Ноа Бакли о совместном воркшопе в ОАЭ
30 октября – 1 ноября в Объединенных Арабских Эмиратах пройдет научный воркшоп «Political Economy of Development: Challenges and Perspectives», организованный совместно МЦИИР, Университетом Объединенных Арабских Эмиратов и Нью-Йоркском Университетом в Абу-Даби. Со стороны NYU-Abu Dhabi организатором выступает научный сотрудник МЦИИР Ноа Бакли, который сейчас работает там на позиции пост-дока. В преддверии мероприятия мы поговорили с Ноа об особенностях проведения воркшопа и узнали, что интересного ожидает участников в этом году.
- Noah, the ICSID workshop is held in a new place every fall. So far the geography of the workshop has covered China, the USA, and Germany. How did you come up with the idea to organize the workshop in the United Arab Emirates?
- I think the idea to have our fall workshop in the UAE came from Andrei Yakovlev. He was interested in improving ICSID’s international ties and expanding our network of associated scholars and institutions. Since I’m in the UAE, this was a good opportunity.
- What were your responsibilities in the organization of the workshop? Did you face any difficulties?
- Organizing the details of the workshop was a group effort including our colleagues Katya Borisova and Olga Masyutina in Moscow, lots of hard work by Professor Tatiana Karabchuk at UAE University, and me at NYU Abu Dhabi. For my part, I was easily able to get support from the NYU Abu Dhabi administration: the university is very keen on cooperation with other UAE institutions and with new partners abroad. The whole process was quite smooth, with the only tricky part being organizing travel from many far-away places to the UAE.
- Are there any particular aspects of holding the workshop in the UAE: maybe there are difficulties with transportation, accommodation or anything else?
- The UAE is a very well-organized and straightforward place, for the most part. Between Professor Karabchuk’s hard work and the assistance of great administrative staff here at NYU Abu Dhabi, things like transportation and accommodation were easy to set up. Of course we had to take some scheduling details into account: September and early October are still far too hot to be outside much, so we had to make sure the workshop was later in the fall. Also, Fridays and Saturdays are the weekend days off here, so we had to schedule the workshop accordingly.
- How did you select papers for the workshop? What was the quality of the submissions?
- A selection committee consisting of ICSID scholars, UAE University scholars, and me at NYU Abu Dhabi chose from a very high-quality pool of submissions to the workshop. I was especially happy to see a great amount of diversity in the type and topic of work that was submitted and the origins of those submitting their work. People from universities all over the world including Africa and East Asia were eager to contribute. We selected work that was of the highest quality and that fit the themes we established for the workshop; unfortunately, we were unable to accept all of the work we wish we could have!
- Can the participants expect anything special from the workshop this year?
- I think those attending the workshop this year will have a great experience. The weather will be sunny and warm and we will have some time to explore the beautiful oasis city of Al Ain. We will also have good local and international food, explore Abu Dhabi including the new Louvre Abu Dhabi, and we will certainly have rewarding and fun intellectual exchange.