Education & Training

Ongoing: BCARS collaborates and works closely with the Pardee School's Initiative on Forced Migration and Human Trafficking (FMHT) to host events and workshops for academics and policymakers around the world. The FMHT brings together students, scholars, practitioners and policy-makers to support research, education, and advocacy on the pressing issues of forced migration and human trafficking. By drawing specialists from such a broad range of fields, the FMHT is able to discuss and craft more comprehensive policies to propose to various stakeholders in humanitarian assistance. The FMHT's collaboration with BCARS allows it to include academics and students from the entire Boston area and further develop its ability to cultivate multiple approaches to migration and trafficking.

November 2017: Members from the BCARS Scholar Network presented their research on a panel, "Vulnerability and Exclusion: Examining Access to Services and Institutions for Syrian Refugees and Residents of Cairo's Ashwayyat," chaired by BCARS Director Denis Sullivan. Do intervening actors understand their efforts as temporary relief or sustainable development? Institutionally, do service providers engage in deliberative practices and allocate resources fairly, or does competition, negligence, or stigma drive gaps in provision for vulnerable populations? And to what extent do those designated as "vulnerable" gain access to the policy-making processes that affect their access to services and institutions? These are just some of the questions this panel examined through three case studies.

November 2017: BCARS Assistant Director for Policy and Practice, Dr. Amira Ahmed Mohamed, participated in a roundtable at the 60th annual African Studies Association Annual Meeting. Entitled, "Persecution of scholars and public intellectuals in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond: confronting evolving threats to academic freedom on the continent," the roundtable included Jennifer Yanco (Boston University) and Teferi Nigussie Tafa (Norwich University). 

May 2017: This workshop aimed at helping academics and practitioners prepare for upcoming field research projects involving refugees and other forced migrants, and addressed a range of practical and ethical challenges with research methods through a series of moderated discussions and plenary sessions.

​

This workshop was sponsored by the Boston Consortium for Arab Region Studies (BCARS) and the Forced Migration Field Researchers Coalition, which includes researchers from the following universities: Tufts, Worcester State, Clark, Northeastern, Boston University, and Oxford Brookes, and organizations: the Feinstein International Center, the International Institute of New England (IINE), the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and the Joint IDP Profiling Service (JIPS).

May & September 2016: The American Political Science Association (APSA)  accepted Professor Denis Sullivan and his colleagues in BCARS (the Boston Consortium for Arab Region Studies)  lead the 2016 APSA MENA (Middle East/North Africa) workshop titled “Civil Society Revisited" for the American Political Science Association. 

​

The workshop was hosted at the Asfari Institute for Civil Society & Citizenship at American University of Beirut in May 2016. A follow-up workshop was held at the School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at American University in Cairo in September 2016. The program aimed to support political science research and teaching in the Arab Middle East and North Africa, and strengthen research networks linking Arab scholars with their colleagues overseas. The 2016 workshops were the fourth series in APSA’s annual MENA Workshops program. They were led by Denis Sullivan (Northeastern University), Augustus Richard Norton (Boston University), Fateh Azzam (American University of Beirut), and Laila El Baradei (American University in Cairo).