Abbés Zouache Historian Abbes Zouache is a specialist in the history of the medieval Middle East, as well as in Arabic codicology. A permanent Research Fellow at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), he is the current Director of the French Center for Archaeology and Social Sciences, a regional research centre based in Kuwait conducting research in the Arabian Peninsula as a whole. Furūsiyya: Birth and spread of an aristocratic culture in the medieval Middle East Furūsiyya is often associated with equestrian arts. However, it was linked with everything related to warfare, from hunting to mounted martial games and recipes for Greek fire, as it is shown by the…

” The Secrets of Tombs in Al-Sabbiyah – Northern Kuwait” a lecture presented by Dr. Sultan Al-Daweesh Biography: Dr. Sultan Al-Daweesh, Director of the Department of Antiquities and Museums at the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters. He holds a doctorate in Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology and is a member of the Arab Archaeologists Union.  

Hugo Miguel Crespo An art historian based in Lisbon, Hugo Crespo specialises in Portuguese Renaissance material culture and Asian decorative arts made for export to the European market or under Portuguese commission during the Age of Discovery. During the current year, he published Choices, a large book/ catalogue with the Lisbon-based art dealers AR-PAB, Álvaro Roquette and Pedro Aguiar Branco, who specialise in early Asian export art. Indian Jewellery and the Portuguese during the rise of the Mughal Empire The Portuguese voyages of exploration culminated in the establishment of an annual maritime route to India. This period witnessed the rise of the Mughals and was the time when Indian jewellery…

Nasser AbdulHasan Dr Nasser Bader Abulhasan is Principal & Founding Partner, AGi architects. His research addresses sustainable developments in arid climates and he focuses on the perception of light in buildings. Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea Architect Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea is principal/partner, AGi architects. Urban design, planning, and interior and industrial design are areas of interest and he has completed several projects with these elements at the core. The New Life of Nur Nur (Arabic meaning light) often refers to both the physical and metaphysical aspect of light. Conceptually, light is the core component of faith and spiritual illumination; as a result the application of Nur has been carried out in many different fields…

“Mosque of Cordoba in Spain” a lecture presented by Dr. Ibtihal al-Khatib Biography: Dr. Ibtihal Al-Khatib is an Assistant Professor at the Department of English at Kuwait University. She’s a political and human rights activist. She has several studies and publications as well as translations of books and other studies.    

“Representing the Kingdom of Bahrain in Islamic Sources” a lecture presented by Dr. Faisal Al Wazzan. Biography: Dr. Faisal Al-Wazzan teaches Islamic history and historical research methodology at Kuwait University. He completed his graduate studies at the University of Edinburgh. His research interests are concentrated in the history of East and Central Arabia in the Middle Ages and early modern times.

Sam White Dr Sam White is an Associate Professor at Ohio State University in the United States, with a research emphasis on past weather and climate and the role they play in history. His two books, The Climate of Rebellion in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire (Cambridge University Press, 2011) and A Cold Welcome: The Little Ice Age and Europe’s Encounter (Harvard University Press, 2017), focus on the impact of the 16th/17th centuries’ “Little Ice Age” in two distinct geographical regions. Climate and History in the Middle East and Mediterranean: Lessons from the past? This lecture will explore how new techniques to reconstruct past climates and our new appreciation of…

Helen Philon Dr Helen Philon is an archaeologist and scholar, with a special interest in Deccan India. The author of many publications, she established herself as a leading expert in the field, with a desire to preserve its monuments and ancient architecture for posterity. With her colleague at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, she helped found the Deccan Heritage Foundation and now sits on the Board of Trustees of both the English and the U.S. foundations. Courtly Architecture of the Bahmanis Following the conquest of Hindustan by Timur in 1397-8 and the eclipse of the Tughluq empire, the Bahmani kingdom (from 1347-1538), on the…

“The Impact of Crises and Disasters in Public Life in the Mashreq: A Reading in the Journeys of Ibn Yonah and Ibn Battuta” a lecture presented by Mr. Nawaf Abdulaziz Al-Jahmah.  

Anthropology and Civilization Studies: the Development of the Science of Civilization in the 21st Century a lecture presented by Dr. Khazaal Al Majdi.