News & Stories

Using social media to raise awareness of women’s resources

The Covid-19 pandemic created a global increase in domestic violence against women. Now, an MIT-led experiment designed with that fact in mind shows that some forms of social media can increase awareness among women about where to find resources and support for addressing domestic violence. In the randomized experiment, set in Egypt, women recruited via […]

J-PAL launches the Egypt Impact Lab to improve lives through evidence-informed policymaking

A new collaboration between the Middle East and North Africa regional office of MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab and Egypt’s Ministry of Planning and Economic Development aims to strengthen the effectiveness of Egypt’s poverty alleviation policies through rigorous evaluation and innovation. The new initiative, the Egypt Impact Lab, will connect academics with government […]

MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab to launch research center at American University in Cairo

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) at MIT is launching a new regional research center in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to focus on innovative research and policy engagement to reduce poverty. Policy challenges in the MENA region are complex and interconnected: Children in the region have among the lowest learning […]

When culture clashes with Covid-19

In China, wearing masks during an epidemic is a readily accepted practice — unlike the situation in, say, the United States or some European countries, where the issue of mask-wearing is revealing civic and political fault lines. To what extent are these differences attributable to the “culture” of each country? And how much have widespread […]

Deploying drones to prepare for climate change

While doing field research for her graduate thesis in her hometown of Cairo, Norhan Magdy Bayomi observed firsthand the impact of climate change on her local community. The residents of the low-income neighborhood she was studying were living in small, poorly insulated apartments that were ill-equipped for dealing with the region’s rising temperatures. Sharing cramped […]

MIT receives $30 million to help address energy challenges in Egypt

MIT is the recipient of a $30 million award from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), announced this week at a two-day ceremony in Cairo. The award will support MIT over the next five years in developing a Center of Excellence in Energy at Ain Shams University, Mansoura University, and Aswan University, in Egypt. […]