With a focus on deepening and broadening scholarly research while also empowering students to be more involved in knowledge production and intellectual debates about pressing issues from the Global South, Northwestern Qatar’s Dean Marwan M. Kraidy said he hopes Northwestern Qatar will be a “more contextually resonant and impactful institution.”

On July 1, 2020, Dean Kraidy began his appointment at Northwestern Qatar, tasked with the challenging role of leading an academic institution through a global pandemic. Dean Kraidy focused on building and enhancing connections within the community and identifying areas for future growth and development for the institution.

Throughout the year, students, faculty, and staff met with Dean Kraidy to hear about schoolwide updates and developments, discuss challenges, and work collectively to enhance the education and research opportunities for students and faculty.

Dean Kraidy also appointed new academic leaders for Northwestern Qatar. Kathleen Hewett-Smith was named senior associate dean and chief academic officer, and Sami Hermez was appointed director of the Liberal Arts Program. Full-time faculty appointments were also made for Professors Dana Atrach, João Queiroga, and Marcela Pizarro.

On his research agenda, Dean Kraidy emphasized three central components: using Qatar-based research as a prism on global affairs, fostering a culture of interdisciplinarity, and ensuring that faculty grants and fellowships focus on original contributions to knowledge and are only the beginning of “active and engaged scholarship.”

Determined to uphold the school’s commitment to academic excellence and provide students with access to a world of information and know-how despite the disruptions of the pandemic, Dean Kraidy encouraged the community to look past “how new and unprecedented” the year was and, instead, take advantage of the positive aspects of changes that came because of the pandemic.

One of these advantages, he noted, was the expansion of virtual meetings, which enabled a greater number of speakers to address the community, including professor and authority on colonialism and slavery Eve Troutt Powell as the inaugural speaker at the Dean’s Global Forum; Turkish writer and political columnist Ece Temelkuran at the inaugural Hiwar Speaker Series; and Omani author Jokha Alharthri, whose book Celestial Bodies was selected as this year’s One Book.

With all the uncertainty that the pandemic brought, Kraidy noted one certainty that has been affirmed: “Young people should consider careers in journalism and communication now more than ever because they have unprecedented opportunities to make positive and enduring contributions to the well-being of their societies.”

A lecture series inaugurated this year was the Dean’s Global Forum, which will feature leaders from academe, media, the arts, and public affairs in conversation with the school’s dean, Marwan M. Kraidy. Speakers chosen will have a deep understanding of enduring issues and pressing global matters—particularly from the Global South—that includes history and race, climate change and public policy, and current affairs.

“With a focus on the Global South, this initiative aligns with our mission to promote interdisciplinary discussions on important topics and big ideas that are shaping the narrative and future of the world today,” said Kraidy. “While, at the same time, we will delve into how our speakers arrived at where they are today—who and what influenced their career decisions?”

The inaugural lecture featured Eve Troutt Powell, an authority on colonialism and slavery in the Ottoman Empire and the Nile Valley, who discussed “Race in the Middle East and North Africa: From the Ottoman Empire to Black Lives Matter.”

Troutt Powell discussed the historical relationship between slavery, colonialism, and racism in the Arab world and its legacy today, focusing on the prejudices and stereotypes that Black Arabs in the Middle East and North Africa experienced as a result of the legacy of the region’s multicultural, multiethnic slave trade during the Ottoman Empire in Egypt, Sudan, the Caucasus, and Western Europe.

Troutt Powell pointed out that, while Arabs have historically associated anti-Black racism, colonialism, and slavery with the Atlantic slave trade experience, often dismissing them as issues in the West, the cultural impact of the slave trade, she said, “continues to affect the lived experience of Black Arabs in the Middle East today.”

She also noted the role that popular and mainstream media in the Middle East continue to play in shaping the understanding of race and racism and warned against the off-screen consequences of misrepresenting Black people in the media.

From media consumption habits to the perceived trajectory of freedoms in the world, a lot has changed—and continues to change—since Northwestern Qatar was established in 2008. When Dean Kraidy assumed the stewardship of Northwestern Qatar in 2020, a year defined by the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and the shadow of global politics and activism, interest in a platform that amplifies diverse perspectives and practical solutions to humanity’s challenges grew among faculty, staff, and students.

To build a better understanding of these issues, Northwestern Qatar launched the Hiwar Speaker Series, a platform for the Northwestern Qatar community to engage directly with academics, global experts, and thought leaders and to explore and wrestle with topics related to pressing global challenges.

Northwestern Qatar hosted award-winning Turkish novelist and political commentator Ece Temelkuran as the inaugural Hiwar speaker in a conversation with Professor Banu Akdenizli on authoritarianism and the future of democracy. Temelkuran, whose journalism has appeared in The Guardian, The New York Times, New Statesman, Frankfurter Allgemeine, and Der Spiegel, highlighted the common global patterns of right-wing populist movements and shared insights from her award-winning book—How to Lose a Country: The 7 Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship—on the process of rebuilding democracy through determination.

When asked about the emotional toll of living under authoritarianism, Temelkuran said, “What I have noticed in the last several years ... it’s not that we don’t have anger enough ... it’s not that we don’t have real reasons to act against authoritarian regimes ... and it’s not the fact we are afraid of something; it is that we don’t have faith to change the world anymore.”

In the second Hiwar session, speakers Winston Mano and viola c. milton, editors of the Routledge Handbook of African Media and Communication Studies, made a case to reclaim the continent’s indigenous voices in academia. They explained how legacy colonial forces continue to shape academic curricula in postcolonial Africa and called for an Africa-centric approach to media and communication scholarship.

In times when the internet has made access to information virtually unlimited, the rapid proliferation of misinformation and fake news in social media has been a concern not only for social media users and tech companies but also for politicians, policymakers, and academics around the world.

Northwestern Qatar Dean Marwan M. Kraidy joined Northwestern Buffett Executive Director, Annelise Riles, along with leaders from government, industry, and academia, including European Commission Vice-President of Transparency and Values, Věra Jourová; Facebook’s Head of Misinformation Policy, Justine Isola; and Stopfake.org Co-founder Olga Yurkova in a conversation on the future of information, free speech, and governance of our digital public spheres.

The virtual dialogue session—“How to Stop Fake News”—was hosted by Northwestern University’s Buffett Institute for Global Affairs and Foreign Policy magazine and addressed the impact of misinformation on politics and society around the world and solutions to mitigate the spread of fake news.

Dean Kraidy, who shared insights on the issue of misinformation from the Global South, also explained how actors in the region have weaponized emotions and negative content to spread misinformation, highlighting the significance of understanding the emotional and social contexts and the need for solutions that “are broader than just the classroom or the seminar.”

The panel discussion was one of Foreign Policy magazine’s most widely attended virtual events produced, with attendees from more than 40 countries, 31 universities, and 1,230 organizations worldwide.

The Northwestern Qatar community came together to hear from Jokha Alharthi, author of the award-winning novel Celestial Bodies, which was Northwestern Qatar’s One Book selection this year. Alharthi’s novel tells the story of three generations of an Omani family over a century and illustrates how Oman has changed and developed from a traditional society in the late 19th century into an oil-rich modern country that is multicultural and diverse.

Alharthi said she wrote the novel “to celebrate Omani culture” and to “break stereotypes about women in the Gulf region.” She was able to do this through her writing, she said, because literature invites readers to engage in conversations and ideas that are thought-provoking and new through the voices and experiences of imagined characters who are inspired by reality.

The prevalent themes of liberation and freedom expressed throughout the book, she added, are inspired by experiences she read about and witnessed throughout her life. “Freedom is not just one notion—it doesn’t have a universal definition. I enjoy observing how people respond to it—it is an essential pillar in society, especially one that is trying to be modern, but still trying to maintain its own traditions and culture, which is not a very easy task to do.”

Alharthi’s novel received critical praise and recognition but was also criticized for its liberal approach to controversial topics in Omani culture, particularly on social media. “I had to learn to detach myself from negative opinions of my work,” she said. “Freedom in writing is very important to me—I would never be true to my story or write about something I believe in without learning to let go. It is very important to be brave when it comes to writing ... and to be open to criticism.”

Celestial Bodies was translated to English by Marilyn Booth. In 2019, it became the first novel written in Arabic to be awarded the Man Booker International Prize. Alharthi has published 10 books, including novels, short stories, children’s books, and academic studies. She is an associate professor at Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat, Oman.

Northwestern Qatar Dean Marwan M. Kraidy announced the appointment of Kathleen Hewett-Smith as senior associate dean and chief academic officer and Sami Hermez as director of the Liberal Arts Program.

As the senior associate dean and chief academic officer, Hewett-Smith has a broad purview over all academic facets of Northwestern Qatar and coordinates collaboration efforts with other universities in Education City while also serving as a key liaison with Northwestern University’s Evanston campus.

An internationalist and institution builder, Hewett-Smith has had several leadership roles in higher education, including associate director and dean at the Institute for International Liberal Education at Bard College; dean of arts, humanities, and social sciences at the Asian University for Women in Chittagong, Bangladesh; and head of the department of English at the American University of Sharjah in the UAE. She began her career as a faculty member in the department of English at the University of Richmond.

A scholar of the history of international education and of the politics and aesthetics of the postcolonial novel, Hewett-Smith received her MA and PhD in English from the University of California, Irvine, and her BA in English from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Prior to joining Northwestern Qatar, where he has served as a professor of anthropology, Hermez was a visiting scholar in the department of anthropology at Harvard University, visiting professor of contemporary international issues at the University of Pittsburgh, visiting professor of anthropology at Mount Holyoke College, and postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Lebanese Studies, St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford. His book, War Is Coming: Between Past and Future Violence in Lebanon, published in 2017 with University of Pennsylvania Press, focuses on the everyday life of political violence in Lebanon and how people come to recollect and anticipate this violence.

A scholar of political violence, social movements, the state, memory, security, and human rights in the Arab World, Hermez obtained his doctorate from the department of anthropology at Princeton University.

In a year unlike any other, Northwestern University in Qatar had to work quickly and creatively to respond to the restrictions and challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Virtual learning spaces and online gatherings enabled students, faculty, and staff to connect while working or studying from home. Northwestern Qatar students showed resiliency by adjusting to the change swiftly and continuing to produce extraordinary work.

Despite the setbacks, faculty research also continued with new books, chapters, and articles published on topics that include The Tijaniyaa in North Africa, media pluralism and democracy in Latin America, the effect of sports campaigns on migrant workers in Qatar, and the public opinion on U.S. foreign policy in Turkey. Films about the Syrian civil war and the brutal reality of diamond mining in Africa, produced by Northwestern Qatar faculty, were also selected for screening and awards at top international film festivals.

New student research projects, including a class project that involved the updating and drafting of new Wikipedia entries on social, cultural, and political topics related to the Global South, were activated. Northwestern Qatar Professor Banu Akdenizli teaches the course and said that the project is “an attempt to decolonize Wikipedia” by contributing content on regions that have historically suffered from a lack of representation in academia, media, and the online world.

The pandemic was also a source of inspiration to some faculty, including Professors Spencer Striker and Anto Mohsin, who received grants to produce a mobile game that explores contact tracing and how diseases spread, as well as Professor Hasan Mahmud, who is looking into the impact of COVID-19 on front-liners in Qatar.

Students were also quick to find ways to cultivate artistic engagement, producing multiple podcasts: Decoding Qatar to promote life and tourism in Qatar; Qatar in Quotes to feature inspirational stories from successful entrepreneurs and influencers; and The Science Journal to zero-in on topics at the crux of science and journalism. Students also published their first-ever online literary journal—Wisteria—that will publish the students writing in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and art.

Several student clubs also took their events online, hosting an array of virtual discussions and lectures on topics that included the aftermath of the Beirut explosion, the impact of occupation on education in Palestine, and the significance of researching African history.

Northwestern Qatar Professor Rana Kazkaz was named the Roberta Buffett Visiting Professor of International Studies in the Program of Middle Eastern and North African Studies for the fall 2021 quarter.

Kazkaz’s appointment to this prestigious professorship enhances Northwestern Qatar’s growing collaboration with the Northwestern Buffett Institute for Global Affairs and highlights the value of Northwestern Qatar faculty’s contributions to quality teaching and knowledge production—both in Qatar and beyond.

Throughout her career, Kazkaz has produced several award-winning films focusing on the impact of conflicts in Syria and the Middle East, including Mare Nostrum (2016), which was featured in over 90 international film festivals and won more than 30 global awards.

“Kazkaz’s groundbreaking work as a filmmaker and storyteller is the perfect catalyst for interdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration across the university,” said Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences Dean Adrian Randolph. “Both students and faculty alike will have so much to gain from her presence on campus this fall.”

“The appointment of an NU-Q professor to this prestigious professorship underscores the distinctive quality of NU-Q faculty and their important contributions to the Northwestern universe beyond Doha,” said Marwan M. Kraidy, dean and CEO at Northwestern Qatar.

Ten years since the initial outbreak of the mass popular uprisings in the Arab world, a lot seems to have changed in the geopolitical map, and global debates about the future of media and technology in the region continue to draw the attention of scholars, activists, and journalists.

To reflect on the legacy of the Arab Spring and the current state of the region, Dean Kraidy joined “The Arab Spring: Ten Years Later,” a webinar hosted by the Middle East Center at the University of Pennsylvania, featuring Bahraini human rights activist Maryam al-Khawaja, Egyptian journalist Lina Attalah, political analyst Marwan Bishara, and Tunisian activist Jawhara Tiss on the panel.

Kraidy, who highlighted research on revolutions in world history, noted that closer examination of the far-reaching transformations that the region witnessed over the past 10 years reveals that the Arab Spring is far from over, arguing that a decade is a “blip in the deep time of revolutions.”

He added, however, that while the Arab Spring may not be over, he concurred with the other panelists that the future of change and the region’s political stability is dependent on the outcomes of the Abraham Accords and Gulf reconciliation.

Throughout the year, Northwestern Qatar students worked actively to promote creative thought and explore new forms of media, including podcasts and digital publications.

Decoding Qatar, a podcast series produced by students, highlights the country’s history, culture, language, tourist attractions, entertainment, and employment and investment opportunities through interviews with residents in Qatar.

Students Marielle Aguelo Cortel, Xiruo Chen, and Rui Xin Oh had received a grant from Northwestern University’s Office of Undergraduate Research to develop a multimedia project on life in Qatar, focusing on residents and nationals’ perceptions of the country’s newfound wealth and rapid urban and social development. Their initial plan was to create a documentary, but COVID-19 restrictions forced them to find alternative mediums to bring their stories to life. While working remotely from China, Singapore, and Qatar, they decided the best platform would be a podcast format coupled with animated visual elements.

“Qatar is a small country with a big ambition,” said João Queiroga, assistant professor and advisor on the project. “Over the past two decades, it transformed from a quiet, relatively unknown country, to one in a position of power in international sports, education, and politics. Despite it being a cosmopolitan and modern place to live, many people remain unaware of what it is actually like to live here—our goal is to give its residents control of the narrative about life in Doha.”

The pandemic also highlighted the need for trustworthy media coverage about scientific issues as reports of unreliable and inaccurate scientific information continued to surface. To address that concern, a group of Northwestern Qatar students launched The Science Journal, a student-produced podcast to communicate reliable information on various scientific topics and combat the “infodemic” of false claims and inaccurate data around the COVID-19 pandemic.

Podcast producer Elissa Mefleh is one of five Northwestern Qatar students who work under Professor Anto Mohsin’s mentorship to produce the podcast in its various stages—from research and scriptwriting to production and publishing.

As skilled content creators and aspiring journalists, the team is capitalizing on the global reach of new media to “democratize science” and make reliable scientific knowledge easily communicated to audiences around the globe.

A digital literary journal, Wisteria, which publishes student writing in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and art also went online during the pandemic. A group of students—working with Northwestern Qatar Professor Sam Meekings—produced the online publication to promote the creativity and diversity of the school’s student body.

According to Meekings, the project “promotes communication, connection, creativity, and community. The journal is a celebration of our creative voices,” he said, “which are particularly important right now as so many of these poems, stories, and artwork highlight ways of finding strength and perseverance during difficult times. I really believe that creative work has the ability to bring a community together in conversation and discovery.”

The students plan to publish the magazine each semester. The pieces in the first edition were written under the theme Silver Linings and Stormy Clouds—which Meekings said was selected for its “relevance to the time we are living in, a world swept by a global pandemic and uncertainty.”

“Sometimes it is during our darkest days that we produce some of our best work,” Salma Al Delaimi, a submission manager on the project noted, adding that the theme for this edition “showcases polarity and gives participants a chance to share their stories and experiences during this turbulent time.”

A new documentary film about the grim reality of slavery and the diamond industry in Africa, directed by Northwestern Qatar Professor João Queiroga, had its world premiere at the Hot Docs International Documentary Festival in Toronto.

The film—Digging for Life—tells the true story of Adiang Assuoe Thomas Germain (Tommy), who leaves his home in Cameroon for post-apartheid South Africa, hoping to start a new chapter of his life but finds himself trapped as a slave digging for diamonds in Angola.

Hot Docs International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. Digging for Life premiered at the festival on April 29, 2021. Queiroga and Germain, who produced and acted in the film, hope that by sharing this story, they will give a voice to the many who remain enslaved and invisible.

“As a filmmaker, it was particularly important to me to work collaboratively with Tommy, to allow him to take ownership of his story and inherent film depiction,” Queiroga said. “We combined my technical ability with his genuine and authentic desire to share his story with the world to create a film that can create actions, advocate ideals, and promote human rights.”

Creating the film was a grounding and profound experience for Queiroga, who said he found himself reflecting on the repercussions of his Portuguese heritage on the lives of Black Africans, “a heritage that planted the seeds of racism and oppression in Angola. The making of this film is a reminder of the work that remains to be done,” he said.

“Storytelling is a powerful tool that could inspire change and help one process their healing individually and collectively.” He added, “While I’m not able to speak for Tommy, I understand that the making of this film was a cathartic experience for him that allows us to reconcile with our own pain. If Tommy is able to free himself from his past, so can we!”

Ghaida Almarwani, a sports enthusiast and aspiring media professional, is the first graduate student from Northwestern Qatar. Almarwani was awarded a Master of Arts in Sports Administration through a program offered in partnership with Northwestern University’s School of Professional Studies.

Designed to educate the next generation of media professionals and leaders in the sports industry, the program’s curriculum includes core courses on operations, marketing, and sponsorship in sports. Additionally, students enroll in a four-course program on Global Sports Communication that allows them to specialize in communication, marketing, and promotional roles in the global sports industry.

Commenting on her experience as part of the program’s inaugural class, Almarwani said, “The program prepares students with the professional skills and knowledge to thrive in a range of careers in the sports industry. With courses that range from sports finance and budgeting to marketing, and social issues to technology, I am confident that with this degree I will be an asset to any organization in the sports industry.”

The courses are delivered by faculty with extensive professional and scholarly expertise in the field of sports and sports management. Students can enroll in an array of courses that include sports research methods, legal and ethical issues, the technology of sports, and global sports communication.

Students in the program participate in workshops and get hands-on experience working with the media and new technology. “During some of the elective courses, I was able to be part of a press conference, design my own website, draw a mock-up on my own mobile app, and plan a campaign from start to finish,” Almarwani said.

Northwestern University has awarded three Northwestern Qatar faculty grants to research the history of race through animation, create a virtual reality experience of how humans survived pandemics throughout history, and explore what social and cultural barriers impede students in Qatar from creative writing.

Northwestern’s Provost Grants for Research in Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts are competitive grants that are designed to support scholarly and creative work across a variety of disciplines.

Inspired by the global protests denouncing police brutality and discrimination against the Black community, Marcela Pizarro will use her grant to highlight the work of intellectuals who have contributed to the anti-racist struggle both in the United States and beyond.

Pizarro explained that the research project— “Race Historicized: Epistemologies of Color”—“reflects a spirit of epistemological decentering: if more than 90 percent of enslaved Africans were transported to South America and the Caribbean, and India, then discussions on race should reflect the thought produced in and on those continents.”

“It's both in terms of content and execution,” she continued, “that this project seeks to honor the call for diversity and inclusion because this is a project that will be written, directed, animated, and voiced by journalists, writers, activists, and students from backgrounds that cross continents, race, gender, and class.”

Building on his portfolio of immersive digital learning projects that focus on world history, Spencer Striker will design and develop a playable prototype of an original virtual reality (VR) program that educates students on how the world responded to pandemics throughout history.

Striker’s project—“Surviving Pandemics in History—a Virtual Reality Experience”—will bring to life five historical pandemic settings: the Plague of Athens in 430 BCE, the Bubonic Plague of 14th-century Europe, Smallpox in 16th-century South America, Cholera in the mid-19th century in London, and the Spanish Flu in Chicago in 1918.

“Through VR technology and narrative design, we will transport students through space and time—for example to mid-14th-century European villages stricken with the Black Death or mid-16th century Peruvian villages devastated by smallpox—and use data overlay and interactive learning tools to explore and understand how diseases spread,” Striker said.

Professor and novelist Sam Meekings’s project—“Barriers to Beginning: Local, Cultural, and Colonial Impediments to Creative Writing in Qatar”—will attempt to identify what social and cultural barriers affect how student writers in Qatar approach creative writing, their thought process, and the influence of virtual writing communities on their work. “Understanding these barriers,” he said, “are essential to foster greater inclusivity and a diversity of approaches to writing.”

“This research topic was inspired by the current work being done within the field of Creative Writing to decolonize writing craft and ideas, and to re-evaluate assumptions about how we write and what good writing looks like,” said Meekings. “I think it's important to apply this work to local contexts.”

Despite the challenges it presented, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of research and stimulated the research sector to make further innovations and discoveries. Researchers from Northwestern Qatar stepped into the challenge and joined the global efforts to contain the spread of the virus.

Northwestern Qatar Professors Anto Mohsin and Spencer Striker were awarded a Hamad Bin Khalifa University Innovation Center rapid response grant to develop an educational mobile gaming platform that helps users to understand the spread of infectious diseases.

The app—Dr. Sara: Disease Detective—will allow players to learn more about the science of epidemiology, contact tracing, and the complex world of contagion through a character-driven simulation. Throughout the game, players will assume the role of a disease detective who is on a suspenseful adventure to control the spread of a virus. As part of the game, they will solve puzzles and build a narrative to understand the challenges of disease control.

“Great curricular design and great game design have a lot in common,” said Mohsin. “Game-based learning incorporates interactivity, immersion, meaningful choices, and emergent, unpredictable outcomes via exploration—which encourages the most important goal of all education: curiosity and drive for lifelong learning.”

Celebrating the creative and scholarly work of Northwestern Qatar students, the annual Media and Research Awards recognized a record number of journalistic, multimedia, and research projects.

Play Video: 2021 Media and Research Awards

With nearly 100 submissions, the 2021 Media and Research Awards included projects in three categories—Written Word, Moving Image, and Co-curricular Projects. The projects included two academic years—2019–20 and 2020–21—and tackled issues such as sustainability, health, science, and politics.

From a film on a Yemeni refugee who found love in South Korea and news articles on racism in the Arab World and social distancing to research projects on digital diplomacy, education in Palestine, and the politics of climate change, the journalistic and scholarly works of our students are addressing global challenges and making an impact beyond the walls of Northwestern Qatar.

Shortlisted projects for this year’s awards were submitted and evaluated by a panel of judges, which included Northwestern Qatar faculty and industry experts from leading media organizations, including Al Jazeera, Doha Film Institute, Ginger Camel, The Film House, I Love Qatar, Gulf Times, Memac Ogilvy, Al Kass Sports Channels.

The Media Innovation Lab was rebranded and reinvented as the DAMA Lab (Digital Advancement and Media Applications Lab) under the leadership of Eric Espig. The lab will act as a space for designers, journalists, researchers, students, and educators to work on experiments in storytelling and research while focusing on three primary areas of collaboration: creative space and open lab; collaborative course work; and research partnerships and sandbox.

According to Espig, the DAMA Lab has been redesigned to better support research and classwork at Northwestern Qatar so that it is “more connected in helping and sustaining digital and interactive projects that are happening throughout the Journalism, Communication, and Liberal Arts Programs.”

In response to the coronavirus, the DAMA Lab hosted and invited international media experts to speak at a Northwestern Qatar symposium on media disrupted by a global pandemic. The panelists agreed that empathy, collaboration, and a focus on digitization helped them respond to the changing landscape of media and technology that resulted from the pandemic.

The panels addressed several issues including sports media, entrepreneurship, marketing, journalism, and creative writing in the post-pandemic world.

Marwan M. Kraidy, dean and CEO of Northwestern Qatar, noted that the symposium came at an important time during the pandemic as the industry has adapted to the disruption and is now planning on a different future. “The symposium,” he said, “served as a platform for intellectual debates and positive exchanges among experts in media and communication on the outcomes and future challenges of an unprecedented year that has redefined the future of media.”

In the classroom, Northwestern Qatar students in a class on intercultural and international communication stepped in to bridge the Global North-South divide in Wikipedia by providing additional content on underrepresented people and topics from the Global South.

From information about a local dialect in Western parts of Ukraine to Middle Eastern cuisines, students used their research and fact-checking skills to investigate existing entries about the region, synthesize the available literature, and use verified sources to add meaningful contributions to Wikipedia.

This class project is “an attempt to decolonize Wikipedia,” said Professor Banu Akdenizli. “Not only are issues concerning the Global South not well addressed on Wikipedia, but they are also in need of improvement,” stressing that Northwestern Qatar students are uniquely positioned to lead on efforts to introduce and translate content about the region as multilingual writers and researchers from the region.

“I felt I needed to write about the Pokutia-Bukovyna dialect to give an insider perspective on cultural specificities of the region,” said student contributor Evghenia Scripnic, who was surprised to find limited information about the dialect of her ancestors on the Wikipedia page, so she researched archives, pictures, and maps to find verified sources and peer-reviewed articles.

The students’ Wikipedia contributions were part of the WikiEducator’s initiative, a global initiative designed to promote cross-cultural collaboration and exchange of information and expertise.

A Northwestern Qatar education is more than coursework. It is a unique combination of world-class academic programming and vibrant student life that forges the ground for our students to become skilled and passionate leaders who embrace challenges and work across disciplines to find creative solutions to today’s complex issues.

Under the stewardship of Dean Kraidy, Northwestern Qatar has taken a more student-focused approach to improve the quality of the student experience and integrate student life as part of the school’s academic mission. “We are seeking to create an institution that is more student-focused with a vibrant student life, academic excellence, and high-level undergraduate student research,” said Kraidy.

To lead this transformation, Northwestern Qatar announced the appointment of new student leadership, with Alex Schultes as the school’s assistant dean for the student experience and Amira Hariri as its director of admissions.

Schultes, who has been with Northwestern Qatar since 2016 as the school’s director of admissions, will ensure seamless integration of all elements of student life—from clubs and extracurricular activities to career services, health and well-being, and alumni affairs—to enrich student experience outside academics.

Northwestern Qatar’s new approach to life on campus provides students with a holistic undergraduate experience—from recruitment to graduation. As director of admissions, Hariri will work with Schultes to attract the brightest students and ensure they are immersed in Northwestern Qatar’s student life from their recruitment.

Whether as part of a club, through university programs or grants, or independently, students at Northwestern Qatar learn and grow beyond the classroom in a vibrant campus full of opportunities. Student-led initiatives, along with diverse university programs, encourage engagement in a way that enables students to pursue their passions and aspirations and become deeply involved with the community.

In November, Northwestern Qatar student Arham Khalid took it upon herself to raise awareness about United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12 about responsible consumption and production. She organized the first regionwide virtual Model United Nations (MUN) conference, which included more than 200 participating high school students from Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE discussing solutions to the issue.

As one of the largest student organizations on campus, Northwestern Qatar Student Union’s programs this year included regular meetings with the student body and the administration to evaluate support for students, discussing budget allocations, addressing issues, establishing reliable communication with faculty, and hosting a variety of community building initiatives to celebrate purple pride.

This year, a new chess club at Northwestern Qatar gathers game enthusiasts from across Education City in several training sessions and competitions organized in collaboration with the Qatar Chess Federation, giving them the chance to develop their chess skills and learn about strategy development and key political and economic concepts.

Students at NU-Q are also offered opportunities outside of the classroom to express their creative interests and bring their ideas and perspectives to life through various media.

Workshops, training sessions, and networking events organized throughout the year by Studio 20Q, one of the most established clubs on campus, helped student screenwriters, producers, cinematographers, and animators refine their ongoing creative projects. This year, the club also provided funding for four student-led projects, including two short narratives, a documentary, and one animation film.

With crew meetings held online, face masks on, and social distancing guidelines followed on the film set, grant winners from the club were able to lead their film crews and safely navigate the logistical and creative challenge of filming during the pandemic.

Tony El Ghazal, director of Ibn El Ballad, says his belief in the power of storytelling is what kept him moving forward. “In our current times, we know the power of stories, and the important role of storytellers and the responsibility in sharing impactful messages,” El Ghazal said.