• Featuring a diverse range of topics and speakers, the in-person events are free and open to public attendance

Abu Dhabi, UAE: After more than two years of online activities, The NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) Institute announces the resumption of in-person talks starting September 8. The fall lineup offers a wide variety of topics, including lectures on physics, heritage, history, politics, and architecture. The activities, which will be held at the NYUAD Conference Center, are free and open to the public.

Vice Provost for Cultural and Research Engagement Nadia El Cheikh commented: “We are thrilled to see the return to in-person programming after two years of virtual talks. This year’s fall program offers an exceptional diversity of speakers, talks, and conferences, covering topics of local and global significance. We firmly believe in the important role we play as a confluence of academics, professionals, and leaders from around the world that serve the wider community with free firsthand access to knowledge, discourse, and experts.”

The Institute will also present three series this season; these include the Al Andalus Series, Environment and the Middle East Series, and Philanthropy Series. The season kicks off on September 8 with a discussion titled Understanding Our Universe From 2km Underground, featuring Nobel Laureate in Physics Art McDonald. 

Furthermore, The Institute will work with the 50U team to highlight the UAE 50th Anniversary book, hosting a selection of figures who were interviewed for the project, including Managing Editor of 50U Francesco Degl'Innocenti, and Ramesh Shukla, the photographer behind some of the UAE's most iconic photographs.

The Institute will also honor the birth of the Prophet (peace be upon him) for the first time by organizing a talk titled Prophet Muhammed’s Timeless Gifts to Humanity by Craig Considine, author of The Humanity of Muhammad – A Christian View.

Since Dubai will soon organize the International Council of Museums (ICOM) General Conference in 2025, The Institute will host Rashad Bukhash, chairman of ICOM, UAE Chapter, for a talk entitled The Evolution of the UAE Architecture. This will be in collaboration with the UAE’s Architectural Heritage Society. 

In addition to the free, public talks, The Institute will organize a number of conferences focusing on different areas of research in science, arts, social science, and engineering; prior registration for those is required. An overview of the fall program 2022 is detailed below; more talks and conferences will be available soon here and announced on The Institute’s social media platforms.

Program highlights:

Understanding Our Universe From 2km Underground

Thursday, September 8 at 6:30pm

Featuring Art McDonald, Nobel Laureate in Physics; Gray Chair, Emeritus, Queen’s University

Between Skylines and Deserts: Space in Photography Series

Wednesday, September 14 at 6:30pm

Featuring photographers Ammar Al Attar and Hussain AlMoosawi, and NYUAD Associate Teaching Professor of Film and New Media and Curator of Film and New Media Dale Hudson (UAE Talk)

The Future of Humans and AI

Tuesday, September 20 at 6:30pm

Featuring Mohamed Qasem, Assistant Professor in Electronic Engineering, Consultant to Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences, and rated as one of the top science communicators in the Arab world by Nature Middle East.

The Evolution of UAE Architecture

Thursday, September 22 at 6:30pm

Featuring Rashad Bukhash, Chairman of the Architectural Heritage Society; Chairman, ICOM UAE (UAE Talk)

50U: The Story of the UAE in 50 portraits

Monday, September 26 at 6:30pm

Featuring Francesco Degl'Innocenti, Managing Editor of 50U; Anne Seaman, Editor of 50U; and

Khawla Bin Khediya, Project Director of 50U

No Choice but to Keep Creating Futures: The Frontier of Climate Change

Wednesday, September 28 at 6:30pm

Featuring Najat Saliba, Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry, Co-executive Director of Khaddit Beirut and Director of Environment Academy, American University of Beirut (Middle East series)

Music as a Global Language: A Conversation with Ravi Coltrane

Tuesday, October 4 at 6:30pm

Featuring Ravi Coltrane, Jazz Saxophonist; Co-owner of Record Label RKM Music, and Ghazi Al Mulaifi, Visiting Assistant Professor of Music, NYUAD

Prophet Muhammad's Timeless Gifts to Humanity

Thursday, October 6 at 6:30pm

Featuring Craig Considine, Senior Lecturer, Rice University; author of The Humanity of Muhammad – A Christian View

Plagued Legacies: Rethinking Black Death Narratives

Wednesday, October 26 at 6:30pm

Featuring Nukhet Varlik, Associate Professor of History, Rutgers University–Newark (Middle East series)

The Legacy of Al-Andalus: Material and Textual Sources

Monday, October 31 at 6:30pm

Featuring Cristina de la Puente, Scientific Researcher, Department of Islamic and Jewish Studies, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) (Al Andalus series)

BAM! And Then It Hit Me: A Conversation with Karen Hopkins

Wednesday, November 2 at 6:30pm

Featuring Karen Hopkins, President Emerita, Brooklyn Academy of Music; author of BAM... and Then It Hit Me

Conference | The Third Middle-Eastern Materials Science | Prior registration is required

November 21-23

The conference will cover oral and poster presentations from leading academic, industrial, and regulatory experts in the domain of materials science from the US, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

A Conversation with Ramesh Shukla

Monday, November 21 at 6:30pm

Featuring photographer Ramesh Shukla to discuss 50U: The Story of the UAE in 50 portraits

The (Impossible) Decolonization of the Western Museum

Wednesday, November 23 at 6:30pm

Featuring Françoise Vergès, political scientist, historian, and curator; author of A Decolonial Feminism

A Conversation with Samar Yazbak

Monday, December 5 at 6:30pm

Featuring Syrian writer and journalist Samar Yazbak and Professor Dawn Chatty, Professor of Anthropology and Forced Migration at University of Oxford

The Torrijos Ceiling in the Victoria & Albert Museum: Creation, Collection, Reconception

Wednesday, December 7 at 6:30pm

Featuring Mariam Rosser-Owen, Curator Middle East, Asian Department, Victoria and Albert Museum (Al Andalus Series)

A talk with Library of Arabic Literature

Monday, December 12 at 6:30pm

Featuring Yasmine Seale, writer and translator

Please visit this page to stay up to date with upcoming events.
nyuad.nyu.edu/en/events.html#eventType=&organizer=&date=&keyword=

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About The NYU Abu Dhabi Institute

Established in 2008, The NYU Abu Dhabi Institute is a center of advanced research, scholarly, and creative activity for Abu Dhabi, the UAE, and the world. Its academic conferences serve as a scholarly platform for NYU Abu Dhabi faculty, and faculty across the global network, to discuss and showcase their innovative research and creative activity. Its diverse public program of talks, panel discussions, film screenings, and exhibitions feature scholars, researchers, policy makers, and thought leaders who present topics of local and global significance. From its inception, The Institute has hosted more than 1200 academic conferences and public events, and welcomed over 900 speakers from around the world.

About NYU Abu Dhabi

NYU Abu Dhabi is the first comprehensive liberal arts and research campus in the Middle East to be operated abroad by a major American research university. NYU Abu Dhabi has integrated a highly selective undergraduate curriculum across the disciplines with a world center for advanced research and scholarship. The university enables its students in the sciences, engineering, social sciences, humanities, and arts to succeed in an increasingly interdependent world and advance cooperation and progress on humanity’s shared challenges. NYU Abu Dhabi’s high-achieving students have come from over 115 countries and speak over 115 languages. Together, NYU's campuses in New York, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai form the backbone of a unique global university, giving faculty and students opportunities to experience varied learning environments and immersion in other cultures at one or more of the numerous study-abroad sites NYU maintains on six continents.