BGU Participates in Borders in Globalization Project
BGU Participates in Borders in Globalization Project
September 13, 2013
Homeland & Cyber Security, Press Releases
BGU is the only university in the Middle East to take part in the new Borders in Globalization project.
The group of 20 university and public bodies worldwide participating in the project will advise North American governments on how to manage and control their borders in the coming decades.
BGU’s Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Prof. David Newman, who has been recognized in Israel and internationally for his expertise in the area of borders and geopolitics, will participate in this group on behalf of BGU.
Prof. David Newman
“Borders in Globalization is an innovative, integrative and sustainable partnership among an already productive network of academics in Canada, the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East who are engaging with non-academic organizations involved in managing borders and borderlands throughout the world,” says Prof. Emanuel Brunet-Jailly of the University of Victoria, an international borders expert who will be directing the project.
“The partnership will promote further excellence in border studies, create new policy and foster knowledge transfer in order to address globalizing forces of security, trade and migration flows, and to understand the challenges of emerging technologies, self-determination and regionalization around the world, affecting borders and borderlands,” he adds.
According to Prof. Newman, “The project received The Partnership Grant, which is considered the most prestigious research partnership program in Canada. Only a few Partnership Grants are awarded each year across Canada. The 2011/12 competition included over 100 letters of intent (LOI). This was one of the few projects to have been selected.”
This is the third ongoing international project on the changing nature of borders in which Prof. Newman has been invited to participate. Prof. Newman is also a partner in the 19 university consortium of the EU FP7-funded Euroborderscapes Project, which began in 2012.
Some of the work from these projects has been published in leading journals in the field of political geography, international relations and border studies. It has also been published in the international scientific journal Geopolitics, of which Prof. Newman has been the main international editor for over a decade.
This work on borders and geopolitics ties in with ongoing research at BGU in three active regional centers: Europe (The Centre for the Study of European Politics and Society), Africa (The Tamar Golan Africa Centre) and the Middle East (The Chaim Herzog Center for Middle East Studies and Diplomacy).
Prof. Newman sees the activities of these centers as the basis for a renewed focus on area studies, bringing together these three regions at their geographical interface in Israel and the Levant (the lands bordering the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea). The University is currently in the process of creating a new chair in geopolitics to reflect this expertise.
ABOUT AMERICANS FOR BEN-GURION UNIVERSITY
By supporting a world-class academic institution that not only nurtures the Negev, but also shares its expertise locally and globally, Americans for Ben-Gurion University engages a community of Americans who are committed to improving the world. David Ben-Gurion envisioned that Israel’s future would be forged in the Negev. The cutting-edge research carried out at Ben-Gurion University drives that vision by sustaining a desert Silicon Valley, with the “Stanford of the Negev” at its center. The Americans for Ben-Gurion University movement supports a 21st century unifying vision for Israel by rallying around BGU’s remarkable work and role as an apolitical beacon of light in the Negev desert.
About Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev embraces the endless potential we have as individuals and as a commonality to adapt and to thrive in changing environments. Inspired by our location in the desert, we aim to discover, to create, and to develop solutions to dynamic challenges, to pose questions that have yet to be asked, and to push beyond the boundaries of the commonly accepted and possible.
We are proud to be a central force for inclusion, diversity and innovation in Israel, and we strive to extend the Negev’s potential and our entrepreneurial spirit throughout the world. For example, the multi-disciplinary School for Sustainability and Climate Change at BGU leverages over 50 years of expertise on living and thriving in the desert into scalable solutions for people everywhere.
BGU at a glance:
20,000 students | 800 senior faculty | 3 campuses | 6 faculties: humanities & social sciences, health sciences, engineering sciences, natural sciences, business & management, and desert research.
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