In collaboration with the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies Unit at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, the center organized, for three days (11-13 October 2025), a conference entitled “Eastern Coast of the Gulf and Its Inhabitants: Their Lives and Migrations from Historical and Social Sciences prospectives”. Papers presented at the conference varied between history, anthropology, and sociology. These were divided into 8 themes: the Modern Historical Formation of the Eastern Coast of the Gulf, Iranian Arab Citizens on the Eastern Coast of the Gulf…History, Identity and Culture, Arab Families and Sheikhdoms on Eastern Coast of the Gulf and Their Political Roles, the Popular, literature ad cultural legacy of the Eastern Coast of the Gulf, the Demographic Structure of the Eastern Coast of the Gulf, the Eastern Coast of the Gulf in the Iranian Imagination, Nets of Travel and Migration between the Banks of the Gulf, the Eastern Coast in the European Cognition. The contributed papers focused on the geography, demography, and history of the Eastern Coast of the Gulf to realize the interaction, influence, and impact between the Eastern and Western Coasts of the Gulf.
In the opening speech of the conference, the supervisor of the center conveyed Professor Hassan Bin Mohammed Al-Thani compliments to the attendees, hoping that the conference will be a window to exchange experiences and knowledge and an occasion to strengthen ties among researchers. He also indicated the importance of understanding the reality of the Eastern Coast, its communities, and history in order to gain a deeper and more comprehensive vision about the history, migrations, and urban centers of the Gulf. He pointed out that the studies of the Gulf witnessed a significant improvement in the last decades due to the strategic importance of the region, whether as a source of energy or in terms of its role in the region’s balances.
It is difficult to fully understand the history of of the Gulf without considering the vital interaction between its eastern and western coasts. This is what gives the conference its significance, as it presents a vision that highlights the overlap of history and geography, as well as diversity of identities and cultures on its banks, in order to understand the history of the Gulf as a shared space.
