Bringing together British and Tunisian Early Career Researchers

A landmark joint event between St John’s College, the Tunisian Academy of Letters, Sciences and Arts, Beit El Hikma and the Tunisian Ministry for Higher Education took place this spring.

Thanks to a small grant from the College, Professor Mohamed-Salah Omri, Tutorial Fellow at St John’s and Professor of Arabic and Comparative Literature, led a collaborative multidisciplinary workshop in the Humanities and Social Sciences bringing together British and Tunisian Early Career Researchers. On 29 February and 1 March 2024, sixteen academics from the two countries presented their work on the theme of 'Crises and Changes' over two days in the seat of the Tunisian Academy in Carthage. Three St John’s fellows and graduates took part in the workshop. Plans are underway to publish the revised papers as a collection of essays by Beit El-Hikma. (This blog details the workshop and the programme.)

The workshop was the first such event and occurs within the context of growing collaboration between the University of Oxford and Tunisia. Last year, a high-ranking delegation, including the Tunisian Minster of Higher Education and the British Ambassador to Tunisia were hosted by at St John’s by Professor Lady Sue Black. More recently a significant donation was given to Oxford to support mobility between researchers from Tunisia and the University.