Find Academic Supervisors

• International Development
• Economic Reform
• Foreign Aid
• +6 more

Raj M. Desai is a Professor of International Development at Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and the Department of Government. He also holds positions as a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and an affiliated researcher at the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics. His academic expertise centers on economic reform, foreign aid, and international development, with a focus on transition economies, authoritarian politics, and poverty alleviation. Desai earned his Ph.D. and M.A. from Harvard University (as a National Science Foundation Fellow) and a B.A. from the University of California, Irvine. His research has been supported by fellowships from the Qatar Foundation and the Swedish Research Council, and he has advised organizations like the World Bank Group and UNDP. His research spans economic transitions in the Arab world, the political economy of development aid, and the interplay between middle-class dynamics and political protest. Notable works include After the Spring: Economic Transitions in the Arab World (2012) and co-editing Between State and Market: Mass Privatization in Transition Economies (1997). Recent studies address poverty hotspots, maritime piracy's environmental roots, and UN Security Council influence on aid distribution. Desai's awards include fellowships from Qatar and Sweden, and he serves as Co-Director of Georgetown's Master's in International Business and Policy Program. His work bridges academia, policy, and practice, addressing 21st-century challenges in development finance and global governance.

Natalia LamberovaView profile

Assistant Professor

• Political Economy
• Technological Development
• Intellectual Property Rights
• +3 more

Natalia Lamberova is an Assistant Professor of Business and Technology at the University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas), affiliated with the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences. She holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Politics and Government from the University of California, Los Angeles (2020), an M.S. in Statistics from UCLA (2020), and a Ph.D. in Economics from Kazan Federal University (2011). Her research focuses on the political economy of technological development, intellectual property rights, and the intersection of political connections with economic policy. Her research interests include analyzing how governments influence technological markets, the political dynamics of risky R&D projects, and the stability of authoritarian regimes during economic crises. She also explores comparative revolutions, such as the Arab Spring and Ukrainian Revolution, to understand protest dynamics and regime resilience. Her work bridges political science, economics, and public policy, with a focus on authoritarian governance and institutional change. Her publications span topics from pandemic policy responses in Russia to the role of political connections in Putin’s Russia. Though no scientific awards are listed, her work demonstrates a commitment to understanding complex intersections of politics, technology, and economic systems. Advising and grants details are not provided in the text, but her academic contributions reflect an active engagement with global policy challenges.

Wael FawzyView profile

Lecturer

• Language Education
• Arabic Language Instruction
• French Language Instruction
• +3 more

Wael Fawzy (he/him) is a Lecturer in the Liberal Arts Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. With 17 years of teaching experience, he specializes in Arabic and French language instruction. His courses focus on Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), emphasizing oral proficiency, reading, writing, and cultural studies. Teaching Approach: Utilizes audiovisual media, interactive activities, and paired dialogues to develop speaking/listening skills. Courses prioritize clear communication frameworks for business, travel, or academic purposes. No scientific awards or research grants are mentioned in the provided materials. Current course offerings include Arabic I in Liberal Arts (Spring 2025 and Fall 2025 terms).

• Cultural Studies
• Revolutionary Art
• Political Movements
• +3 more

Tanima Sharma is a Lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), affiliated with the Liberal Arts department. She teaches interdisciplinary courses examining the intersection of art and revolutionary movements. Her research focuses on revolutionary art forms across 20th and 21st century global contexts, including anticolonial struggles, socialist movements, and social justice frameworks. Notable areas of study include China's Cultural Revolution, FRELIMO's musical resistance in Mozambique, Brechtian theatre, Soviet film techniques, and contemporary graffiti art in the Arab Spring. No academic awards or grants are explicitly listed in the provided materials. She currently teaches Top: The Art of Revolution (Spring 2025), a course analyzing revolutionary praxis through multidisciplinary artistic expressions.

• International Human Rights Law
• Public International Law
• Borders and Territory
• +3 more

Ranime Djouider is a PhD candidate at Durham University and currently serves as a Part-Time Tutor in the Law department and School of Government and International Affairs. She holds an LLB (Hons) from the University of Kent and an LLM in International Law and Governance from Durham, where she won the Prize for highest LLM performance. Her research focuses on the intersection of international human rights law and ethnocultural dynamics in post-colonial African borders, using Ghana and Nigeria as case studies. Research affiliations include the Centre for Law and Global Justice (as Deputy Director) and the Human Rights and Public Law Centre. She has received prestigious awards including the Durham Doctoral Scholarship and Modern Law Review Scholarship (2023-24), alongside the Simon Roberts Award. Her teaching spans EU Constitutional Law, Law and Literature, and International Organisations modules. Ranime’s work employs interdisciplinary methods combining legal analysis with anthropological perspectives and literary critique. Her recent publications and conference presentations address uti possidetis jurisprudence, border violence, and narrative approaches to international law. Earlier research explored transitional justice in Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt through the Durham Pro Bono Blog and Oxford Human Rights Hub platforms. Her doctoral research supervised by Dr Anashri Pillay and Dr Henry Jones critically examines how international human rights frameworks interact with ethnocultural conflicts arising from colonial-era borders. This includes analyzing legal mechanisms to mitigate identity-based tensions in post-colonial states.

Shadia Husseini de AraújoView profile

Assistant Professor

• Islamic Studies
• Migration and Diaspora Studies
• Postcolonial Theory
• +3 more

Shadia Husseini de Araújo is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Geography, University of Brasília. She holds a doctorate in Geography from the University of Münster and has conducted postdoctoral research at the University of São Paulo on Muslim identities in Brazil. Her research focuses on the global halal economy, migration, postcolonial theory, and translation practices in geography. She has secured funding for projects analyzing the halal market’s translocal connections and Muslim labor migration. At Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, she collaborated on comparative studies of the halal economy. Recent work includes studies on Black Atlantic Muslim countercultures and migrant economies in Nuremberg. Education : Doctorate in Geography, University of Münster Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of São Paulo (2012) Research Interests : She explores intersections of religion, migration, and globalization through geographies of identity. Her work bridges cultural geography with postcolonial and translation theories, emphasizing marginalized voices in global systems like the halal economy. She analyzes how religious and cultural practices shape transnational networks. Grants & Projects : Global Halal Economy Research Project (Brazil) Halal Production and Immigrant Labor Linkages Labs/Teams : Collaborates with the Cultural Geography group at Mainz University and the Institute of Geography at Brasília, focusing on transnational economic and cultural dynamics.

• Middle East Politics
• Political Reform
• Civil Society and Democratization
• +3 more

Dr. Vincent Durac is an Associate Professor at the School of Politics and International Relations, University College Dublin. His research focuses on Middle East Politics, including political reform, civil society, and Yemeni dynamics. He also serves as a visiting professor at Bethlehem University and External Examiner for the University of Malta's International Relations programme. Durac holds degrees from University College Dublin (BCL), Trinity College Dublin (MPhil), and Queen's University Belfast (PhD). His research interests encompass Political Reform in the Middle East, Civil Society and Democratisation, Political Islam, and International Actors' influence. He has authored/co-authored books on Middle East governance and contributed to journals like Democratization and Mediterranean Politics . Durac has received grants for research on EU policies and Yemeni politics. His professional activities include roles in university committees and memberships in EURAMES and Friends of Bethlehem University Ireland. Education: BCL, University College Dublin MPhil, Trinity College Dublin PhD, Queen's University Belfast His teaching interests emphasize critical thinking and interactive learning, covering Middle East Politics, Development, and Terrorism. He coordinates modules like 'Introduction to Middle East Politics' and 'Terrorism & Political Violence'. Durac has advised on Irish-North African relations and served as a Country Expert for Yemen in the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) project.

Charis BoutieriView profile

Senior Lecturer

• Political Anthropology
• North African Studies
• Democracy Studies
• +3 more

Charis Boutieri is a Reader in Social Anthropology at King’s College London, associated with the Department of European & International Studies and the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies. She holds the PARC Chair (2023-2024) and was a British Academy Mid-Career Fellow (2021-2022). Her research focuses on the social life of revolution, democracy, and public spheres in North Africa and the Middle East, with a particular emphasis on Tunisia’s post-2011 political dynamics. Education: BA from the University of Oxford, MSc from LSE, PhD from Princeton University. Her work examines the interplay between democracy promotion, civic activism, and neoliberal expansion. Key projects include the Leverhulme Trust-funded study on Tunisia’s post-revolutionary democracy and the ERC-funded exploration of migrant communities’ public engagement in Britain. She has also co-led collaborative projects like the King’s Together Fund’s “Justice in non-Liberal Polities” and the Takhayyul ERC project on imagination in Muslim societies. Awards include the British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship and Leverhulme Trust Fellowship. She contributes to academic leadership as former Associate Editor of the Journal of North African Studies and former Treasurer of the AAA Middle East Section. Teaching focuses on political anthropology, including courses on states, citizenship, and lived democracy. Current research includes a UK-based ERC project on migrant communities’ public interactions and a Wenner-Gren Foundation workshop on Mediterranean coexistence. Her lab affiliations include the European Politics and Society Research Group, fostering discussions on contemporary Europe and European identities.

Stephen M. WormanView profile

Professor

• Wargaming
• Policy Gaming
• Military Strategy
• +13 more

Stephen M. Worman is Director of the RAND Center for Gaming, a political scientist at RAND, and Professor of Policy Analysis at the RAND School of Public Policy. He is a leading expert in wargaming, military strategy, nuclear weapons, missile defense, and national security policy, with extensive experience designing and leading strategic games on complex defense and policy challenges. His research interests span Wargaming , Policy Gaming , Military Strategy , Nuclear Weapons and Warfare , Air and Missile Defense , Space Warfare , Defense Infrastructure , Grand Strategy , and Climate Change and Security . He focuses on using gaming as a method for policy analysis and strategic planning, particularly in high-stakes domains involving escalation, deterrence, and international competition. His recent publications reflect a strong trend toward innovative applications of gaming in national security contexts, including nuclear strategy, climate change, economic competition, and immigration policy. These works demonstrate a consistent focus on methodological rigor, scenario realism, and policy relevance, often integrating modeling and simulation with human decision-making. Stephen Worman has made significant contributions to defense policy through research on overseas basing, military logistics, GPS resilience, and airpower effectiveness. His work combines strategic depth with practical implementation, supporting both U.S. military planning and international security cooperation. He teaches at the RAND School of Public Policy, with a focus on training the next generation of game designers, and continues to lead high-impact research projects at the RAND Center for Gaming. His work bridges academic rigor and real-world policy impact, positioning him as a key figure in contemporary defense analysis.

Shaukat AliView profile

Senior Lecturer

• International Management
• Strategy
• Human Resource Management
• +6 more

Dr. Shaukat Ali is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Wolverhampton Business School , with a career spanning academia, industry, and community engagement. His expertise lies in International Management, Strategy, Human Resource Management, Entrepreneurship , and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) , with a focus on the Middle East and emerging markets. BSc(Eng), MA, MBA, PhD, PGCE (HE) – Education Research Interests : Strategy, joint ventures, FDI, cross-cultural management, SMEs, and renewable energy investment. Publications : 15 most recent works address SMEs in Qatar, institutional impacts on UK renewable energy adoption, FDI in China and Saudi Arabia, and cross-cultural HR practices. His scientific awards include: Vice-Chancellor’s Staff Excellence (2021), Best Paper Awards (2014, 2005), and teaching innovation recognitions (2006, 2005). He actively supervises PhD candidates in topics like entrepreneurship in the Democratic Republic of Congo and organizational behavior in Bangladesh.

Natasha Marie LlorensView profile

Professor

• North African Contemporary Art
• Middle Eastern Contemporary Film
• Feminist and Queer Politics in Art
• +4 more

Natasha Marie Llorens is a professor of art theory at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm and co-chair of the Center for Art and the Political Imaginary with Professor Mick Wilson (HDK-Valand). She leads Theory and Art Writing in the MA program’s fourth and fifth years. Her work focuses on North African and Middle Eastern contemporary art/film, feminist/queer politics in art, decolonial curatorial practices, and Algerian socialism. She holds a PhD in Art History from Columbia University (2021) and an MA in Curatorial Studies from Bard College (2011). Education: PhD in Art History, Columbia University, 2021 MA in Curatorial Practice, Bard College, 2011 Research: Explores postcolonial Algeria’s cultural and political landscapes, including collaborations like the 2023-2024 exhibitions on 1970s socialist villages. Current projects include a Swedish Research Council-funded initiative on decolonial curatorial methodologies. Her writing appears in ARTMargins , Frieze , and Parse Journal , analyzing themes like Algerian cinema’s experimental margins and the socio-political legacies of violence. A recent grant (2023) supports her transnational curatorial research. Grants & Awards: Swedish Research Council Grant (2023–2026) for “Decolonization is Not a Metaphor” Labs/Teams: Leads the Center for Art and the Political Imaginary, collaborating with institutions like Columbia University (e.g., 2019 “Waiting for Omar Gatlato” exhibition).

Tarek MasoudView profile

Professor

• Democracy and Governance
• Middle Eastern Politics
• Political Islam
• +3 more

Tarek Masoud is the Ford Foundation Professor of Democracy and Governance at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He co-edits the Journal of Democracy and directs the Kennedy School’s Middle East Initiative and Initiative on Democracy in Hard Places. His research focuses on governance and development in Arabic-speaking and Muslim-majority countries, with emphases on democratization, Islamist political movements, and post-Arab Spring trajectories. Education : AB in Political Science, Brown University PhD in Political Science, Yale University Research Interests : Masoud investigates how authoritarian regimes adapt to challenges, the electoral strategies of Islamist parties, and the socio-economic underpinnings of democratic transitions. His work often bridges comparative politics and Middle East studies, with fieldwork in Egypt, Tunisia, and Turkey. Articles Trends : Recent publications analyze the enduring authoritarianism post-2011 Arab uprisings, the role of religion in voter behavior, and the symbolic politics of governance in the Middle East. His work combines qualitative methods with experimental political science. Awards : 2009 Carnegie Scholar Grants from National Science Foundation and Paul & Daisy Soros Foundation Advising & Grants : While no formal advisees are listed, his grants fund large-scale research projects on democratization and governance. He advises policymakers through his roles at the American University in Cairo and Middle East Broadcasting Network. Labs/Initiatives : Leads the Kennedy School’s Middle East Initiative, fostering research on regional governance challenges, and co-directs the Initiative on Democracy in Hard Places, studying democratization in conflict zones.

Sulafa ZidaniView profile

Assistant Professor

• Critical Internet Studies
• Digital Media
• Global Communication
• +5 more

Sulafa Zidani is an Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at Northwestern University's School of Communication. She also holds an affiliation with Northwestern Qatar's Institute for Advanced Study in the Global South. Previously, she was an Assistant Professor of Global Civic Media at MIT. Her research focuses on internet cultures in the Global South, transnational youth strategies, and digital activism across geopolitical contexts. She is affiliated with critical internet studies, global communication, and media cultures in the Global South. Education: B.A. (Dual-Major) in Asia Studies and Communication and Journalism, Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2009) M.A. in Asia Studies and Communication and Journalism, Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2015) M.A. in Communication, University of Southern California Annenberg School (2019) Ph.D. in Communication, University of Southern California Annenberg School (2021) Research Interests: Internet cultures in the Global South Transnational youth digital strategies Algorithmic discrimination and digital surveillance Civic imagination in social movements Critical pedagogy and decolonial methodologies Media literacy and misinformation Her recent articles highlight themes like algorithmic resistance, Palestinian digital activism, and meme-based civic engagement. She emphasizes justice-informed media practices through her scholarship and public engagements. Awards: Teaching Award for 'Studying Internet Culture' (Annenberg School, USC) Public Engagement: Editorial board member of Pop Junctions Workshops on antiracist facilitation for organizations like NowThis and The Onion Global speaker at venues across the U.S., Palestine, Egypt, China, France, and Qatar Labs/Teams: Co-editor of The Intersectional Internet II anthology and leads interdisciplinary research on digital cultures in contested geographies.

Rana KazkazView profile

Associate Professor

• Narrative Filmmaking
• Syrian Cinema
• Documentary Film
• +3 more

Rana Kazkaz is an Associate Professor in Residence and Director of the Communication Program at Northwestern University in Qatar. She specializes in narrative filmmaking with a focus on Syrian stories, blending artistic innovation with socio-political commentary. Her work has been featured at prestigious festivals including Cannes, Sundance, and Toronto. Education: MFA from Carnegie Mellon University/Moscow Art Theater, BA from Oberlin College, and a certificate from the American Film Institute’s Directing Workshop for Women. Research interests include Syrian cinematic narratives, Arab women filmmakers post-Arab Spring, and the intersection of media with human rights. Her award-winning films like The Translator (2020) and Mare Nostrum (2016) explore themes of conflict, identity, and cultural resilience. Awards include the Arte Prize (Cannes, 2017), CNC Award (Istanbul, 2017), and multiple grants including the Tribeca Alumni Grant. She is a member of the Académie des César and holds the Roberta Buffett Visiting Professorship at Northwestern. Current projects include The Hakawati’s Daughter and Honest Politics . She teaches courses on directing actors, national cinema, and narrative film production.

Avital LivnyView profile

Associate Professor

• Comparative Politics
• Identity Politics
• Middle East Studies
• +3 more

Avital Livny is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Lynn M. Martin Professorial Scholar at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with affiliations at the European Union Center, Center for Global Studies, and Center for Social & Behavioral Science. She holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University and M.Phil./M.Sc. degrees from the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on comparative politics and political economy, particularly identity-based mobilization, trust dynamics, and political engagement in developing democracies. Key regions of study include the Middle East and Turkey, with expertise in religious and ethnic politics. She is fluent in Hebrew and English, and proficient in Turkish and Arabic. Livny leads the NSF-funded 'Improving and Integrating Global Diversity Estimates' project, addressing systematic errors in diversity measurement. Recent honors include the Larine Y. Cowan Award for Teaching Excellence (2021) and Juan Linz Dissertation Award (2017). She has held fellowships at Chapman University, the Cline Center, and the Carlos III-Juan March Institute.