Cambridge Middle East and North Africa Forum Young Leaders Initiative 2024

The Young Leaders Initiative (YLI) aims to bring together talented students and young professionals in the United Kingdom, who have a keen interest in the key strategic issues impacting the Middle East and North Africa region.

The programme aims to create a network of emerging leaders in academia, policy analysis and the private sector, foster progressive collaboration between their respective disciplines, and encourage productive policy discussions and the sharing of innovative ideas surrounding the political, economic and security affairs of the Middle East and North Africa region. The YLI will not only equip participants with a nuanced understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing today’s Middle East and North Africa region but will also provide a platform for networking and collaboration with leading experts in the policy analysis and policymaking fields.

The programme is comprised of an online seminar series and a conference held in Cambridge. The seminar series will feature distinguished experts from academic, policy, and industry backgrounds, who – besides discussing alliances, bilateral and multilateral relations, economic and business ties, the emerging axis of security cooperation and women’s issues in the Middle East and North Africa – will steer immersive and constructive debates between participants about specific policy challenges and opportunities impacting the region.

Focus Areas

The programme focuses on three thematic areas of cooperation between countries of the Middle East and North Africa region and their international partners:

• Politics
• Economics
• Security

Sessions of the online seminar series and the conference will explore the above themes via three topics the Forum’s research activities currently gravitate around:

• British Foreign Policy
• MENA Region 2030
• Women in the MENA Region

Benefits of Young Leaders Initiative

Participants will have the opportunity to:

• Participate in a fully-funded programme;
• Expand their professional network;
• Develop an original piece of policy analysis with academic support.

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Eligibility for Young Leaders Initiative 

• Open to final-year undergraduate, Masters or PhD students, or young professionals, based in the United Kingdom.

Essential requirements

• Relevant undergraduate or postgraduate degree in Politics, International Relations, Middle Eastern Studies, Economics, Business, War and Security Studies or a cognate discipline.
• Advanced knowledge of and interest in the political and/or economic and/or security relations of the Middle East and North Africa region.
• Experience in research.
• Ability to participate in all online seminars and the in-person conference in full.

Additional desirable but non-essential requirements:

• Fluency in a regional language.
• Experience living/studying/working in the region.

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Application

Send your CV and statement (up to 500 words) detailing your interest in the programme in addition to a research topic within the above thematic areas to Mr Patrik Kurath at [email protected].

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