Student Scholars at Georgetown University in Qatar Launch Historic Academic Journal

Student Scholars at Georgetown University in Qatar Launch Historic Academic Journal

Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q) announced the inaugural  launch of the first academic political science journal that is published by university students in the Middle East, on Tuesday, April 22, 2014, at a press conference that featured the GU-Q students and GU-Q faculty and staff advisory board members involved in the historic project.

The Journal of Georgetown University-Qatar Middle Eastern Studies Student Association  is the work of GU-Q’s Middle Eastern Studies Students Association (MESSA), and published by Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing. It will also be made available online through MESSA’s website. Now in its third year, MESSA is a uniquely student-focused campus organization, giving young people a chance to emulate their esteemed peers in the research community.

The focus of this first publication, which includes articles from students at top universities including Harvard, Princeton, and Tufts who presented their research at the second MESSA conference earlier this year, reflects the conference theme: “Globalization & the Middle East: Youth, Media and Resources”. Current and future topics will also include youth, gender issues, sectarianism, non-state actors, culture, economics, development, and the interplay of domestic, regional and international politics.

“It is especially gratifying to see high-quality analytical work emerging among students that addresses head-on, some of the most complex and interdisciplinary questions pertaining to this dynamic region. It is an honor for GU-Q to be able to host this journal,” said the dean of GU-Q, Dr. Gerd Nonneman, who also serves on the journal’s board of advisors.

The press conference featured other project participants, including John T. Crist, Director of Research at GU-Q and a MESSA advisory board member, Mohamed Khalil Harb, a GU-Q student contributor, and Qatari student Khawla Al-Derbasti, the MESSA journal’s Editor-in-Chief.

“There is a lot of change happening around us, and this change is taking place at an expedited pace, this is what makes MESSA such a vital organization. Fundamentally, our generation must become more aware and engaged with both local and international affairs to be prepared for the future that will demand our attention soon enough,” said Khawla, who oversees all the logistics of the journal – from selecting the papers to the overall execution and publication.

MESSA was founded  by students Miodrag Stamboldziev and Al-Johara Al-Thani, including the idea of starting an academic journal to showcase the best of the student article submissions, in 2011. [1] The organization serves to voice undergraduate research that is conducted at Georgetown University, whether in Qatar or the United States, and concerns issues which are pivotal to Middle Eastern affairs. Striving to foster and enhance undergraduate research, MESSA enables students, from Georgetown University and across the globe, to voice their research and facilitates a breadth and depth of discussion about respective economic, political and social affairs.  More information about the organization and access to the journal are available online at https://www.qatar.georgetown.edu/gumessa