From March 25 to April 24, 2024, the Institute for International and Area Studies at Tsinghua University invited Professor Roxane Farmanfarmaian, Director of International Politics and Global Studies at the Institute of Continuing Education, University of Cambridge to conduct a series of eight lectures on "International Relations of the Modern Middle East." The topics of the lectures were: "Historical Overview and Geopolitical Framework," "World Wars and the Colonial Period," "Resources, Economics, and Oil," "State Building: Nationalism and Political Islam, Focus on the Arab-Israel Dispute," "The End of the Cold War and the New World Order: Revolutions, Gulf War, and Terrorism," "The Arab Uprising and Resilient Authoritarianism," "MENA, the United States and China," and "Civil Wars, the Shia Crescent and the return of Multilateralism, Discussion focus on Iran and the Nuclear issue." The series was hosted by Yang Guang, the Ph.D. candidate at the Institute for International and Area Studies at Tsinghua University. More than a hundred scholars and students from domestic and international universities attended the lectures.

Professor Farmanfarmaian began with a historical overview and geopolitical framework of the modern Middle East and North Africa, discussing the formation and current status of the region's geopolitical and economic landscape. The second lecture explained the impact of the two World Wars and imperialism on the Middle East, which gave rise to numerous ideologies and movements. The third lecture addressed climate and environmental changes in the Middle East and North Africa, analyzing the economic development challenges in the region. In the fourth lecture, the professor introduced the evolution of the modern political landscape in the Middle East and North Africa, examined the causes of nationalism, and delved into the Arab-Israeli conflict. The fifth lecture discussed various wars in the Middle East after the Cold War and analyzed the shifting power dynamics in the region. The sixth lecture focused on the causes of the Arab Spring and resilient authoritarianism. In the seventh lecture, Professor Farmanfarmaian explored the close relationships between China, the U.S., and the Middle East, and the influence of these two countries in the region. The eighth lecture analyzed the distribution of Shia power in the Middle East and the interests involved in the Iran nuclear issue.

During the Q&A sessions, Professor Farmanfarmaian engaged in lively discussions with the audience on topics such as tribal influence, the development and changes of ideologies in the Middle East, and the role of monarchies.

Roxane Farmanfarmaian is the Director of International Politics and Global Studies at the Institute of Continuing Education, University of Cambridge, a founding member of the Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS), a senior research fellow at King's College London, and a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations. She has also served as editor of the Cambridge Review of International Relations. Her professional research areas include Middle Eastern diplomacy, security issues, and media, including political discourse and identity theory, Iran-U.S. relations and Iran's regional relations, energy security, and oil politics. She authored Blood and Oil: Inside the Shah's Iran and has published articles in The Journal of North African Studies and Middle East Critique. She also edited Media and Politics in the Southern Mediterranean (Routledge, 2021) and War and Peace in Qajar Persia (I.B. Tauris, 2008).