IMéRA/University of Edinburgh Residency: Muslim Solidarity and Contemporary Crises in the Mediterranean

A funded residency at Aix-Marseille University, France is available for research into solidarity mechanisms in the Mediterranean, particularly with regards to Muslim communities, in response to political, socioeconomic and environmental crises.

IMéRA (Institut Méditerranéen de Recherche Avancée – Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Research) is a French institute for advanced study located at Aix-Marseille University. Its goals are to foster the emergence of world-class cross-disciplinary research approaches and to develop the skills of young researchers at Aix-Marseille University. Research projects carried out at IMéRA focus on interdisciplinary study within social science, within science, between social science and formal/experimental and health science, and on relationships between art and science, exploring and enhancing the potential connections between such disciplines and the new research that may result from these connections.

In partnership with the Alwaleed Centre for the Study of Islam in the Contemporary World at the University of Edinburgh, IMéRA is offering a residency on the theme of Muslim solidarity when faced with crises in the Mediterranean. The residency forms part of a research project that examines how solidarity mechanisms are put in place, how they operate, and how they transform contemporary Mediterranean identities in crisis situations.

The project is based around the following two research areas:

• Evaluation of the declarations and official positions of civil society organisations (Muslim and non-Muslim) on both sides of the Mediterranean in the face of a crisis causing the displacement of populations. Evaluation of the actions of such organisations and of their interactions with displaced people, with other organisations and with public actors.
• Analysis of the evolution of ideas and practices of civility and citizenship around the Mediterranean. The research seeks to highlight the relation between state policies and the integration (or exclusion) of speech or action from previously studied civil society actors through the prism of public debate and through the prism of different categories of people in movement.

A particular objective of the IMéRA residency is to produce a scientific work such an article or a chapter. Other possible activities include organising a workshop or seminar in Marseille or in Edinburgh or collaborating on a collective work.