The Middle East region faces many challenges: from rapid environmental degradation to conflict, corruption and migration. How does the current war in Ukraine affect it? Why are both Ukraine and Russia crucial partners for the region? This is what Lenka Hrabalova, an Arabist and Iranianist who spends most of her time in the Middle East as an academic, journalist and tour guide, will discuss, observing its transformations almost from the front lines. 50 CZK Great Hall, 2nd floor

Lenka Hrabalová studied Arabic and Persian at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University, and spent a significant part of her studies in the "field" on internships in Iran, Iraq, Tunisia, Jordan and Morocco. She completed her PhD at Palacký University in Olomouc, the topic of her thesis was the destruction of cultural heritage in the Muslim world. She works as an interpreter from Arabic and Persian, a guide in the Middle East, and has published books Mosaic of Iran, Saharan Stories and History in Ruins.