The Institute for Advanced Study in the Global South at Northwestern University in Qatar (#IAS_NUQ) will continue expanding the field of Arab Information and Media Studies (AIMS) with an additional USD 500,000 grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York. This renewed funding will support capacity building through academic workshops, networking, conferences, and dissemination of academic papers and policy briefs.
Launched in 2022 and directed by Marwan M. Kraidy, dean and CEO of Northwestern Qatar, the AIMS project focuses on transforming Arab media studies into an interdisciplinary, multilingual, and collaborative field. The project has advanced critical media and information studies by connecting Arabophone, Anglophone, and Francophone scholars, facilitating networking, translating scholarly works, and publishing research. AIMS also integrates Arab media studies into broader transnational networks of knowledge within the Global South, positioning it as a key contributor to global media and policy conversations.
"We are grateful to Carnegie Corporation for their continued support, which will allow us to build momentum around the development of Arab media studies in a sustainable way," said Kraidy. "This funding will help us continue nurturing early-career Arab media scholars, particularly through our Theory and Method Winter Schools, which have already proven to be impactful, while integrating AIMS activities into ongoing working groups at the Institute. This will enable us to lay the foundations for a tradition of cross-regional research collaboration and excellence."
Building on the success of the past two years, the grant will support the Institute in developing regional knowledge production, connecting diverse scholarly communities in the region, and bridging the gap between media scholars and policymakers. As part of this, #IAS_NUQ will host two Theory and Method Winter Schools: one, hosted in January 2025, on "Arab and Southern Digitalities" and another planned for January 2026 on "Media Policy and Governance." These workshops focus on developing critical skills for early career scholars of Arab media, integrating Arab media scholars into related scholarly communities, and expanding Arab media studies into a more public-facing and policy-relevant field.
“This funding will help us continue nurturing early-career Arab media scholars, particularly through our Theory and Method Winter Schools, which have already proven to be impactful, while integrating AIMS activities into ongoing working groups at the Institute. This will enable us to lay the foundations for a tradition of cross-regional research collaboration and excellence.”
In addition to the Winter Schools, the grant will support the launch of the Society for Humanistic Arab Media Studies (SHAMS), a scholarly association dedicated to fostering a rigorous, multidisciplinary, humanistic research on Arab media in its socio-cultural and politico-economic contexts. The society will officially launch during the the Arab Council for Social Sciences (ACSS) biennial conference in May 2025 in Beirut and its first meeting will take place in November 2025 at the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.
As part of the project, #IAS_NUQ will organize a series of preconferences, panels, and paper presentations at several major international conferences, offering early-career scholars a global platform to showcase their work and engage with scholarly communities from around the world. These events include ACSS’ 7th conference in Beirut in May 2025, the 2025 conference of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) in Singapore in July 2025, MESA’s 2025 annual meeting in Washington, DC in November 2025, and the International Communication Association’s (ICA) 76th annual conference in Cape Town in June 2026.
The grant will also support #IAS_NUQ_Press in expanding its publishing efforts, translating and disseminating article-length papers and policy briefs in English, French, and Arabic. These publications will focus on engaging scholars and policymakers, bridging the gap between academic research and real-world applications, and further amplifying the impact of the AIMS initiative.
Towards the end of the grant, Northwestern Qatar will host a conference, spotlighting the work of early-career scholars and showcasing the latest developments in the field to regional audiences while further solidifying the impact of the AIMS initiative and its contributions to Arab media studies.
The Arab Information and Media Studies initiative is part of # IAS_NUQ's broader mission to produce and promote evidence-based storytelling and scholarship centered on the Global South. Through its interdisciplinary approach, multilingual accessibility, and commitment to bridging academic and policy spheres, AIMS is advancing critical research that addresses the evolving challenges of media and information in the Arab world.
For more information about the AIMS project, click here.
