SDG Policy Development

Destination Lebanon: A World-Class Supercomputing Center at the Service of Academic Research

LAU plays a key role in the establishment and operation of a CERN facility in Lebanon, offering students and faculty access to invaluable computing resources.

The operation and setting up costs of the facility will largely be covered by the Lebanese Ministry of Telecommunications’ Ogero where it will be housed due to bandwidth requirements. It will, however, be governed and maintained by a consortium of five universities: LAU, the American University of Beirut, Saint Joseph University, Beirut Arab University and the Lebanese University, as well as the National Council for Scientific Research.

LAU will lead the system administration of this HPC setup, a key role that requires technical expertise and that will offer a unique learning experience for undergraduate and graduate students from various disciplines. Among other things, students will be able to use the center for their capstone projects and to run demos on site.

Assistant Vice President for Information Technology at LAU Camille Abou-Nasr clarified that system administrators who will run and support the HPC setup were handpicked by the CERN team. “They possess experience in running Linux in a cluster environment, running scientific applications, job queuing systems as well as experience in related storage and network infrastructure,” he said.

In addition to these technical skills, noted Abou-Nasr, administrators will provide training and one-to-one technical consultation to faculty and staff during their everyday activities.

The initiative took root in 2016 when an agreement between Lebanon and CERN opened the door for the country to join more than 40  powerful computer centers that store and analyze the huge amounts of data generated by CERN’s Large Hadron Collider – the world’s largest particle accelerator. Now that the needed funds to ship the equipment have been raised, the donated computer servers are scheduled to arrive in Lebanon on March 10.

An invaluable research and learning resource, supercomputers can perform complex computations in a small fraction of the time it would typically take on regular computers.

“Any academic program that needs to run complex equations or models will benefit from the speed of this supercomputing facility,” explained Abou-Nasr.

Building on this, Associate Provost Barbar Akle cited engineering programs – computing, mechanical, civil, petroleum, and industrial – computer science, bioinformatics, chemistry, biology, medicine, and data analytics in the business field, as examples.

Ultimately, the facility is “set to tremendously impact LAU’s computing resources and research output for faculty, undergraduate and graduate students,” said Dr. Akle.

It will be directly connected to the 90,000-processor core and 10,000-server cluster hosted at CERN in Geneva, that runs uninterrupted around the clock, according to LAU alumnus and Lead Lab Supervisor Salim Jamal-Eddine (BE ’09).  Jamal-Eddine will draw on his unique experience spanning more than a decade in the High-Performance Computing (HPC) field to administer and manage the facility for the university.

“I will provide capacity building for faculty, staff and students on the unlimited capabilities of the new cluster, which will enable them to dive deeper into more complex projects, exponentially leveraging the quality of publications,” he said.

Students will be able to apply for internships in operation, management, support and installation under Jamal-Eddine’s direct supervision. The LAU community will also be able to partner with the larger HPC industry toward providing solutions for parallel programming and cloud computing challenges.

LAU is not new to collaborating with CERN. For years, undergraduate and graduate students have engaged in research projects and year-long internships at the center, with one engineering graduate, Michael Maalouly (BE ’18; ME ’20), having completed a two-year paid internship with them.

International Conference: Women & Gender Studies in the Middle East

The Association for Middle East Women’s Studies (AMEWS) in partnership with the Arab Institute for Women (AiW) at the Lebanese American University (LAU) and the Bobst-AUB Collaborative Initiative at the American University in Beirut (AUB), organized an international conference on “Women and Gender Studies in the Middle East” over a period of 3 days (June 21, 22 and 23). LAU hosted the opening ceremony and the panel discussions on June 21.

In the opening ceremony, Ms. Myriam Sfeir (Director of the AiW, LAU) welcomed the participants and emphasized the importance of the collaborative work among the participating institutions in helping young scholars showcase their research and discuss pertinent issues related to gender. Then, Dr. Michel Mawad (President of LAU) delivered his word of appreciation to the efforts of AiW and AMEWS, and reemphasized LAU’s commitment to gender equality. The ceremony followed by Jennifer Olmsted’s (President of AMEWS) statement which thanked LAU and pointed up the significance of this event in reuniting efforts to achieving gender equality in the Middle East. Finally, Ms. Amel Grami gave the keynote address.

After the opening ceremony, the discussion was divided into two panels, each of which addressed two different topics, simultaneously, over three phases. During the first phase, the first panel addressed the topic of “Building Radical Feminist Futures: The Politics of Graduate Student Experience”. Graduate students shared their experiences and work on gender issues, and the prospects for building a more feminist future for the coming generations. The second panel, meanwhile, discussed the topic of “Constructing Sex, Gender, and Sexuality Past and Present”. Through a critical feminist lens, prominent speakers and academics highlighted the evolution of the concepts of gender and sexuality in the Middle East by focusing on topics like religious knowledge, and family and feminism.

The second phase was divided into two panels as well. The first panel addressed the topic of “Debating Gendered Experiences and Consciousness”. During this session, speakers and academics discussed the effects of religiosity and masculinities on women, women’s agency, and gender in public spaces. The second panel considered the topic of “Identity Struggles Across Borders: Migration, Diaspora, and Globalization” where participants talked about gender and mobility, gendered roles and women’s work in Palestine and the Arab world. 

The third phase concluded the discussion through two panels. The first panel, which was on “Gendered Representations”, discussed sex work (e.g., in Turkey), the effects of colonialism on women, and the challenges which women endure in minority groups in the Middle East. The second panel explored the topic of “Health: Physical, Mental, and Reproductive”. The panelists discussed women’s physical and mental well-being, their experiences with abortion services, and spatial spaces (e.g., in Egypt).

On the following days, the discussions proceeded at AUB. The panelists addressed several topics on women and gender in history, the state, research, labor, education, religion, marriage etc. Moreover, the Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship at AUB organized an activist panel and a field visit where the participants had the chance to discover and explore different NGOs working on issues of human and women’s rights in Lebanon. After a total of 3 days of discussions on women and gender at LAU and AUB, the event was finally concluded.

International Conference: Women, Religion, & Human Rights

On June 27 and 28, 2022, The AiW and the Department of Social & Education Sciences, co-organized with Adyan Foundation, and Danmission an International Conference on: “Women, Religion and Human Rights” at the Lebanese American University (LAU). The conference convened scholars and different religious figures to discuss the stance of women in the interpretations of biblical and qur’anic texts and in personal status codes in Lebanon, the Arab World, and South Asia (particularly Hinduism).

On June 27, the first panel titled “Reading and Reinterpreting Scriptures”, considered the possibilities of re-interpreting the scriptures of holy books to deconstruct the patriarchal understandings of biblical and qur’anic texts. Then, the second panel titled “Unreading Patriarchy and Producing Feminist Knowledge” discussed, in an attempt to uplift the status of women in religion, possible alternative feminist interpretations of traditional and conservative exegeses. Building on the rereading of holy texts, the third panel titled “Negotiating with the Discourse and the Perception of Women” assessed the social and legal statuses of women in religious texts with respect to the private and public spheres. Finally, the fourth panel titled “Different Stakeholders in Conversation: Religion, State, CSOs and International Documents” discussed the work of different organizations, of which are religious institutions, in developing strategies to accommodate and safeguard women’s rights in religion, yet through an acknowledgment of equality standards and human rights.

On the second day, on June 28, the first panel titled “Between Theory and Practice: Personal Status Laws in Lebanon” ushered an in-depth discussion of women’s rights in marriage, divorce, and custody in Muslim and Christian courts. This discussion set the ground for the second and third panels titled “Reforms in Personal Status Laws: Examples and Best Practices” and “Possible Reforms in Personal Status Laws and their Challenges” which addressed the challenges to instate an absolute recognition of women’s rights in personal status codes. Finally, the last panel titled “Raising Awareness and Advocating for Change” presented prospects for legal reforms and for countering misunderstandings and patriarchal interpretations of holy texts.

On a final note, the conference organizers shed light on some of the most important ideas shared, presented their concluding remarks and agreed to produce future publications on the topics discussed. They further reiterated the importance of pursuing collaborative work between Adyan and LAU.

Project: Countering Backlash: Reclaiming Gender Justice

Global progress on gender equality is under threat. We are living in an age where major political and social shifts are resulting in new forces that are visibly pushing back to reverse the many gains made for women’s rights and to shrink civic space.

This patriarchal backlash is escalating globally. It aims to ‘other’, demonise and disempower those who seek to advance gender justice, and to re-valorise patriarchal traditional gender roles and stereotypes, founded on male supremacy and the subordination of women. It deploys a polarising politics of mobilising populist narratives which comingle misogyny, xenophobia and homophobia – and with scant regard for evidence or ‘truth’. It is also co-opting existing policy processes for gender in development, undoing and reversing much progress made in the past.

This timely six-year programme of work will create much needed new knowledge of these complex phenomena, and identify opportunities for women’s rights organisations and other gender justice defenders to counter backlash and address the erosion of gender objectives within development. The programme is funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

We will carry out engaged research, generate new thinking, and build capacity across networks and strategic partnerships with women’s and other human rights organisations, activists, academics and policymakers, regionally and globally.

Focused on our central objective ‘to enhance the understanding, capacities and opportunities needed for women’s rights organisations and other gender justice defenders to counter backlash and address the erosion of gender objectives within development’, we will deliver two key sets of results:

• Increased access to and use of gender equality research focused on backlash
• Enhanced methods and capacity development for gender equality efforts.

The project will co-create and communicate evidence and methods on backlash, the erosion of gender policies and new opportunities for feminist action. We will also – by enhancing capacities – indirectly contribute to other strategic gender equality objectives under Global Goals 5 (Gender equality) and 16 (Peace, justice and strong institutions).

The challenges of backlash, the erosion of gender policies and finding new opportunities for feminist impact will be addressed through three intertwining strands of work: ‘Voice’, ‘Patriarchy’ and ‘Policy and Practice’.

Each will engage research partners and activists, feminist networks, social movements and policymakers in East Africa, South Asia, Brazil and the Middle East. We will collaborate with actors in research, capacity building; convening debates and communicating knowledge and strategies for reclaiming gender justice nationally and internationally. We work collectively to enable adaptive planning, conceptual development and analysis for influence at all levels.

The AiW-IDS Partnership

The Arab Institute for Women (AiW) at the Lebanese American University (LAU), in partnership with the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), has embarked on a 5-year project under the title “Countering Backlash: Reclaiming Gender Justice”. In light of trends seeking to reverse the gains harvested for women’s rights and gender equality and to reduce the civic space for progressive movements, the project aims at creating the necessary knowledge and identifying opportunities for women’s rights organizations and gender justice advocates to counter the backlash and address the erosion of gender objectives. The AiW is working under the three strands of “Voice”, “Patriarchy”, and “Policy and Practice” in order to address the backlash, the erosion of gender policies, and find new opportunities for feminist impact.

Policy and Practice (P&P) Meeting in Lebanon: January 17, 18 and 19, 2023

On January 17, 18 and 19, 2023, The AiW, in partnership with IDS, hosted a three-day P&P strand meeting at the Lebanese American University (LAU). Partners from countries like Bangladesh (BRAC Institute of Governance and Development); Brazil (NEIM: Interdisciplinary Women’s Studies Nucleus, Federal University of Bahía); India (Gender@Work); Lebanon (The AiW); and Uganda (Wougnet – Women of Uganda Network) participated in the meeting. Through workshops, group work, presentations and thoughtful discussions, representatives of the above-mentioned organizations presented their latest deliverables, their research work on the thematic areas of choice, the unfolding backlash and counter backlash dynamics in their respective countries, and their future plans.

On a concluding event, The AiW, in partnership with IDS, hosted a multinational seminar to discuss the manifestation of backlash and counter backlash dynamics in Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Lebanon and Uganda.

Call for Papers - June 2023 Conference

As anti-feminist backlash continues to gain momentum, it is important for feminist organizers, activists, and researchers to collaborate across geopolitical and socioeconomic contexts to effectively counter anti-feminist backlash. With this in mind, The Arab Institute for Women (AiW) at the Lebanese American University is issuing a call for papers on the issue of anti-feminist backlash in the Arab region and beyond, as part of a four-day conference to be held in Beirut, Lebanon, on the Lebanese American University campus on June 19, 20, 21, and 22, 2023.

The goal of the conference is to produce and build knowledge on anti-feminist backlash, compare and contrast anti-backlash strategies, and to build cross-sectoral and transnational alliances among anti-backlash actors in the global South. Towards that end, the conference will include both academic and non-academic submissions. This can include academic papers, policy briefs and case studies, or presentations by civil society partners and activists on current programming, and reflections on countering the backlash.

For more details on the submission guidelines please click here.

Paper Launchings

Within the context of this project, the AiW hosted two panel discussions:

• One titled “Lebanon: Understanding Anti-Feminist Backlash” which served as a launching event for the working paper “Understanding Backlash in Lebanon”, written by Activist and Researcher, Ms. Nay El Rahi. The launching took place on March 14, 2023.
• Another titled “Backlash in the Media,” which served as a launching event for the working paper “Media Hostility: Case Studies on Backlash in the Lebanese Media”, written by Activist and Researcher, Ms. Nay El Rahi. The launching took place on May 16, 2023.

Countering Anti-Feminist Backlash in the Global South One Conference at a Time

Thirty-three panelists from twelve countries convened to share the instances of backlash they have witnessed in their own spheres.

Any drive that seeks to implement social, economic, and political changes to already cemented societal structures is bound to face opposition one way or the other. Feminism is no exception; the movement that has resisted gender inequalities from the root up has been facing backlash that aims to derail and reverse its gains. With anti-feminist agendas growing stronger globally, the need for plans to counter this backlash becomes more urgent.

To that end, the Arab Institute for Women (AiW) at LAU in partnership with the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) hosted an international conference centered on producing and building knowledge on anti-feminist backlash, comparing and contrasting anti-feminist backlash strategies, and building cross-sectoral and transnational alliances among anti-backlash actors in the Global South.

Speakers from Turkey, Bangladesh, India, Serbia, Tunisia, Palestine, Jordan, Malaysia, Morocco, Iran, South Africa and Lebanon gathered at the Adnan Kassar School of Business on the Beirut campus from June 19 to 22. Over the course of three days, 10 panels addressed topics ranging from understanding power dynamics to exploring global and regional perspectives and discussed lessons learned.

One panel covered the Shaheen Bagh protests in New Delhi, India, where thousands of women proclaimed their outright rejection of the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) acts that were in essence anti-Muslim. Another panel spotlighted the seemingly feminist organization KADEM in Turkey (The Women and Democracy Association in English) which, as the panelists discussed, advocates for patriarchal values and against feminist politics.

“The many institutions we have participating in this conference and the number of experts assembled can only be an indication of the global significance of the issue we are addressing,” remarked LAU President Michel E. Mawad at the opening ceremony.

Indeed, the conference was held as a part of a bigger project – “Countering the Backlash: Reclaiming Gender Justice” – a six-year program launched by IDS, in partnership with AiW, and funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

AiW Director Myriam Sfeir offered further context. “The project aims at creating the necessary knowledge and identifying opportunities for women’s rights organizations and gender justice advocates to counter the backlash and address the erosion of gender objectives within the development policy and practice spheres,” she said.

“The program is organized around three strands of work,” which IDS research fellow Jerker Edström identified as “the voice, patriarchy, and policy and practice.” The voice strand, he explained, is about the women’s movement, voice, and agenda, while the patriarchy strand analyzes masculinity critically – especially within backlash dynamics – and the policy and practice strand examines policy and civil spaces based on social change, power, and queer theory. Edström also noted that the AiW is the only partner working on all three strands at once.

The AiW has always been “timeless in its pursuit of gender equality and women empowerment in terms of creating awareness, conducting research, undertaking advocacy roles, and engaging on occasion in outright activism,” said Dr. Mawad.

Activist and member of AiW’s research team Nay El Rahi discussed the research undertaken within the project and highlighted the backlash within the Lebanese political system.

“We cannot talk about the backlash against women, women’s rights, or gender justice in Lebanon without first unpacking the oppressive structures that are built into the Lebanese sexist and sectarian political system, without looking at or discussing the structural flaws embedded in the very way our families, our societies, our communities and our states are constructed,” she argued, listing as examples personal status laws, passing on the citizenship and census registration, among others.

To further illustrate the timeliness of the topic, the AiW teamed up with Lina Abyad, former associate professor of theater at LAU, to produce a skit based on testimonials from Gender at Work in India and the RAAD Institute for Governance and Development in Bangladesh. Complimenting Abyad’s dedication to the movement, Sfeir noted how “she’s always ready to transform my ideas, however crazy they are, into drama and theater, with the hope of helping us voice the concerns and issues of women in any way she can.”

Despite the hurdles that prevent the achievement of true gender justice, Sfeir said, the fight for equality should never falter. “We all have a duty to fulfill, so let us not postpone it, so we can make sure to leave no one behind.”

A skit was co-produced by the AiW and former associate professor of theater at LAU Lina Abyad based on testimonials from Gender at Work in India and the RAAD Institute for Governance and Development in Bangladesh.	The conference, explained Sfeir, was part of a project launched by the Institute of Development Studies, in partnership with AiW, and funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.
The number of experts and institutions participating at the conference underscored the global significance of anti-feminist backlash, said Dr. Mawad.	The program is organized around three strands of work: the voice, patriarchy, and policy and practice, said Edström.

Global Affairs Service Center Hosts UNDP’s Agents of Change

Young entrepreneurs nationwide gather at LAU to collectively generate ideas and work on sustainable development projects.

Attaining the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that target pressing global challenges like climate change, poverty, well-being and inequality, among others, is a shared responsibility that transcends borders. The youth, in particular, play a pivotal role in achieving those goals by driving innovative solutions and mobilizing their communities to ensure a sustainable and equitable world for future generations.

To help foster a community of change-makers dedicated to fulfilling the SDGs, the Global Affairs Service Center (LAU GASC) – an advocate of leadership and youth empowerment – recently hosted the ninth cohort of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Youth Leadership Program (YLP).

This collaborative effort between the LAU GASC and UNDP YLP aligns with the university’s strategic plan to strengthen its external partnerships with local and international organizations invested in youth development and to promote the university as a hub for networking and building a resilient community of entrepreneurs.

More than 350 participants from diverse academic, cultural and social backgrounds in Lebanon flocked to the LAU Byblos campus for the two-day boot camp on September 16 to 17, during which they exchanged their experiences and discussed their visions for creating sustainable projects under two overarching themes: Rebuilding Solutions for Lebanon and Economic Empowerment.

This year’s YLP edition was organized in partnership with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF), a supporter of Lebanese startups, civil society organizations, and LAU’s own simulation models.

LAU alumnus Bahaa Hajir, a YLP sixth cohort participant, still serves as a member of the program’s advocacy board. His project was shortlisted in 2020 when he pitched a bottle cap recycling initiative with his team.

“YLP facilitated my career launch,” he said, “I ended up getting recruited as a project support officer at one of the NGOs we worked with during the program.”

First-time attendee Mahassen Sleiman, a 23-year-old from Baalbeck, was “eager to connect with individuals who share similar interests and are committed to bringing about positive change in marginalized communities,” she said, adding that she is already experienced in social work.

Since 2015, the UNDP YLP has assisted Lebanese youth through its annual program, open to individuals aged 19 to 29. Carried out in partnership with youth-serving organizations, it features a flexible curriculum led by experienced trainers and business experts, allowing participants to create and execute innovative, impactful and sustainable development solutions for the betterment of their communities.

The boot camp was launched with opening remarks from Lead Director of Global Affairs Service Center at LAU Suleiman Barada, Youth Focal Point Officer at UNDP Nada Sweidan and Youth Development Delegate at UNDP Hany Anan, followed by back-to-back training sessions, including some that were given by LAU faculty members and alumni.

According to Dr. Sweidan, this dynamic initiative breaks cultural barriers, and its positive impact is felt in the youth’s personal lives, careers and communities for years to come. “The event accelerates the implementation process of the youth’s innovative projects … the youth is the NOW and not the future,” she said.

Such events, said Barada, can also enhance the employability of youth. Providing the youth with networking power to boost their career prospects is paramount, he added, and “by strengthening ties, establishing alliances and collaborations, we narrow the gap between academia and industry, and this strategic collaboration with UNDP is a perfect example.”