About
The Middle East Centre builds on LSE’s long engagement with the Middle East and provides a central hub for the wide range of research on the region carried out at LSE. The Middle East Centre aims to enhance understanding and develop rigorous research on the societies, economies, polities and international relations of the region. The Centre promotes both specialised knowledge and public understanding of this crucial area, and has out- standing strengths in interdisciplinary research and in regional expertise. As one of the world’s leading social science institutions, LSE comprises departments covering all branches of the social sciences. The Middle East Centre harnesses this expertise to promote innovative research and training on the region.
The Kuwait Programme is a world-leading hub for research and expertise on Kuwait. It is the main conduit through which research on Kuwait at LSE is facilitated, expanded and pro- moted. The Programme is directed by Kuwait Professor Toby Dodge, and is based in the LSE Middle East Centre.
Deen Shariff Sharp, PhD CUNY, is an LSE Fellow in Human Geography and Environment. His research interests lie at the intersection of urbanisation, political economy, ecology, and social movements in the Arab world. He has published in journals such as Progress in Human Geography and Urban Studies. He is the co-editor, with Claire Panetta, of Beyond the Square: Urbanisms and the Arab Uprisings (Urban Research, 2016) and, with Michael Sorkin, Open Gaza: Architectures of Hope (AUC Press, 2021).
Abrar Alshammari is a PhD student at Princeton University’s Near Eastern Studies department. Her research interests include citizenship, inequality, and statelessness in the Arabian Peninsula. She completed her MA in Arab Studies with a concentration area in Politics at Georgetown University’s Centre for Contemporary Arab Studies. She was born and raised in Kuwait.
Kanwal Hameed is a PhD student at the University of Exeter where she is a member of the Gulf Studies department and the European Centre for Palestine Studies. Her work focusses on modern histories of the Gulf and her interests include critical histories, gender studies, education and movements for social justice. She has previously worked in media, theatre and education in Bahrain and Beirut.