Papers Presented at International Conferences
(since 2005)

  • “The Political Challenge of Food Security in Saudi Arabia - Competing Ideologies of Sovereignty, Dependency and Sustainability”, presented at the Chatham House Roundtable ‘Global Food Insecurity and Implications for Saudi Arabia’, April 29, 2013, Chatham House, London, UK.
  • “Tourism Development in the GCC: A Special Focus on MICE”, Keynote Lecture at the MICE Arabia Congress, 27th – 28th of February, 2013, Doha, Qatar
  • “Hidden Treasures: The Potential of Geotourism in Saudi Arabia”, presented at the 2012 Exeter Gulf Studies Conference - An interdisciplinary conference on the Gulf region (Arabia, Iran, Iraq), past and present, University of Exeter, 16–20 July 2012, UK
  • “Employment Opportunities and Nationalization Policies in the Tourism Sector of the Gulf Economies”, to be presented at the Gulf Research Meeting 2012, Cambridge University, July 11 - 14, 2011, UK
  • ‘Sustainability, Voluntary Agreements, Regulatory Policies and International Trade: Hurdles or Opportunities for Saudi Arabia?’, presented at the First Scientific Conference of Faculty of Economics and Administration, King Abdulaziz University,7-9 May, 2012, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
  • “Neglected Opportunities in Public Diplomacy in a Changing World: Perception, Positioning and Promotion of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” (co-authored with Prof. Dr. Gawdat Bahgat, Near East Center for Strategic Studies), presented at the National Defense University, Washington DC, USA and at the First Scientific Conference of Faculty of Economics and Administration, King Abdulaziz University,7-9 May, 2012, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
  • “Higher Education and Labor Market Needs in Saudi Arabia: Bridging the Gap”, presented at the Gulf Research Meeting 2011, Cambridge University, July 7 - 10, 2011, UK
  • “Demographic Transitions and Imbalances in the GCC: Security Risks, Constraints and Policy Challenges” presented at the Gulf Research Meeting 2010, Cambridge University, July 7 - 10, 2010, UK 
  • “Developing an Agenda for a Paradigm Shift in Security Studies in the Gulf” presented at the 2010 Exeter Gulf Studies Conference: The 21st Century Gulf – The Challenge of Identity, 30 June-3 July 2010, Institute of Arab & Islamic Studies, Exeter University, UK
  • “Water Security and Climate Change in the GCC“ presented at “Climate Adaptation in the Middle East and North Africa: Challenges and Opportunities”, May 3-4, 2010, Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA
  • “Environmental Degradation, Climate Uncertainties and Human Vulnerabilities: Realm of Possible Actions toward a Shifting Security Paradigm in the Arab Gulf Monarchies” presented at the Climate Change, Social Stress and Violent Conflict State of the Art and Research Needs”, KlimaCampus at Hamburg University, November 19-20, 2009, Hamburg, Germany
  • "A Multi-disciplinary Approach to Vulnerability Assessment and Water Governance in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Member States" presented at "New Thinking on Water Governance" Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 1- 3 July, 2009
  • "Objectives of NDRD and Possibilities of Research Collaboration in the Gulf (MENA) Region" (Original Title in German: “Zielstellungen des NDRD und Möglichkeiten für eine Kooperation in den Golf- und MENA-Staaten“) presented at the Hydronet MV conference: Cross-border collaboration in the field of water technology between Germany and countries from the Middle East and North Africa, Stiftung Alfried Krupp Kolleg Greifswald, University of Greifswald, 12- 13 May 2009
  • “Developing Adaptive Capacity for Responding to Climate Change in Saudi Arabia: Uncertainties and Constraints to Linking Water Policies, Sustainable Development and Human Security“, presented at the 3rd International Conference on Water Resources and Arid Environments 2008 and the First Arab Water Forum, from 16 to 19 November 2008 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
  • “Rangeland Degradation in Saudi Arabia – Is there any successful approach towards solving this problem?”, (co-authored by Prof. Dr. Hans-Jörg Barth, University of Heidelberg), presented at the 3rd International Conference on Water Resources and Arid Environments 2008 and the First Arab Water Forum, from 16 to 19 November 2008 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
  • "Future Implications of the Climate-Security Nexus: Declining Ecosystem Services as a Driver of Social Destabilization and Threat to Human Security in Selected Arab Gulf States" presented at the Ninth International Conference on Development of Drylands – Sustainable Development in Drylands: Meeting the Challenge of Global Climate Change, 7-10 November 2008, Alexandria, Egypt
  • "The Responsibility to Protect – The Emerging Challenge of Iraq and Afghanistan", Norwegian Association for Development Research (NFU) Annual Conference: Making Institutions Work for the Poor? Bergen, Norway, November 5-7, 2007
  • "Developing Adaptive Capacity for Responding to Desertification and Climate Change in the GCC: Uncertainties and Constraints to Linking Ecosystem Conservation, Sustainable Development and Society in Authoritarian Rentier Economies", presented at the "Climate Change and Desertification - Monitoring, Modeling and Forecasting - Wengen Workshop on Global Change Research - Edition 2007", Wengen, Switzerland, September 10-13, 2007
  • "Environmental Ethics, Development and Ecosystem Services Management in the GCC - Perspectives on Long-term Biodiversity Protection by Using an Integrated Approach of Political and Ecological Processes in Saudi Arabia and the UAE", presented at the International Conference on Desertification Control in the Arid Region, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR), Kuwait, May 12-14, 2007
  • "Ecosystem Management and the State of Biodiversity of the Arabian Peninsula - Synthesis and Constraints of Long-term Protection by Using an Integrated Model of Political and Ecological Processes in Yemen and Saudi Arabia", presented at the Third Saudi Science Conference: New Horizons in Science and their Applications, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, March, 10-13, 2007
  • "Climate Change and Human Security in the GCC: Implications for Vulnerability, Adaptation and Sustainable Development of the Affected Populace to Hydrological Changes in Saudi Arabia", presented at International Symposium on Drylands Ecology and Human Security (ISDEHS 2006) - "Regional Perspectives, Policy Responses and Sustainable Development in the Arab Region - Challenges and Opportunities", December, 4-7, 2006, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
  • "Water Policies in the Member States of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC): Perspectives on Effectiveness and Political Responses in Light of the Human Dimensions Discourse from Kuwait and Bahrain"; presented at Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change - Resource Policies: Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Equity’", Berlin, Germany, November 17-18, 2006
  • "Traditional Knowledge, Policy Implications and Global Modernity in Marginal Drylands - An Analysis of Pastoralist Systems in Chad and Ethiopia", presented at the "Tropentag 2006 - International Research on Food Security, Natural Resource Management and Rural Development: Prosperity and Poverty in a Globalized World – Challenges for Agricultural Research", in Bonn, Germany, October 11 - 13, 2006
  • "Civil Society and Democratic Values in the GCC: A Synthesis of Political Culture, Socioeconomic Development and International Policy with the Challenge of Promoting Democracy" presented at the NFU Conference 2006 on "Ethics, Human Rights and Development", Oslo, Norway, September 13-15, 2006
  • "Ecology, Culture, and Natures' Distressed Equilibrium - Desertification in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) States of the Arabian Peninsula" presented at the 18th World Congress of Soil Science, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, July 9-15, 2006
  • "The Interplay between Local Socioeconomic and Biophysical Processes Affecting Desertification in Nigeria with Rent Dissipation as well as Irresponsible Foreign Aid Policy" (poster) presented at The Future of Drylands: International Scientific Conference on Desertification and Drylands Research, 19-21 June 2006, Tunis, Tunisia
  • “The Role of Overgrazing as an Anthropogenic Cause of Desertification in the GCC Countries: a Comparative Study of the Situation in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia”,  presented at the International Conference on Human Impacts on Soil Quality Attributes In Arid and Semi – Arid Regions, Isfahan University of Technology, Sept. 12-16, 2005, Isfahan, Iran
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Conferences without Presentations

  • “Actions for Climate-Induced Migration”, University of Hamburg, 16 - 18 July 2013, Hamburg, Germany
  • „Roads to Saudi Arabia - Heritage Management as challenge for the society: Research, protection, presentation”, 12-13, March 2012, Berlin, Germany
  • 18th International DAVO Congress (DAVO-Kongress zur gegenwartsbezogenen Forschung im Vorderen Orient) Freie Universität Berlin, 6–8 October 2011, Berlin, Germany
  • “Natural Hazards and Disaster Risks in the Middle East Region” (symposium is a part of the ICSU project “Extreme Natural Events and Societal Implications”) at the conference “GeoInformation for Disaster Management”, 3-8 May 2011, Antalya, Turkey.
  • The Economic Transformation of the Gulf 2011 - Kuwait Program on Development, Governance and Globalization in the Gulf States, Biennial Conference, 29-30 March 2011, Kuwait, organized by the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences and the London School of Economics
  • RED SEA V - Navigated Spaces, Connected Places The fifth international conference on the peoples of the Red Sea region, 16 - 19 September 2010, University of Exeter, UK,
    The MARES Project, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies (IAIS)
  • The Great Transformation - Climate Change as Cultural Change, 8 - 10 June 2009, Essen, Germany
    organized by the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities in Essen (KWI), Stiftung Mercator
    in cooperation with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy
  • Eschborn Dialogue 2006 [Eschborner Fachtage 2006], Eschborn, Germany
    Knowledge Powers Development  Sharing experience, shaping the future Workshops: “First-hand knowledge — mobilizing local knowledge for global development” and “If we knew what we know — science, cooperation and knowledge networks for practice”
  • DesertNet Scientific Conference and Plenary Meeting
    Gustav-Stresemann-Institut, 2-4 December 2004, Bonn, Germany

 

© 2013    Andy Spiess