At NYU Abu Dhabi, researchers, artists, and scholars are exploring how language, art, music, and cultural traditions shape identity, preserve collective memory, and connect societies across generations. As the UAE invests in cultural preservation, creative industries, and global cultural exchange, this work plays an important role in understanding and celebrating the region’s rich heritage.
Drawing on expertise across the humanities, arts, education, and cultural studies, our researchers document, preserve, and reinterpret cultural knowledge while exploring new forms of creative expression. Their work helps ensure that traditions remain relevant and accessible in a rapidly changing world.
From advancing Arabic language education and preserving artistic and musical traditions to uncovering new perspectives on regional history and culture, NYUAD scholars are helping safeguard the past while contributing to a vibrant and creative future.
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Musical compositions by NYUAD students have been launched into space and are now on board the International Space Station (ISS) as part of a groundbreaking scientific and artistic endeavor. This milestone marks the culmination of the inaugural ASTROBEAT – Music from Space competition, a collaboration between NYUAD and the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST).
Professor Salwa Mikdadi has spent decades documenting and curating the modern art of the Arab world, championing artists whose work bridges heritage, identity, and innovation.
NYU Abu Dhabi’s Assistant Professor of Music is a Kuwaiti musician and scholar reviving his ancestors’ pearl-diving music traditions and introducing them to new global audiences.
Professor of Practice of Art History
Preserving cultural narratives while elevating regional voices on the global stage.
Assistant Professor of Arab Music
Exploring music, identity, and cultural expression in the Arab world.
Associate Arts Professor of Practice of Music Technology
Preserving and reinterpreting traditional Arabic music through contemporary production.
Senior Lecturer of Arabic
Innovative teaching resources integrating arabic language learning with music and culture.
Assistant Professor of Social Research and Public Policy
Uncovering how cities, and public spaces shape belonging, identity, and community in the Gulf.
Associate Professor of Economics; Director of the Social Science Experimental Laboratory (SSEL)
Exploring how people come together to solve challenges and make better decisions.
Associate Professor of Economics
Understanding how economic change affects jobs, wages, and opportunities
Social Science Faculty Engagement Liaison; Professor of Social Research and Public Policy
Researching how migration shapes work, opportunity, and family life across borders.
Understanding musical culture in the Arab world and neighboring regions through computational and humanistic methods.
Gazelien Records provides academic and Industry based experience to provide NYUAD students with real-world opportunities. Gazelien Records operates like a major label company, thanks to the support and the music industry experience of the NYUAD faculty.
al Mawrid, the Arab Center for the Study of Art undertakes research in the visual art and photography of Western Asia and North Africa through a variety of disciplinary approaches.
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