American University in Cairo, Egypt
Survey Experiments in Political Science Lecture – May 2021
During the virtual lecture on “Survey Experiments in Political Science,” Dr. Dawn Brancati introduced AUC students to survey experiments in political science by discussing various examples of survey experiments in different international settings. Twenty-two undergraduate and graduate students from the Political Science Department and the Migration and Refugee Studies Program at AUC attended the lecture. This lecture is part of the Social Science Research Experiments and Student Workshop series,” an APSA-AUC departmental collaboration that aims to analyze the effect of uncertainty on self-censorship experimentally. The workshops will convene in 2022; Dawn Bancati and Nadine Sika will conduct lab experiments at AUC which will be followed by a workshop for undergraduate and graduate students where researchers will discuss the essence of experimental research in political science through presenting their findings and analysis of this project.
Graduate Thesis Writing Workshop – March 2020
The workshop was led by Dawn Brancati and attended by 13 MA students from AUC, Cairo University, Alexandria University, and Future University in Egypt. The aim of the workshop was to improve MA students’ writing skills, with a focus on their MA research proposals and theses. The two-day workshop included sessions on developing research questions, theoretical framework, literature review, and research methods and design, as well as sessions where participants received feedback on their research projects.
New Approaches to Teaching Political Science – September 2019
The workshop was led by Professor Simon Usherwood (University of Surrey, UK) with a goal of discussing a wide range of active learning approaches, including their purpose, design, implementation and incorporation into wider curricula. Ten faculty members from various Egyptian universities attended the two-day workshop, which included sessions on incorporating active learning in the classroom by designing games and simulations to engage students.
Research Methodology workshop for MA students – May 2019
This event was funded as part of a renewed collaboration between APSA and the Political Science Department at AUC for 2019-2020 to organize research methods trainings for students and teaching workshops for faculty members. Nadine Sika of AUC organized a workshop on research methodology for graduate students from AUC and Cairo University. The two-day program (see Agenda) was attended by 13 students and featured lectures by Dawn Brancati (Columbia University), and group discussions led by Mostafa Hefny (AUC), Amr Adly, Nadine Sika (AUC) and Andrew Delatolla (AUC). The workshop sessions discussed a range of quantitative and qualitative approaches and their relevance to the students’ projects.
“Dissertation Writing” workshop for MA students – September 2018
APSA supported a partnership between May Darwich (Durham University) and Nadine Sika (AUC) to organize a 2-day workshop on Dissertation Writing for MA students from Egyptian universities. Eleven students attended seminars and small group discussions on how to develop their research proposals and theses, touching on areas such as research question, literature review, theoretical argument, research design, and methods (see Agenda.pdf). The sessions also included strategies for writing the abstract, introduction, and conclusion. Presentations and small group sessions were led by Patrick Kuhn (Durham University) and Sossie Kasbarian (University of Stirling).
“Research Methodology” workshop for MA students – April 2018
APSA supported Nadine Sika (AUC) in organizing a workshop on research methodology for graduate students from AUC and Cairo University. The three-day program (see Agenda.pdf) was attended by 17 students and featured lectures by Dawn Brancati (Columbia University), Mazen Hassan (FEPS, Cairo University), Tamer Elguindi (AUC), and Maroc Pinfari (AUC). Workshop sessions discussed a range of quantitative and qualitative methods and how they could be utilized by students in their own projects.
Thesis Proposal Writing Workshop for MA students – April 2017
APSA supported a three-day workshop for MA students from AUC and Cairo University, organized by Shimaa Hatab (Cairo University), Sandrine Gamblin (AUC), Nadine Sika (AUC). The program featured lectures by Dawn Brancati (Columbia University) and Andrew Benett (Georgetown), and was intended to help participants narrow their MA thesis topics, better understand the use of different methodologies, and crisp their research questions and design. Twenty students attended the three-day workshop.