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Personal profile

Research interests

I am a lecturer in Social and Policy Sciences, and the pathway lead for the interdisciplinary pathway 'Security, Conflict and Human Rights'.

My work focuses on the politics of development and social policy, the governance of migration and refugees between the Middle East and Europe. My research and teaching builds on a broad, cross-disciplinary notion of political and socio-economic change in the global South, particularly in the Arab world, which is grounded in critical, ethnographic approaches to policy and governance as well as in-depth qualitative research in the region. Most of my empirical research to date has focused on Jordan.

While my doctoral research focused on the politics of poverty alleviation policy, my postdoctoral work has concentrated on the governance of the Syrian presence in Jordan and other states in the region, and particularly on policies that seek to address refugees as labour market participants. This has included looking at the role of donors in promoting these policies, the contradictions they encounter, and the manifold effects they have on the ground. I am currently co-managing a project seeking to analyse (Syrian and Jordanian) women's economic participation in Jordan, and the many politcal-economic, institutional and social obstacles they face in trying to make a living. 

I am interested in supervising PhDs that deal with refugee governance; humanitarian interventions; displacement, migration and labour; social protection and the politics of development in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Other responsibilities

My office hour is Tuesdays 2:30 -3:30 pm and is held online on MS Teams. Please use my Teams calendar to schedule a meeting or contact me by email before to sign up for a specific time!

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 1 - No Poverty
  • SDG 5 - Gender Equality
  • SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth
  • SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities

Education/Academic qualification

Political Science, Doctor of Philosophy, Freie Universität Berlin

Political Science, Master of Arts, Freie Universität Berlin

Middle East Politics, Master of Science, School of Oriental and African Studies

Keywords

  • migration governance
  • development
  • refugees
  • Arab world
  • donors
  • humanitarianism
  • Jordan

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