About

The LSE Middle East Centre builds on LSE's long engagement with the Middle East and North Africa and provides a central hub for the wide range of research on the region carried out at LSE.

The Middle East Centre works to enhance understanding and develop rigorous research on the societies, economies, politics and international relations of the region. The Centre promotes both specialized knowledge and public understanding and has outstanding strengths in interdisciplinary research and in regional expertise. As one of the world's leading social science institutions, LSE comprises departments covering all branches of the social sciences. The Middle East Centre harnesses this expertise to promote innovative multidisciplinary research and understanding of the region.

The Centre hosts over thirty research projects on diverse themes applied widely across the Middle East and North Africa. Findings from these, and from other leading scholarly work, are disseminated through the Centre’s flagship paper publications and public events series. The Centre’s research benefits from strong partnerships on projects with numerous academic institutions in the region.

The Middle East Centre engages in a wide variety of activities, including:

• Promoting independent and critical research on the Middle East and North Africa;
• Fostering open and critical debate about the politics, societies and economics of the region;
• Disseminating knowledge about the Middle East through Centre’s events, publications and digital resources;
• Providing a rich research environment for scholars and students;
• Establishing and cultivating ties with researchers in Middle East and international institutions.

Constitution and Governance

In accordance with the LSE Research Committee’s established policies and procedures, the Centre is governed through a Management Committee and an Advisory Board.

Centre Funding

Middle East Centre activities are currently supported by:

• Aman Trust
• Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences
• The Leverhulme Trust
• The Henry Luce Foundation
• Carnegie Corporation New York
• Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office
• Centre for Justice and Accountability
• Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
• Mohammad Al Fahim
• Arts and Humanities Research Council
• Council for British Research in the Levant
• LSE Urgency Grant

Past funding: Emirates Foundation, UK Department for International Development, Thomas Gerald Gray Charitable Trust, Ethar Relief, LSE Careers, Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity, LSE Eden Centre, UNICEF, John Templeton Foundation, LSE Knowledge Exchange and Impact Fund, British Institute for Persian Studies, British Institute for the Study of Iraq, Oxfam GB, Chevron, British Council, LSE IGA–Rockefeller Fund, American Political Science Association, University of Notre Dame, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Research Councils UK.