The German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst DAAD) highlighted NDU’s ongoing research project on sectarianism and coexistence during its regularly scheduled “Heidelberg Talks Online” series (https://www.daad-freundeskreis.de/en/events/the-next-hto-will-be-about-crisis-ridden-in-the-middle-east-lebanon-at-a-crossroads/).
Faculty of Law and Political Science (FLPS) Professor Eugene Sensenig presented the ongoing research at NDU to an international audience. This in-depth study is being carried out and funded in cooperation with the United Nation’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the UN-Women Office under the United Nations Secretary General’s Peace Building Fund (https://www.ohchr.org/en/countries/menaregion/pages/lbindex.aspx). The UHCHR and UN-Women are working with a total of ten universities in Lebanon on the 15 month long project “Dealing with the Past – Memories for the Future”. FLPS professors and students are carrying out extensive empirical research on the topic: “Mainstreaming History – A Gendered Approach to Reconstructing the Future: The Role of Gender Equality and Youth Activism in Promoting Just Governance and Combating Sectarianism in Lebanese Structural Development – A Positive Feedback Loop”. The field research phase of the project was completed during the summer of this year. A series of events – both online and in person – are being organized for the fall of 2021.
The host of the online series, the DAAD Alumni and Friends (DAAD-Freundeskreis e.V.), was founded in 1981, and is located at over 40 universities internationally. NDU has been working closely with the DAAD in Lebanon since 2002 with the support of the Academisches Forum Beirut-Berlin (AFBB), which promotes exchange between Lebanon and the German speaking world in the fields of science, education, and culture.