News

Durham to be part of a new national centre of excellence in the study of the Arab World

(13 November 2006)

Durham is to be part of a new national centre of excellence for the study of the Arab World. Durham University is one of three UK universities involved in the new centre which will be of strategic importance to the UK’s national interest on a cultural, political and economic level.

Through intensive language, subject and research training the Centre for the Advanced Study of the Arab World (CASAW) will create an elite group of academic researchers who will play a key role in the UK’s future relations with the Arab World in all areas from business to academia to diplomacy and government relations. A number of key UK funding councils have come together to provide £5 million of support, enabling Durham University and its partners, the universities of Manchester and Edinburgh, to provide masters and doctoral training and to offer 39 fully-funded studentships. Students will be based at the three universities, but will come together for intensive language training in Edinburgh and Egypt. Each University will deliver generic skills training, as well as offering specialist subject training in areas of particular strength. Durham is well placed to offer the highest level of training and supervision in Arabic language and literature, as well as the Politics, International Relations and Political Economy of the Middle East. The Centre will further provide opportunities to engage with leading scholars of the Arab World itself, with conferences, guest lectures and workshops. Due to the significant investment CASAW will be able to advance many new research areas and Durham will have early career fellows in areas such as "The Arab World and Asian Security" and "Information Technologies and the Media in the Arab World". CASAW will also offer courses for continuous professional development in areas such as intensive language training and private and public sector briefings on the subject. CASAW Co-Director, Dr Emma Murphy, Senior Lecturer in Durham University's School of Government and Islamic Affairs, commented on the opening saying: "The Arab World and its language are of key strategic importance to the UK. By providing a new generation of top class researchers we can provide a vital flow of knowledge and expertise to support Britain's economic, political and cultural interests." “CASAW will also build on the already thriving research community in Arab World studies here in Durham and use our world-leading expertise in Middle East politics and Arabic literature.” Students at Durham will be based in the Department of Arabic, which forms part of the School of Modern Languages and Cultures, and the Institute for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies within the School of Government and International Affairs. The University is at the forefront of Middle Eastern studies, teaching and research in Britain. CASAW is being funded by a £5 million grant from the Language-Bases Area Studies Initiative which brings together the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Scottish Funding Council (SFC in a joint venture to support collaborative Centres of Excellence).