Associate professor, IE University Barah Mikaïl is an Associate Professor of International Security at Saint Louis University Madrid Campus and at IE University and director of the Observatory on Contemporary Crises. He is also the founder of Stractegia, a Madrid-based consulting company that provides advice on the Geopolitics of the MENA region and on Spanish politics. He was senior researcher on Middle East and North Africa and on Water Issues at the Institut de Relations Internationales et Stratégiques (IRIS) in Paris (2002-2011) and senior researcher on MENA issues at FRIDE (2011-2015) in Madrid. Barah has been Professor at the Collège Interarmées de Défense at the French Ministry of Defence (2005-2007); at the Université Paris-8 Saint-Denis (since 2005); and at Sciences-Po Lille (2004-2005). In 2003, he also worked as an analyst on Middle East issues at the French Ministry of Defence. He holds a PhD in Political Science from the Université Paris 8 Saint-Denis; an MA in Political Science from the Université Paris Dauphine; and an MA in International Relations and an MA in Arab and Islamic Civilisations from the Université Marc Bloch. He specialises in the Middle East and North Africa region, covering topics such as EU and US policies, and security, political and economic issues. Other areas of expertise include ethnicity, tribalism and Islam in the Arab world, and water political issues and stakes. Barah Mikail has written extensively on the Middle East and North Africa. He has also authored four books : - "La politique américaine au Moyen-Orient" (American Policy in the Middle East), Dalloz, 2006; - "L’eau, source de menaces ?" (Water as a source of threat?), Dalloz, 2008; - "La Syrie en cinquante mots-clés" (Syria in 50 Key Words), L’Harmattan/Comprendre le Moyen-Orient, 2009; - "Une nécessaire relecture du "Printemps arabe"" (A Necessary Rereading of the "Arab Spring"", Editions du Cygne, 2012.
Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, UMass Chan Medical School Born and raised in Rhode Island, Benjamin Botsford, MD joined the Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences in the summer 2022. He is delighted to serve the ophthalmology needs of a diverse patient population and collaborate with his UMass Memorial Eye Center colleagues. After graduating from Phi Beta Kappa from New York University with a degree in neuroscience, he went on to receive his medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. He completed an ophthalmology residency at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and completed a vitreoretinal fellowship at NY Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center. He has published over 20 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and presented at numerous regional and national conferences. He has volunteered at a diabetes outreach clinic for Veterans Inc. in Worcester where he performed ophthalmology screenings for veterans and their families. He also presented on “Diabetes and Your Eyes” for the UMass Memorial Eye Center’s inaugural “See Better! Live Fuller!” patient webinar series this past fall. With a special interest in retinal disease and macular degeneration, Dr. Botsford looks forward to providing medical and surgical care to the community, as well as teaching the enthusiastic and stellar ophthalmology residents at the Hahnemann and Northborough offices. Clinical Expertise: Surgical and medical management of vitreoretinal disease Diabetic Retinopathy Macular degeneration Retinal vascular disease
MSCA Postdoctoral Fellow, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) Dr Bruno Theodoro Luciano is a MSCA Postdoctoral Fellow at ULB, affiliated to the Dept of Research and Studies in International Politics (REPI) and the Institute of European Studies (IEE). PhD in Political Science and International Studies (University of Birmingham, UK), MA and BA in International Relations (University of Brasília, Brazil). Co-Editor of the journal Contemporary European Politics. His MSCA Cofund postdoctoral research at the Université libre de Bruxelles focuses on the political developments of the European Union-Latin America and Caribbean relations, examining their inter-governmental and inter-parliamentary dimensions. In addition to this primary line of research, he is also interested in inter-regionalism and comparative regionalism in Europe, South America and Africa, with focus on the agenda of trade, democracy protection, civil society participation, and parliamentary diplomacy. Author of the book Parliamentary Agency and Regional Integration in Europe and Beyond (Routledge/UACES Contemporary European Studies series). Some of his research outputs have appeared in outlets such as Journal of Common Market Studies, Journal of European Integration, Global Studies Quarterly, and Parliamentary Affairs.
Senior Lecturer in Zoology and Ecology, James Cook University I'm a wildlife biologist with 25+ years experience studying animal behavior, mostly focusing on the behavioral ecology of mammals. I was a senior lecturer at JCU for 8 years and I've published ~50 papers in journals such as PNAS, Ecology Letters, Methods in Ecology and Evolution, etc..
Professor of Sociology, Sociology, University of Manchester I have a first degree in Cultural Studies and a PhD in Sociology. Prior to working at Manchester I held lectureships at the University of Leeds and Nottingham Trent University, and was a research fellow at London South Bank University. My teaching has included courses on gender and sexuality, families, relationships and social change, personal life, social theory, research methods and methodologies. My research and publications has focused on the implications of social change for living with HIV; same sex intimacies; 'given' and chosen' families; ageing sexualities; friendships and other critical associations; theorising personal life; the links between sexualities and class; marriage and formalised partnerships, and qualitative research methods. With colleagues I am currently researching dating app use prior to, during and after Covid 19 restrictions. As well as the above, I have organised and provided training and capacity building workshops and events for the Realities node of the ESRC National Centre for Research Methods. Previously, as Head of Sociology, I worked with colleagues on initiatives to build further the dynamic teaching and research culture of Sociology at Manchester. As the previous Director Research in the School of Social sciences, which includes, Economics, Politics, Philosophy, Social Anthropolgy, Social Statistics and Sociology I worked with colleagues to further develop the excellent research culture of the School. I have recently stepped down from a 5 year stint as Head of School and Vice Dean and am on research leave. Currently, my theoretical and research interests are focused on the interaction of identities, relationships and diverse ways of living in the context of social change. I am interested in theories of social and cultural change, and in arguments about the contemporary reconfiguration of 'the social' and personal life. I have researched the implications of social change for how we conceive 'the social' and 'personal life' through ESRC funded projects on sexualities and gender, families and intimacies, ageing, research methods and dating app use. I have studied and written about living with HIV, same sex intimacies, ageing sexualities, sexuality and class, friendships, civil partnerships and same-sex marriages, and divorce. With colleagues I am currently writing a book on on relationship dissolution and divorce, as well as articles form an ESRC funded study of dating app use.. I was a member of the Realities research methods team which was linked to the ESRC's National Centre for Research Methods, and a founding member as well as co-Director of the Morgan Centre for the Study of Everyday Life.
