Exploring the imagination and representation of women in history and today is a fully-fledged ambition that this series of lectures would like to explore through MENA women’s work in art, literature, history, archaeology, medicine, and sciences, along with their representation and perception in the works of non-MENA academics.  
The series includes speakers from the MENA region, the Gulf, the West, as well as from other parts of the globe. The meeting point of these speakers is their research on the women of this region. Through their multi- and interdisciplinary distinctive, innovative, and creative approaches to their fields, they deconstruct the stereotypes of Muslim women and emphasize their diversity. This region, which comprises the Arab World and a large part of the Islamic World, is considered today as one of the hottest spots in world politics and economy, but as usual, women are the least visible participants, and yet the most affected by the consequences of political and economic crises. More positively, they are central to the waves of social change taking place in this region at a dizzying speed. 
The series, which is envisaged as a platform for debate among academics, students, and public actors with interest in the broader theme of Women and Gender in MENA, started at the University of Manchester on 1 December 2021 and ran through to the end of the academic year in May 2022 on the zoom platform and it is now to take another dimension with the partnership with the University of Sharjah.  
This is a joint venture between two universities, namely the Universities of Sharjah and Manchester. The organizers of this lecture series are Gender Studies researchers whose motto is the Empowerment of Muslim Women through Research. Their diverse specialisms in Core Sciences, Humanities and Medicine give this forum its Multi-disciplinary and Interdisciplinary aspects.