The Arab world was shaken in 2011 by a series of popular movements, collectively known as the 'Arab spring(s)', that have challenged long established authoritarian regimes. What will be the medium and long term impacts of these uprisings? Who is driving (and contesting) change, and what kind of change is being sought? This study addresses these issues in the context of the contested transitions in Tunisia and Egypt. It is based on the following premise: for these uprisings to deliver on their potential will require transformative change that emphasises local agency and resources, the prioritization of process rather than pre-conceived outcomes, and the challenging of unequal power relationships and structures of exclusion. Such change is here named transformative justice. The overarching research question is: How is transformative change defined and delivered in the context of political transition (in Tunisia and Egypt), and which actors, institutions and structures drive and contest such change? The study's aim is to analyse the agendas of those driving and contesting change using an actor-oriented perspective. Field research about 'drivers of change' - agents, formal and informal institutions, structures - and the four key areas of contestation (elections, constitutions, transitional justice, economic policy), will provide insights to local understandings of transformation and agendas for change. Actors interviewed will be as follows: the old political guard, military and police, economic and judicial elites, Islamic groups, youth, women, human rights organisations, trade and labour unions, and the urban and rural poor. A large interview data set (over 700 interviews) will be complemented by focus groups and basic quantitative analysis. The research will look at changing attitudes over time (conducting two sets of interviews, one year apart) and document a range of voices and perspectives (urban/rural, supporters/opponents of the revolutions). The research will reach diverse audiences and maximise impact by using appropriate languages (Arabic, French, English) and media e.g. a project website; workshops and conferences; official, social and citizen media; public events; policy briefings, a tool kit and academic outputs; etc. In addition to conventional academic outputs such as peer reviewed articles and books, the research project will deliver three policy briefings -'Defining and Operationalising Transformative Justice'; 'Securing Transformation through Transitional Justice'; and 'Expanding the Scope of Transitional Justice' - and a transformative justice toolkit, outlining concrete strategies and entry-points for policy makers and practitioners. As such, the research will benefit policy-makers and practitioners (donors, inter-governmental agencies, policy think tanks, NGOs and civil society groups, etc.), as well as academics. Research of this kind speaks to several ESRC strategic priorities, notably security, conflict and justice ('competing ideas of justice', 'changing patterns of conflicts'), and social diversity and population dynamics ('how diverse communities can minimise violent conflict while sustaining rights for all'). The research will represent a partnership between a White Rose (Universities of Leeds, Sheffield, York) and Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) research collaboration on transformative justice on the one hand, and the American University in Cairo (AUC) on the other. The research is multidisciplinary in range and methods and includes specialists in fields such as transitional justice, human rights, democratisation, development and political economy. Members of the Advisory Board have shaped the proposal and will engage with all parts of the research process. Local members of the Board will be particularly important in securing access to interviewees, advising on security, and framing dissemination and outreach strategies.

"The aim of the project ""Can Do Refugees 2.0."" was to professionalize and to empower people working with refugees on a professional and voluntary basis. Therefore the project combined the experience of practitioners in NGO (VIA Bayern (Germany), Progestión (Spain), Euro Circle (France)) and the knowledge of universities (University of Thessaly (Greece), American University of Cairo (Egypt)). This consortium also reflected the route of refugees coming to Europe, often coming from Arabic speaking countries, using Egypt as a transit country and then coming through the Balkan route (Greece) or the Mediterranean route (Spain) to the destination countries France and Germany. The project presents itself on a website and it's actual milestones on face book as well as on a blog. Core element of the projects were the trainings (LTTAs in Spain and France) in which the target group, people working with refugees were professionalized and empowered. In these trainings innovative methods were used like inter-cultural learning with improvisational theater, democracy learning, trauma based pedagogy, approaches which combine Islam and feminism, methods in overcoming isamophobia, antisemitism, etc. Participatory and process-oriented elements were included in all sessions. The LTTAs were accompanied by a blog for the participants. To ensure a realistic view on the needs of refugees and to be able to spread this realist view a film about these need was produced with meetings with refugees in Spain, France an Greece (IO 1). And to ensure that this view will not be superficial, this film was produced with the help of arts and inter-cultural improvisational theater. The methods and approaches of the LTTAs were collected and translated to be able to provide them to a broader audience in all partner countries (IO 2). Additionally a broshure was published wich presents the Culturatorium approach, combining improv theater with intercultural trainings. This approach was used in all LTTAs and film workshops and partners were asking for material to be able to transfer it to multipliers. To ensure a good cooperation between the partners three face to face TPMs were held (one in Spain, one in France and one in Greece) and one hybrid TPM in Spain and in Greece. Focus of the last half year was the dissemination of the project results in ME in each partner country."

Studies on teacher education have underlined the importance of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) that is school based as the proven preferred modality of enhancing teacher education. In the Egyptian context most studies have illustrated that both faculties of education and the Ministry of Education have for the longest of time adhered to very traditional methods of teacher training, which not only wasted resources but also did not lead to any learning or improvement of performance all of which has deterred educational reform at both the higher educational levels as well as school levels. Teacher performance being the key factor for learning has been selected as the most strategic entry point to reform. The aim of this project is to empower Egyptian Faculties of Education to develop modern, innovative and effective models of Continuing Professional Development CPD that is school based and allows for the development of Professional Development PD schools that are sustainable and that will eventually be brought to a larger scale in the Egyptian and regional context. From experiences with international cooperation in particular with the EU it has become apparent that when Egyptian systems are exposed to innovative thinking overtime there tends to be a gradual shift particularly of culture with partnerships that are strong in imparting both clear and tacit knowledge through exchange, dialogue, joint activities and exposure. Change as we well know is incremental and often is the result of transfer through mentors hip as well as conscious reflection. The most significant partnership for the success of this transformation is that between university and school whereby the former equips practitioners with the theory behind their practice.

Egypt’s population is growing rapidly, yet natural resources like water and land suitable for habitation and agriculture are limited while others like renewable energy sources are not yet readily accessible. Therefore, the “Sustainable Development Strategy: Egypt’s Vision 2030” was developed by the Egyptian Government to prepare for the social and economic consequences. It includes challenging goals and targets in areas like land reclamation, agriculture and food processing as well as research, technology development and higher education. These goals can only be met, if new holistic approaches are being pursued that embrace the latest technological developments and are both sustainable and interdisciplinary. Feedback from stakeholders of the quadruple helix of producers and industry, universities, policy makers and society, clearly demonstrates a need for specialists in “Sustainable Resources Management” who have a generalist background in uncertainty prediction and different fields of sciences, like ecology and environmental sciences as well as engineering, including civil, water, electric, electronic and agricultural engineering. They need to be able to plan, set up, maintain and optimise complex systems like aquaponics farms and automated ground water pump systems that are both PV driven and connected to the grid. Thus far, cross cutting study programs are plainly focused on agricultural graduates, while appropriate offers for engineers and environmental scientists are missing. This limits progress and restricts technological optimisation and long term environmental effect prediction. Therefore, this project will develop an interdisciplinary study program, offering MSc and advanced diplomas in Sustainable Resources Management. It will focus on crosscutting issues, employ the latest learning methodologies and address technical as well as social and skills, required to implement sustainable technical solution to the challenges in food production and processing.

Egyptian emigrants to the big cities or crossing the Mediterranean to Europe are most often young men belonging to rural rather than urban areas. Migrants and refugees move to Europe driven from their country of origin (“push factors”) and because they are drawn to Europe (“pull factors”). The challenge to be addressed in this project is reducing the number of people seeking to leave the countryside or their countries due to the lack of attractive prospects. In Egypt, agriculture and rural regions clearly remain a source of resilience for many families in the face of economic shocks. This project supports the Egyptian rural-community with the necessary qualified graduates and university expertise to improve agricultural productivity, enable more sustainable food production, develop the poor villages, enhance farmers’ income and their living conditions to prevent migration to cities or abroad. The project has five specific objectives that can be summarized as follows: 1. To identify the push factors for migration from rural communities and identify the needed qualifications to support rural development. 2. Modification and re-orientation of the existing post- and undergraduate curricula to supply the market with graduates who contribute in the implementation of the country’s sustainable development vision and ensure the sustainable rural development. 3. Establishing four DeVilage Service Offices at the four Egyptian universities to provide technical support for the farmers and public and private sectors. 4. To develop a capacity building programme to train and equip the professors in the Egyptian universities with the knowledge and tools to address the different dimensions of sustainable agriculture and rural development.5. To develop Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) as Open Education Resources (OER) for spreading the knowledge and raising the awareness of different stakeholders.