Noora Lori

Noora Lori is an Associate Professor of International Relations and a member of the Globalization, Peace, and Security Studies (GFPS) program at Boston University's Pardee School of Global Studies. She serves as the Founding Director of the Pardee School Initiative on Forced Migration and Human Trafficking, co-directed with Professor Schilde. Her research focuses on the political economy of migration, security institutions, and citizenship policies in the Middle East and Gulf regions, with particular attention to temporary migration schemes and national identity systems.

Education: Ph.D. and M.A. in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University, and a B.A. from Northwestern University. Prior to BU, she held positions at Harvard Kennedy School, Dubai School of Government, and the University of Cambridge.

Research interests include comparative immigration politics, Middle East politics, international security, and resource distribution strategies. Her book Offshore Citizens: Permanent “Temporary” Status won the APSA Best Dissertation Award (2014) and explains how states use citizenship delays to manage scarcity and privilege subnational groups. Her work expands Middle East studies to include historical connections with East Africa and the Indian subcontinent.

Notable articles explore golden visas in the Gulf, strategic naturalization delays, migration management in global commons, and the kafala system's impacts. She has been funded by ACLS/Mellon and ZEIT-Stiftung. Awards include the Gitner Family Prize (2014) and CAS Templeton Advising Award (2015).

Lori chairs the scholarly advisory board of the Boston Consortium for Arab Region Studies and sits on the Inter-University Committee for International Migration steering committee. Her teaching spans international security, migration policy, and Gulf studies.