Public activities
On this page, we share the activities our team members are doing in Europe, West Asia, and North Africa to cultivate cultural understanding. It includes lectures, discussions, interviews and other public appearances. Should you want more information on any of the events, please don’t hesitate to contact us at info@ewanacenter.org
Conference Participation | Swedish Dialogue Institute for the Middle East and North Africa, November 2025
Represented by Deputy Director Waleed Al-Aghbari, the EWANA Center participated in the fourth Annual Interactive Conference organized by the Swedish Dialogue Institute, themed “Shaping Shared Futures: Inclusive Peace and Sustainable Development between Europe and the MENA region.” The conference brought together a diverse group of policymakers, academics, and civil society actors and provided a highly interactive space for meaningful regional exchange.
Presentation | El-Hiwar Summer School on Euro-Arab Relations, September 2025
Director Desirée Custers and Deputy Director Waleed Al-Aghbari were invited to speak at the fifth edition of the El-Hiwar Summer School in Bruges, Belgium. As alumni of the program, they reflected on the origins of the EWANA Center and demonstrated how initiatives such as the CAL Encyclopedia embody the program’s core mission of people-to-people dialogue and bridge-building.
Interview | "Al-Istishraq al-Hulandi" (Dutch Orientalism), Fi al-Istishraq, Mujtama, January 2025
Desiree Custers, director of the EWANA Center, was a guest in في الإستشراق (On Orientalism), where she spoke to Yassin Adnan about the different dimensions of Dutch Orientalism, starting in the 16th century and ending with the current day.
Among others, she describes the development of Oriental studies, including the strong philological tradition at Dutch universities, as well as the development of relations between the Netherlands and the ´Orient´ over the centuries.
The episode aired on the Mujtama platform.
Presentation | El-Hiwar Summer School on Euro-Arab Relations, September 2024
On September 3, 2024, the EWANA Center´s deputy executive director Walid al-Aghbari and director Desiree Custers presented the EWANA Center for Cultural Understanding at the fourth El-Hiwar Summer School on Euro-Arab Relations at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium.
The El-Hiwar summer school was organized by the College of Europe in the framework of the EU-funded project El-Hiwar III, which aims to strengthen dialogue, cooperation and collaboration with key regional actors involved in Euro-Arab relations through a number of activities including institutional training courses, briefings, thematic workshops and dialogue sessions.
Walid and Desiree shared how the EWANA Center works on changing and improving relations between Europe and the Arab-majority world.
Panel Discussion | "Speculative fiction: Imagining a future through literature", May 2024
Together with the Netherlands Institute in Morocco (NIMAR) and the Embassy of the Netherlands in Morocco, the EWANA Center organized a panel discussion titled “Speculative fiction: Imagining a future through literature“.
The panel was part of Rabat’s 2024 Book Fair SIEL (Salon de l’Édition et du Livre) and brought together Mustafa Laghtiri, a writer from Morocco, and Max Urai, writer and teacher from the Netherlands. It was moderated by Desiree Custers and Yassin Adnan.
In the discussion, the panelists pondered on the significance of speculative fiction and its connection to the literary heritage of both nations. The dialogue explored the influence of folktales and other literary legacies on crafting speculative fiction, the unique aspects of writing within the genre, and the “translatability” of speculative fiction.
Interview | Hiwar fi al-Thaqafah (Dialogue on Culture), Athaqafia TV Morocco, March 2024
In an interview on the program “Hiwar fi al-Thaqafah” (Dialogue on Culture) on the Moroccan TV-channel Athaqafia TV, EWANA Center’s Executive Director Desiree Custers spoke about cultural exchange and understanding in the EWANA region, such as translation of literature from Arabic to Dutch, as well as about the goals of the EWANA Center.
Panel Discussion | "The European Union and the international system: strengths and weaknesses", October 2023
EWANA Center’s executive director and co-founder Desirée Custers emphasized the importance of cultural understanding and exchange between Europe, West Asia and North Africa in a session titled “The European Union and the international system: strengths and weaknesses” at the 44th International Cultural Moussem of Assilah in Morocco on October 15, 2023.
Lecture | "The Clash of Identities after September 11th, 2001", September 2023
The EWANA Center for Cultural Understanding, in cooperation with the Word of Life Forum, held an interactive session on the clash of identities after September 11th, 2001. The session, presented by EWANA Center’s board member Dr. Ali Bakht Al-Tamimi, covered a number of topics that focused on the rapprochement of cultures and mechanisms for building societal dialogue between the East and the West.
The lecture, entitled ¨The Clash of Identities after the September 11 Events¨, was held in the hall of the Kalima Al-Hayat Cultural and Educational Forum and was attended by interested people and civil society activists who enriched the lecture with their participation and interventions.