08:30 – 09:15
Arrival and registration
09:15 – 09:45
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) welcome
Sophie Stevens – Conflict Research Lead, FCDO
Lecture Theatre
09:45 – 10:45
Panel 1 – State of the region: Interconnecting regional conflict dynamics, influences and geopolitical alliances
Lecture Theatre
XCEPT lead researchers will introduce the conference’s key themes and questions, outlining how instability and conflict connect across borders. The discussion will provide a bird’s eye view of cross-cutting political, economic, and security dynamics in the MENA region, and address the role of so-called ‘middle powers’ in exacerbating or mediating regional conflicts. Speakers will highlight challenges and opportunities for regional security, stability, and governance and will discuss how to move towards more inclusive and sustainable policy solutions.
▶ Speakers
Moderator: Renad Mansour, Senior Research Fellow, Middle East and North Africa Program and Director, Iraq Initiative, Chatham House
Maha Yahya – Director, Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center
Sanam Vakil – Director, Middle East and North Africa Programme, Chatham House
Mohanad Hage Ali – Deputy Director for Research, Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center
Yezid Sayigh – Senior Fellow, Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center
10:45 – 11:15
Break
Marble Hall & Gallery
11:15 – 12:15
Panel 2 – Borderlands in flux: Navigating security and economic priorities
Lecture Theatre
This session will explore the impact of securitisation on border economies and livelihoods, with a focus on Yemen, Morocco, Iraq, and Algeria. The discussion will examine the implications of security driven initiatives such as the establishment of buffer zones and the hardening of borders, and their effects on civil society, trade, investment, and community resilience. It will raise considerations for better integration of security and economic agendas in borderlands to promote sustainable stability, inclusion and prosperity in conflict-affected borderlands.
▶ Speakers
Moderator: Jonathan Goodhand, Professor in Conflict and Development Studies, SOAS, University of London
Ahmed Nagi – Senior Analyst, Yemen, International Crisis Group
Yasmine Zarhloule – Non-Resident Scholar, Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center
Zmkan Saleem – Associate Fellow, Middle East and North Africa Programme, Chatham House
12:45 – 13:45
Lunch
Marble Hall & Gallery
13:45 – 15:00
Panel 3 – Instability, illicit networks and transnational flows
Lecture Theatre
The intersection of illicit networks and conflict across borders in the MENA region creates challenges with far-reaching implications. This panel will scrutinize the complex web of licit and illicit interactions and the transnational flows of people, goods, money, and ideas that feed war economies and exacerbate instability. By probing the underlying mechanisms that sustain such networks the session will highlight considerations for countering their destabilising effects.
▶ Speakers
Moderator: Mohanad Hage Ali, Deputy Director for Research, Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center
Jihad Yazigi – Editor-in-Chief, The Syria Report
Tim Eaton – Senior Research Fellow, Middle East and North Africa Programme, Chatham House
Peter Salisbury – Associate Fellow, Chatham House Middle East and North Africa Programme, Adjunct Professor Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.
15:00 – 15:30
Break
Marble Hall & Gallery
15:30 – 16:45
Breakout Roundtables
Migration and displacement: Drivers, implications and policy responses
(Breakout Roundtable A – Manufacturing Room)
Displacement and migration in the MENA region are shaped by an array of social, political, economic, and environmental forces, often with multiple factors – conflict, economic pressures, climate stress – simultaneously driving population movement. It is therefore critical to understand the cross-regional and international dynamics that propel migration and displacement across the region. This session will examine the drivers, power dynamics, and mechanisms shaping the transboundary movement of people, drawing comparative lessons for migration and refugee response in the MENA region from experiences in other international contexts.
▶ Speakers
Facilitator: Haneen Sayed, Senior Fellow, Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center
Hamza Meddeb – Research Fellow, Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center
Leah de Haan – Project Manager and Researcher, XCEPT Research Programme, Chatham House
Azeema Cheema – Founding Director, Verso Consulting
Zmkan Saleem – Associate Fellow, Middle East and North Africa Programme, Chatham House
Climate and environmental stress in conflict-affected borderlands
(Breakout Roundtable B – George Stephenson Room)
Climate change is exacerbating already fragile security, socioeconomic, and geopolitical conditions in the MENA region, with repercussions at local, national and transnational levels. This is particularly pronounced in areas where environmental degradation is compounding resource-based tensions. This roundtable will explore the implications of climate stress, resource competition, and environmental degradation in border areas in the Middle East and North Africa and raise considerations for sustainable, inclusive, gender-sensitive, and environmentally responsible conflict management.
▶ Speakers
Facilitator: Arda Bilgen, Research Officer, LSE Middle East Centre
Karim Elgendy – Founder, Carboun
Glada Lahn – Senior Research Fellow, Environment and Society Centre, Chatham House
Greg Shapland – UKRI, FCDO Senior Research Fellow
Localising research agendas: Lessons from the MENA Local Research Network
(Breakout Roundtable C – Council Room)
This breakout session shares lessons learned from XCEPT work with locally based researchers. Participants will discuss, for example, challenges involved in working with conflict-affected communities in cross-border contexts, including access, ethics, safeguarding and duty of care. Discussion will centre on strategies for centring local research networks in knowledge production and translating this into evidence-generated adaptation of programme and policy responses to instability and conflict. Though focused on the MENA region, the session will draw learning from other geographic contexts and address how to ensure the long-term sustainability and growth of local research networks.
▶ Speakers
Moderator: Tabea Campbell Pauli, Senior Programme Officer, The Asia Foundation
Haid Haid – Consulting Fellow, Middle East and North Africa Programme, Chatham House
Mohanad Hage Ali – Deputy Director for Research, Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center
Kheder Khaddour – Non-resident scholar, Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center
Tasnia Khandaker – Climate Research Lead, BRAC University
16:45 – 17:15
Break
Marble Hall & Gallery
17:15 – 18:15
Keynote with Christian Dennys-McClure, Deputy Director and Head of the UK’s Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs) Recovery and Reconstruction Team in the Israel/OPTs Taskforce, FCDO, to discuss the strategic vision of the UK government in relation to development and foreign policy in the MENA region.
Lecture Theatre
18:00 – 20:00
Drinks reception
Library