Professor Andreas Thiel and Dr. Hussam Hussein of the section of International Agricultural Policy and Environmental Governance at the University of Kassel, Germany, visited FAFS (October 25-26).
During their visit, they jointly delivered a lecture on "Agri-Environmental Social Studies for the MENA Region: A Critical Polycentric Governance Perspective and the Nexus." Professor Thiel introduced Kassel University and the Faculty of Organic Agricultural Sciences, discussing possible cooperation between FAFS and the Faculty of Organic Agricultural Sciences. Professor Thiel's message to FAFS was engaging from the perspective of strategic research and education in Agri-Environmental Social Studies for the greater MENA region, beyond Lebanon. Professor Thiel also discussed polycentricity and governance of the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus. Dr. Hussein spoke about his research in the MENA region, which focuses on water security and water discourses.
About the Speakers:
Professor Thiel’s previous work addressed the topic of Developing Institutional Economics for the Analysis of Social-Ecological Systems. His research focuses on the changing roles of institutions and governance in the context of socio-ecologic systems and natural resource management in the European Union. Andreas Thiel is a member of the Arab German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities (AGYA) and leads the Social Water Studies in the MENA Region initiative, launched by the Guest Professorship of Environmental Governance and the Divisions of Resource Economics and Horticultural Economics at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Professor Thiel, is an economist and spatial planner by training and holds a Ph.D. from Oxford Brookes University, School of the Built Environment. He has been a visiting fellow at Technical University of Lisbon, University of Lisbon, University of Seville, and Indiana University’s Vincent and Elinor Ostrom Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis. He Chairs the Section of International Agricultural Policy and Environmental Governance at the University of Kassel, Germany.
Dr. Hussam Hussein is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the same Section at the University of Kassel. His work focuses on water-food security in the Mediterranean region, particularly on transboundary water governance. Hussein’s early research explored the role of discourse in shaping water policies and focused on the hydropolitics of Jordan and Lebanon. Holding Ph.D. from the University of East Anglia, Dr. Hussein was an Arab Council for Social Sciences (ACSS) postdoctoral fellow (2017-18) at AUB’s Issam Fares Institute (IFI).