Keynote speakers

Bjørn Olav Utvik, Professor Emeritus at the University of Oslo

Bjørn Olav Utvik is Professor Emeritus of Middle East Studies at the University of Oslo, where he has taught courses on the modern political and economic history of the Middle East and on political Islam. He is the author of The Pious Road to Development: Islamist Economics in Egypt (2011) and (co-ed. with Kjetil Selvik) Oil States in the New Middle East: Uprisings and Stability (2016), in addition to Islamismen (in Norwegian, 3 ed. 2020), a comprehensive history and analysis of Islamism in the Middle East and North Africa.

Utvik has published numerous articles, book chapters and reports dealing primarily with issues from the contemporary political history of the region. Utvik has combined scholarship on movements such as the Muslim Brothers with research programs of high political relevance and directed several large research projects, funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Faultlines of Islamism (2007-2010), The New Middle East: Emerging Political and Ideological Trends (2011-2016), and by the Norwegian Research Council: The Gulf Research Unit: Economic and Political Developments in the Gulf Region (2008-2013). Utvik has also translated Arabic fiction into Norwegian, notably Naguib Mahfouz’s novel Midaq Alley (Zuqaq al-Midaq). From 2015 to 2020 he headed the Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages at the University of Oslo. He has appeared in Norwegian media countless times to comment on current affairs in the MENA region.

Utvik has for many years been one of the pillars of Middle East studies in Scandinavia: He is one of the founders of the Middle East study program at the University of Oslo and he is a former President of NSMES (1998-2007).

Dana El Kurd, Associate Professor at the University of Richmond

Dana El Kurd is an assistant professor at the University of Richmond in the Department of Political Science, and a senior nonresident fellow at the Arab Center Washington. She specializes in Palestinian and Arab politics, particularly on topics related to mobilization, public opinion, and international intervention. El Kurd is a well-known and respected analyst and comentator on Palestinian affairs and international politics.

Her first book, titled Polarized and Demobilized: Legacies of Authoritarianism in Palestine was published in January 2020 with Oxford University Press, to great acclaim. She has been praised for the complex and multimethod character of her work as well as her analytical sophistication. El Kurd has published in prominent academic journals such as Global Studies Quarterly, PS Political Science & Politics, and Democratization. She has contributed to media outlets such as The Nation, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, Financial Times, +972 Mag and more.

Marc Owen Jones, Associate Professor at Northwestern University, Qatar

Marc Owen Jones is an Associate Professor of Media Analytics at Northwestern University in Qatar, where he specializes in exposing disinformation campaigns and investigating digital authoritarianism in the Middle East. A leading expert in social media manipulation, disinformation and political repression, his groundbreaking research has uncovered networks of fake journalists and state-sponsored bot/trolls campaigns targeting global politics.

In addition to his other academic publications, Jones has authored two books: Political Repression in Bahrain (Cambridge University Press, 2020) and Digital Authoritarianism in the Middle East (Hurst/Oxford University Press, 2022). His work has earned multiple accolades, including the British Council's UK Alumni Professional Achievement Award and one of Foreign Affairs' 2023 "Books of the Year." His PhD thesis also won the AGAPS award for best thesis in 2016.

His investigations have made headlines globally, from revealing disinformation surrounding Jamal Khashoggi's murder to successfully challenging the UK Foreign Office in a tribunal over historical torture cases in Bahrain. Jones work appears regularly in major media outlets, ranging from The New York Times and The Washington Post, to Al Jazeera English and the BBC. Jones grew up in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, and has worked and studied in Sudan, Syria, Germany and the United Kingdom.