Center for International and Regional Studies

We are a premier research institute devoted to the academic study of regional and international issues through dialogue and exchange of ideas, research and scholarship, and engagement with national and international scholars, opinion makers, practitioners, and activists.

Featured Research Projects

Energy Humanities

The Energy Humanities initiative is part of the Environmental Studies research cluster at the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) at Georgetown University in Qatar. Led by GU-Q faculty members Professor Victoria Googasian, Professor Trish Kahle, and Professor Firat Oruc, the initiative aims to generate new scholarly conversations on the importance of everyday energetic life to the study of energy’s past, present, and future.

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Building a Legacy: Qatar FIFA World Cup 2022

The Qatar FIFA World Cup 2022 in November and December will be the first World Cup in the Middle East. This CIRS research initiative provides a platform for academic engagement with the tournament.

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TEN YEARS ON: MASS PROTESTS AND UPRISINGS IN THE ARAB WORLD

In an effort to mark, interrogate, and reflect on the Arab uprisings, the Arab Studies Institute in collaboration with Princeton’s Arab Barometer, and George Mason’s Middle East and Islamic Studies Program, and other academic institutions, launched a year-long set of events, reflections, and conversations. The aim of the project is to produce resources for educators, researchers, students, and journalists to understand the last decade of political upheaval historically and in the lived present.

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Research Clusters

Regional Studies

Since its establishment in 2005, CIRS has sought to enhance knowledge production and to provide original, interdisciplinary analyses of the Gulf and the Middle East. This region’s geopolitics continue to unfold at remarkable speed, with ruptures in traditional regional and international alliances and the emergence of new political arrangements, and this remains a focal point of interest for CIRS research. Through this thematic focus, CIRS also considers a range of research efforts that provide deeper insights on historical, social, economic, and cultural developments in the region.

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Environmental Studies

Building on CIRS’s previous record of research and scholarship on the topic, the thematic focus on Environmental Studies continues to address central questions related to climate change, the politics of natural resources, food security, water conflict, and other issues of environmental concern. Through this thematic focus, CIRS considers projects that examine the Middle East in comparison to other regions, or that pursue cross-national understandings of environmental issues. CIRS seeks to translate this knowledge into practice through targeted outreach to entities that support a safer and sustainable future for all.

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Race & Society

Critically important for geopolitics, there is a range of social undercurrents and phenomena that require in-depth examination. Additionally, CIRS aims to enhance our understanding of race, ethnicity, religion, and cultural and national identity and belonging in multiple global contexts and geographies, including the Middle East. Through this thematic focus on Race and Society, CIRS supports original research production on diverse topics such as citizenship, migration, labor and employment, the family, education, technology and communication, as well as arts and cultural production.

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