Mediterranean Identity | Articles by the participants

Last October, UNIMED – Mediterranean Universities Union, in collaboration with Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, has organised a one-week summer school on “Mediterranean Identity: talks around a common destiny”.

The purpose of the Summer School was to create a network where experts from different sectors, such as sociology, science, art, journalism or culture, could discuss the sustainable development of the Mediterranean Region, through the lens of our common background and in particular our common traditions related to food (production, consumption, experiences…), in order to offer a positive paradigm to the Euro-Mediterranean relations.

The 15 students who took part in the summer school have each written articles on Mediterranean Identity. They are available on their personal profile on Unimed's website :

Marwan Zaher

Marwan Zaher is a Università Degli Studi di Padova graduate. His wrote his thesis on "The role of small enterprises in the national economies in Europe" in which he compares the roles of small enterprises in France, Italy and Serbia.

Caroline Walz

Caroline Walz studies sociology at the University of Barcelona. She is interested in the issue of sustainability in the current society and the way humans structure their lives. est étudiante en sociologie à l'Université de Barcelone. After a few years dedicated to exploring the world, she moved to Innsbruck, Austria, to study non lucrative, social and care management at the Management Center.  

Zinonas Sokratous

Zinonas Sokratous is an archeology graduate from the University of Cyprus, he specializes in marine archeology.  He is in the process of writing a thesis entitled "Excavating the History of the Cypriot Archaeology".

Vittoria Riccardi

Vittoria Riccardi is enrolled in the double Master Degree “crossing the Mediterranean towards investment and integration” (MIM), jointly offered by Università Ca Foscari of Venice and Université Paul Valery of Montpellier. She is interested in the implementation of sustainable development projects in the social and cultural area in the Mediterranean basin with a focus on grassroots movements.

Nisreen Rezek

Nisreen Rezek is a TV Program Director at Palestine TV. As she is passionate about learning and knowing about other cultures and people, she decided to join a master program in intercultural communication.

Roberta Persichino

Roberta Persichino is a student in Media, Digital Communication and Journalism at the University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Italy. She holds a degree in Letters and Philosophy. She is passionate about photography and manages to include this interest in her professional experience such as organization of events and their promotion through social media.

María Marhuenda Muñoz

María Marhuenda Muñoz is a PhD student, analyzing the effects of dietary polyphenols and carotenoids (antioxidants from the Mediterranean diet) in human metabolism. She also holds a master in Nutrition and Metabolism because many studies are starting to point out its ability to modulate our metabolism for the better but also for the worse.

Amine Mqarta

Amine Mqarta graduated from the University Mohamed V in Rabat, Morocco, where he specialized in biology, biodiversity and the environment. He dedicated himself to field work, studying medicinal plants in a forest near Rabat.

Dima El Kaissi

Dima El Kaissi specialized in Environmental Engineering and expanded her studies and expertise in order to save the environment and combat the damage irresponsible agriculture practices is causing. She is currently a Masters 2 student at the Lebanese University, specializing in Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering. 

Ricard Grebol

Ricard Grebol graduated in Physics and Chemistry from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). He took a research position in the ALBA CELLS Synchrotron as an external collaborator from a leading company in the Surface Science sector, IBSS group, for two years. His joint-degree thesis was entitled “ALD of TiO2 on (rPe-CVD) grown graphene for supercapacitors”.  He is currently in his second year of MSc in Economics at the University of Barcelona 

Aude Fanget

Aude Fanget is currently in an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master degree at Catania University, Italy. She studies heritage with a focus on the Euro-Mediterranean region.

Imène Diaf

Imène Diaf graduated in Master 2 in Territory Planning and Geography in 2013 at the Mentouri Constantine University 1, Algeria. She then started a doctoral research under the direction of Bouzid Touati, Lecturer and Pierre Pech, Professor at the University Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne. Her research work focuses on the compatibility between tourism development and the safeguarding of protected areas.

Fatma Dammak

Fatma Dammak holds a diploma in Landscape Engineering from the Higher Agronomic Institute of Chott-meriem, Tunisia. Her final project, entitled “Sustainable Development and Landscape: Study of the development of an eco-village”, dealt with the topic of local and sustainable development in rural areas. Currently, she is in Master’s research in the management of natural ecosystems and the valorization of their resources.

Nesrine Chemli

Nesrine Chemli is a PhD student enrolled in first year in Architecture and Environment, Department of Architecture Design and Urban Planning (DADU) at the University of Sassari, Alghero. She is also a researcher and focuses on the cultures and territories of the Mediterranean, the risk of social and physical desertification, deterritorialization, the process of sustainable urbanization in Sardinia and Tunisia.

Hanan Audeh

Hanan Audeh is an MA student in Intercultural Communication and Literature at The Arab American University in Ramallah, Palestine. She is an English language teacher and the head of the English Language Department at The Arab Evangelical Episcopal School in Ramallah.