At NYU Abu Dhabi, a Year of Philanthropy and Community Engagement

The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi invited the Candoco Dance Company to its stage to put on a matinee for Abu Dhabi school students and people of determination. This dance troupe, whose members include people of determination and people without disabilities, dedicates its work to celebrating different ways of being and making art. The company performed an adaptation of Trisha Brown’s landmark work, Set and Reset/Reset. What’s more, the performance was modified with sensory sensitivity in mind. Therefore, the lighting and volume were adjusted for neurodivergent audience members. After the performance, members of the dance troupe participated in a Q and A session with the students.

“One of the most remarkable and rewarding aspects of the performance was during the Q and A session. Students asked questions about the dancers’ artistry and athleticism,” says Bill Bragin. Bragin is the executive artistic director of the Arts Center. “Students asked one dancer, who is a wheelchair user, ‘What you did was so cool. How did you do it?’ As we have a mission to both instill in students an appreciation for dance and the performing arts and help audiences find their ways to speak about the work, honoring people of determination and helping to normalize their full participation onstage and in audiences is essential. This performance and the response from students demonstrated that the youth are ready. And they will carry this with them throughout their lives.”

A team of researchers investigated the risk level of noncommunicable diseases for Indigenous people in Nepal. The researchers were a part of Assistant Professor Aashish Jha’s Genetic Heritage Group. What’s more, NYU Abu Dhabi postgraduation research fellow Tsedenia Denekew led the team. The researchers discovered that the causes of hypertension in these populations differed from those in worldwide populations. So what does this mean for Indigenous people?

“Our paper reveals that, despite leading highly active agrarian lives, these understudied populations exhibit many cases of hypertension, the primary risk factor for cardiovascular diseases,” says Tsedenia. “We found that many of the globally accepted factors of hypertension were weakly associated with the disease in this cohort. This suggests that there are additional risk factors within these traditional populations that remain unidentified.”

Consequently, the paper is titled “Prevalence and determinants of hypertension in underrepresented indigenous populations of Nepal.” Since publishing their paper, the Genetic Heritage Group at NYU Abu Dhabi has continued to work with these populations. The group employs multiomics to better understand the biological systems underlying hypertension and other noncommunicable diseases.

More than 100 NYU Abu Dhabi community members gathered near Jebel Ali to plant mangrove trees. In fact, they managed to plant 5,000 trees in less than one hour. This project aligns with the UAE’s goal, announced at COP26, to plant 100 million mangrove trees by 2030. This national commitment is part of the UAE’s strategy to combat climate change with natural-based solutions. As a matter of fact, mangroves function as carbon sinks and protect the UAE’s coasts from rising sea levels. The UAE is home to more than a dozen mangrove sites and has plans to develop more sites across the emirates.

NYU Abu Dhabi’s Strategic Philanthropy Initiative (SPI) is the first of its kind in the UAE and the wider region. It is an academic- and community-based platform that shapes a dynamic and strategic practice of philanthropy. Moreover, the program cohosted an interactive discussion with the Pearl Initiative called Effective Philanthropy: Strategies for Sustained Impact. This event gathered a remarkable panel of philanthropic leaders from the Gulf region and South Asia. To further strengthen and promote strategic giving in these regions, the group brainstormed. They discussed the humanitarian strategies and approaches that can best pave the way to sustainable and effective impact.

During this event, NYU Abu Dhabi vice chancellor Mariët Westermann hosted a conversation with a panel of philanthropists that included Badr Jafar, CEO of Crescent Enterprises and founder of the Pearl Initiative; Nandan Nilekani, cofounder and chair of Infosys; Rohini Nilekani, chair of Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies and cofounder and director of EkStep; Shoshana Stewart, president of Turquoise Mountain Foundation; and John McCaffrey, president of the Galileo Foundation.

For another SPI event, Tamkeen and the Aspen Institute organized the return of Ideas Abu Dhabi. It is one of the UAE’s most notable thought-leadership platforms. In fact, they organized a discussion with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and staged it at NYU Abu Dhabi. Bill Gates, prominent philanthropist and cochair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, joined Rima Al Mokarrab, the cochair of Ideas of Abu Dhabi and chair of the Tamkeen board, in a fireside chat. Their session, Big Bets and Patient Capital, explored various topics. They discussed the ways in which new models for charity can effectively create maximum impact in the long term.

According to NYU Abu Dhabi interim director of executive education Renee Dugan, making space for conversations about strategic giving and charity work is necessary. These discussions can help the world overcome widespread challenges. “Philanthropy is almost as old as recorded human history. But optimizing its effectiveness for the benefit of society and the planet has never been more urgent,” says Dugan. “Countries and populations around the world are facing challenges to their habitats, health, livelihood, mobility, political systems, cultural heritage, and even sovereignty on a regular basis. Both within and between countries, philanthropy can play a major role in tackling and solving problems together with governments, nonprofit organizations, businesses, and other civil society institutions.”