The Inaugural Saïd Rhodes Forum on Syria, Jordan, Lebanon & Palestine (SJLP) celebrates the historic partnership between the Saïd Foundation and the Rhodes Trust. Through an intergenerational and interdisciplinary approach, the conference will be discussing three indispensable themes: economic development, health, culture and education.
This conference comes at a time of a dialectic struggle in the region. We aim to bring together the brightest of minds, in a unique dialogue, to discuss and navigate the biggest questions facing the region. The conferece was hel os Feb 22-23 2020 in Oxford England.
Professor Dajani spoke on a panel on Transforming Health: Crisis and Beyond
Dajani discussed possibilities and mechanisms for building research capacity in the SJLP region. In addition Dajani discussed the ethical and regulatory challenges drawing on her experience in molecular and genetic research and in establishing stem cell research ethics.
Dr Dajani also sent a message to the young scholars that eventually they should return to their home country to establish good practices building capacity and mentoring those at home.
But before going home Dajani instructed the scholars to reach out and meet people and network create collaborations and connections. As well as learning as much as possible from various disciplines so that they may go back richer to help build their countries.
As President of the society for Science and Technology in the arab world. Dr Dajani offered the network as a platform for scientists all over the world to collaborate and work together to improve health and science and education not only in the region but all over the world.
Dr Dajani also shared that although the path is not easy nothing is impossible so long as there is a will there is a way citing multiple examples from people who have gone back and succedded in creating change.
The underlying theme is that to instigate change one needs to focus on education.
Dr Dajani gave an expert case talk on the We Love Reading Programm an exemplar of a home grown Programm that creates changemakers by changing mindsets through reading.
The Programm has three outputs
1. It fosters the love of reading among children so they can reap the benefits of reading
2. it empowers adults and youth mostly women to become changemakers
3. it creates a community with the mindset of I can
The program is built on scientific research and rigorously evaluated by researchers at leading institutions of higher education, including Brown University, Harvard University, Yale University, New York University, and the University of Chicago. We partner extensively with universities and academic researchers to test our model, share our findings, and fine-tune our approach. It is globally celebrated for its leadership and innovation in children’s programming, refugee education, literacy, mental health, empowerment of women and girls, and social entrepreneurship.