Generously supported by the government of the United Arab Emirates, the Emirates Leadership Initiative (ELI) at Harvard Kennedy School concluded its fourth year in 2018. Facilitated jointly by the Center for Public Leadership (CPL) at HKS, HKS Executive Education, and MEI, the program connects students, fellows, and faculty to the UAE and the broader Middle East every year at Harvard and in the region through four key activities: the Graduate Student Fellowship, the Research Program, Executive Education, and the UAE Policy Field Experience. MEI primarily supports the Research Program and takes an active role in the Graduate Student Fellowship and the Policy Field Experience with CPL. ELI thrives on the shared mission of preparing emerging leaders from the United Arab Emirates and the Middle East to confront the region’s public policy issues through a multi-pronged approach that goes beyond traditional academic coursework.

On June 18, 2018, Nicholas Burns, Roy and Barbara Goodman Family Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations, o cially passed the baton to his successor as MEI Faculty Chair, Tarek Masoud, Sultan of Oman Professor of International Relations. is transition concluded eight years of leadership, during which both the Middle East and MEI experienced profound transformations. From the time he assumed the role of faculty chair in 2010, Burns and Direc- tor Hilary Rantisi partnered to foster exponential growth in students, programs, community, and reach.

On September 3, 2017, MEI joined the Belfer Center and Harvard Kennedy School communities in mourning the loss of former MEI Faculty Chair John P. White, who passed away at the age of 80. A former U.S. Deputy Secre- tary of Defense, Harvard Kennedy School Professor, and member of the Belfer Center’s Board of Directors, White was remembered most poignantly as a “dear friend and close colleague,” by Belfer Center Director Ash Carter and all who knew and worked with him.

During the 2017-2018 academic year, MEI hosted six research fellows supported by the Emirates Leadership Initiative. The fellows – including two doctoral candidates and four postdoctoral researchers – conducted independent research projects, presented their ongoing work to the
public, participated in several MENA-focused seminars and workshops, and contributed to the broader Harvard community through other events, activities and collaborations. We sat down with pre-doctoral research fellow Allison Spencer Hartnett to discuss her research on autocracy, colonialism, and land reform in the Middle East, her time at MEI, and her research agenda moving forward. Follow her on Twitter @as_hartnett.

We spoke with two Emirates Leadership Initiative Student Degree Fellows, Mariam Balfaqeh and Tarek Zeidan, about their time as a fellow at Harvard, and their plans after graduation. The Emirates Leadership Initiative Student Degree Fellowship was established by the United Arab Emirates to support students from the UAE and other Arab countries who have demonstrated interest in developing leadership and public management skills.

MEI has supported the annual Winter Field Study Course, o ered jointly by HKS and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and led by Professor Claude Bruderlein and his team at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative’s Advanced Training Program in Humanitarian Action (HHI-ATHA), since 2014, bringing 77 students to the region to grapple with some of the toughest public policy challenges faced by the region and the international humanitarian community from an on-the- ground perspective.

The 2016-2017 issue of the Middle East Initiative Mosaic newsletter highlights MEI programs and activities during the academic year. This year's issue features the diverse and exciting work of students, fellows, faculty, and staff on public policy issues in the Middle East, including a focus on the growing scholarly community at MEI and in-depth stories on our faculty research program, alumni connections, students' experiences from Cambridge to the Middle East, and much more!