MESA Advocacy Resource Center
MESA's Task Force has created a new advocacy resource center for our members to consult in response to the repression of rights on campuses across North America and beyond.
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Mission Statement
The Middle East Studies Association (MESA) is a non-profit association that fosters the study of the Middle East, promotes high standards of scholarship and teaching, and encourages public understanding of the region and its peoples through programs, publications and services that enhance education, further intellectual exchange, recognize professional distinction, and defend academic freedom in accordance with its status as a 501(c)(3) scientific, educational, literary, and charitable organization.
Annual Meeting
The Middle East Studies Association’s 59th annual meeting will be held in Washington DC from November 22-25, 2025.
The MESA 2025 Call for Papers is now closed. Decisions will be announced by May 1. The hotel room block is now open for reservations.
Advocacy
The Middle East Studies Association (MESA) advocates on behalf of its members on issues that are central to its mission.
This includes statements and letters from MESA's Board of Directors, MESA's Committee on Academic Freedom, the Task Force on Civil and Human Rights, and the MESA Global Academy.
Become a Member
Be a part of a community of scholars who are passionate about the pursuit of academic knowledge on the MENA region. Help MESA defend academic freedoms. Share your research at the annual meeting. Access the best, cutting-edge scholarship in person at the conference or online in our journals.
Join or renew today!
Member Announcements
Advisory from the Task Force on Civil and Human Rights regarding U.S. Travel
MESA's Task Force on Civil and Human Rights has issued an advisory regarding new travel restrictions enacted by the Trump Administration.
MESA 2025 Hotel Reservations
To book your room, please see here.
Issues of IJMES, RoMES, and IMES available
To access, select the Publications tab in your myMESA account then click the publication image. 
Security Alerts for Researchers and Students
There are two active security alerts issued by MESA’s Board of Directors for those embarking on research in Egypt and UAE.
Campus Climate Resources
MESA has created a new Campus Climate resource page for our members in response to academic freedom-related developments on campuses across North America and beyond.
Pinned Story
CfP - A Century of Revolutions - Centennial of the Great Syrian Revolt (1925-2025)
IREMAM
The symposium invites proposal submissions in English, French or Arabic by June 15, 2025.
Jordan’s Balancing Act: Seeking Stability Amid Regional Turmoil
Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore
The Middle East Institute will host an event via Zoom on Tuesday, 13 May 2025 with two newly-minted authors and experts on Jordan.
Begins May 13, 2025
Hunter College Faculty Open Rank Palestinian Studies Cluster Hires
Hunter College
Hunter College invites applications for two open-rank, tenure-track professors in Palestinian Studies (one in social sciences, one in humanities), starting Fall 2025.
CFP: Conference on Global Iranian Diaspora Studies (May 2026)
Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Institute of Iranian Studies
The Conference on Global Iranian Diaspora Studies invite individual papers, pre-organized panels, and creative submissions that engage with the conference topics.
The Contemporary Iranian Studies Conference
University of Tehran
The Conference invite panel proposals and abstract submissions related to all major fields of Iranian studies in four general categories of politics, sociology, culture and economics are welcomed.
Assyrian Studies Symposium
Assyrian Studies Association
The Association, in partnership with Arizona State University, invite abstract submissions for the 2025 Assyrian Studies Symposium in October 24-26, 2025.
PMA PhD Dissertation Award & other grants
Persian Manuscripts Association
PMA is pleased to invite applications for its three awards recognizing excellence in dissertations, research and artistic work.
Timurid music and its transmission
Persian Manuscripts Association
PMA invites abstract submissions of papers, panels, and workshops for its second international conference, Listen to the Flute: Timurid Music and Its Transmissions Across the Persianate World.
Letter concerning the ongoing mistreatment of Egyptian scholar and translator Kholoud Said
Our third letter to Egyptian officials regarding the unjust circumstances of Egyptian researcher and translator, Kholoud Said. We call on the authorities to dismiss all charges against her and reinstate her in her job at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
AMEWS 2025 Book Awards
Association of Middle East Women's Studies
AMEWS invite nominations for the 2025 book awards.
Faculty Fellowship
Catholic University in Erbil
CUE invite applications for St. Thomas the Apostle Distinguished Faculty Fellowship.
MESA Board Joint Statement with the TFCHR regarding deportations
The MESA Board of Directors and its Task Force on Civil and Human Rights condemn in the strongest terms the Trump administration’s targeting of noncitizen students and researchers for their constitutionally protected speech and advocacy. We call on our members and colleagues to ask their university and college administrations to take a number of steps to ensure that they are protecting their campus communities.
Freedom of Speech, Trump and Campus Repression: The Case of Badar Khan Suri
Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU)
Join the panel discussion on April 14 at 4pm in the HFSC Social Room at Georgetown University or virtually.
Begins April 14, 2025
Letter to Yale University regarding the termination of Dr. Helyeh Doutaghi
Our letter expressing concern about the termination of Dr. Helyeh Doutaghi, deputy director of Yale University’s Law and Political Economy Project and associate research scholar at Yale Law School, in the wake of allegations made on an obscure website whose founders and contributors are anonymous
Knight Institute Asks Court to Block Trump Policy of Deporting Students and Faculty for Lawful Speech: AAUP and Middle East Studies Association say policy clearly violates the First Amendment
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) today filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in their lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration from carrying out large-scale arrests, detentions, and deportations of noncitizen students and faculty members who participate in pro-Palestinian protests and other protected First Amendment activities.
Letter to Harvard University protesting the dismissals of the director and associate director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Our letter expressing concern about Harvard University’s decision to remove Professor Cemal Kafadar and Associate Professor Rosie Bsheer as, respectively, director and associate director of the university’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Annual Palestine Forum 2026: Call for Submissions
Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies and the Institute for Palestine Studies
The fourth Annual Palestine Forum is now accepting research proposals. The Forum will take place in Qatar in late January 2026, with specific dates to be announced soon.
Lecturers positions—Hebrew, Modern Greek, Egyptology
UC Berkeley
The Division of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures invites applications for a pool of qualified lecturers to teach courses in any of the possible areas: Modern Hebrew, Modern Greek, Egyptology.
Joint Statement regarding Columbia University and the Department of Education
MESA and the undersigned associations condemn the actions taken in the past weeks at Columbia University and the Department of Education, which imperil the autonomy of centers for regional study at universities across the United States and the future of area studies as a domain of scholarship and research in American higher education.
Postdoctoral Position in Shia Studies
Hartford International University for Religion and Peace
The Imam Ali Research Center, in collaboration with the Imam Ali Chair at the Hartford International University for Religion and Peace, invite applications to a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Shia Studies.
Study In Cairo
The Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo
The Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo (NVIC) is pleased to announce that applications for its Fall study-abroad programmes in Arabic and Middle East Studies are now officially open.
MESA, AAUP, and Knight Institute file lawsuit over Trump policy of arresting and threatening deportation for lawful speech
The Middle East Studies Association (MESA) and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) today filed a lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration from carrying out large-scale arrests, detentions, and deportations of noncitizen students and faculty members who participate in pro-Palestinian protests and other protected First Amendment activities.