UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Two lectures in early November continue an inaugural Talk Series hosted by the Children, Media and Conflict Zones Lab at Penn State.

The founding director of the lab, Yael Warshel, an assistant professor of telecommunications and media industries in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications and a Rock Ethics Institute research associate, said upcoming talks are situated at the intersection between young people, media and conflict zones, and/or attempt to foster path-breaking synergies between those areas.

Upcoming talks are:

• Nov. 5: 12:30-2 p.m. “Going Back, Coming Home? Future and Return Perspectives Among Sahrawi Youth Abroad” by Rita Reis, a doctoral candidate in social anthropology at the University of Lisbon, Portugal.
• Nov 8: 1:30-2:30 p.m. "Afghan Children: Four Decades of War" by Weeda Mehran, co-director, Center for Advanced International Studies and lecturer/assistant professor, Department of Politics, University of Exeter.

In addition, on Feb. 11, 2022, Dmitry Chernobrov, lecturer/assistant professor in media and international politics at the University of Sheffield and co-director of the Digital Security Network, will present “Diaspora Youth as Cyberwarriors When Their Homeland is at War."

All of the lectures will be presented on Zoom. Further information may be found on the lab’s events page.

The Children, Media and Conflict Zones Lab Talk Series was inaugurated on April 14 by Warshel with An Author Meets Critic Book Launch for her latest book, “Experiencing the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Children, Peace Communication and Socialization, published by Cambridge University Press.

The Children, Media and Conflict Zones Lab, officially founded by Warshel in 2019, implements the Rock Ethics Institute’s Children, Youth and Media in International and Global Conflict Zones initiative.

The Initiative is convened by Warshel and co-convened by fellow Penn State faculty member Idan Shalev, an associate professor of biobehavioral health and member of the Child Maltreatment Solutions Network, and Oana Albu, an associate professor in the Department of Management, Communication and Society at Copenhagen Business School. It aims to help fill a scholarly void to best explore how media may be used to play meaningful roles in the lives of children and youth in conflict zones.