At the 2022 Global Conference for Diaspora Networks in Science, IIE-SRF team members and alumni presented on the Iraqi Distance Learning Initiative (DLI). The DLI is an IIE-SRF program that fills curricular and expertise gaps at Iraq’s universities or other institutions of higher education and exposes Iraqi participants to subjects not covered in existing courses.
The session featured IIE-SRF Special Advisor Celine Taminian; alumnus Dr. Salam Bash Al-Maliki of the Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research-IIE Coordination Committee; and alumnus Dr. Adil Al-Handal, based at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. The panelists shared their experiences with the DLI to showcase a concrete model for mitigating brain drain and utilizing the expertise and commitment of academics living in the diaspora to improve their home countries. They also explored whether the DLI may be a model that could be utilized in other post-conflict settings and beyond.
