The opening ceremony was attended by Professor Neil Ketchley, winner of the Fred Halliday Award 2024

Yesterday saw the inauguration of the fourth edition of the Barcelona Summer School of the Mediterranean and the Middle East, co-organised by the Barcelona Institute of International Studies (IBEI), Blanquerna-Universitat Ramon Llull, the European Institute of the Mediterranean and Catalunya Internacional

The event began with a speech by Gerard Vives, Director General of European Union Affairs of the Catalan Government, and speeches from the various representatives of the collaborating organisations.

Professor Neil Ketchley, Professor of Politics at Oxford University and winner of the Fred Halliday Prize 2024 gave the keynote lecture: "The Possibilities of Protest in the Middle East and North Africa". This was followed by a discussion on the future of the Middle East led by Umut Özkırımlı, academic director of the Summer School, with the participation of Neil Ketchley; Yezid Sayigh, senior fellow at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut; and Monica Marks, assistant professor of Arab Crossroads Studies at New York University in Abu Dhabi.

This year's edition of the summer school offers a series of interactive and face-to-face courses on politics and international relations in the Mediterranean and the Middle East, taught by renowned experts. Topics covered include the geopolitics of migration, the geopolitics of the Mediterranean, climate change and natural disasters, Palestinian self-determination, gender and politics in the Arab Spring and the geopolitics of the sea, among others. The programme also includes cultural outings and visits.