08.12.2018 Sixth seasonal school in Mashhad (Iran) concludes NAREM project

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With the sixth seasonal school on “Water and Sustainable Development”, which took place from 24 November to 1 December 2018 in Mashhad (Iran), we concluded the three-years project “Political Economy of Natural Resource Management” (NAREM) within the Higher Education Dialogue with Muslim World Framework.

The Winter School in Mashhad was a combination of lectures, workshops and excursions, which were related to the topic of water and sustainable development as well as Iranian culture. Participants from Marburg, which included 19 students from several disciplines and 4 professors, learned more about the political economy of Iran, in interaction with more than 20 participants from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, University of Tehran, and Tarbiat Modares.

We thank our host, the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, and especially Prof. Dr. Mehdi Feizi, Prof. Dr. Narges Salehnia and their colleagues. We are also thankful for the contributions from the professors of Philipps-Universität Marburg, namely Prof. Dr. Bernd Hayo, Prof. Dr. Christian Opp and Prof. Dr. Björn Vollan.

Within the last three years, we were able to support 132 individuals from different disciplines (e.g., 58% Economics, 17% Political Science, 14% Sociology, 5% Geography) with the funds from DAAD. Among these are 57 female and 43 male students from Germany and Iran, which were mainly Master (70%) and PhD students (21%). From the German side, most students came from the Master programs Economics of the Middle East (EMEA), Politik und Wirtschaft des Nahen und Mittleren Ostens, Economics and Institutions, and International Development Studies (IDS). From the Iranian side, most students came from study programs such as Economics, Energy Economics, and Social and Welfare Planning.

Despite the focus on exchange between Germany and Iran, the participants had diverse backgrounds from 15 countries, namely Afghanistan, Algeria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Egypt, Germany, India, Iran, Italy, Jordan, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, USA, and Uzbekistan.

The previous five seasonal schools in Marburg and Tehran had the topics “Natural Resource Management and Sustainable Development”, “Natural Resource Management and Life Satisfaction”, “Renewable Energy and Development”, “Social Policy in Oil-Based Economies”, and “Nature, Wealth & Power”. We are thankful for the efforts of all professors and researchers, who contributed to our program.

Last but not least, we thank the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for their generous support within the framework “Higher Education Dialogue with the Muslim World” which is funded by the German Foreign Office. Without their support, this project would not be possible.