeed by 1918 the Royal Geographical Society awarded her the Founders Medal for her expeditions. Drawing on photographs and documents from the Gertrude Bell Archive at Newcastle University and the Royal Geographical Society, this lecture will introduce Gertrude Bell and explore the significance of her journey to Arabia.  

Are you a UK Higher Education Institution-affiliated researcher working within the humanities and social sciences and planning a project in Türkiye and/or the Black Sea region next year? If so, join us on Wednesday 21th October for a webinar on how the British Institute at Ankara (BIAA) can support your research. This webinar will present the range of grants and opportunities available via the BIAA, with a particular focus on the Study (up to £2,000), Research (up to £5,000) and Large Research (up to £10,000) grants, which are currently being advertised with a deadline of 1st November. We will also discuss the range of facilities available at the BIAA’s world-class research centre in Ankara, including the BIAA David H. French Library – one of Türkiye’s premier research libraries, the BIAA laboratory and reference collections, the BIAA’s digital repository and archive and our research support and facilitation services. The BIAA’s research agenda and current Strategic Research Initiatives will also be presented.