I am a member of the School of Social Sciences 'Doctoral Studies' team and teach Business Research Methods to doctoral candidates both in Edinburgh and Dubai. I also am Global course co-ordinator and Edinburgh co-ordinator for the SoSS MSc 'Research Philosophy and Practice' course. I act as a doctoral mentor and supervisor and Member of the EBS Doctoral Review Committee that monitors quality and progress of the School’s 300 Doctor of Business Administration students. 

Before joining Edinburgh Business School, I taught Translation and Conference Interpreting at the Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies, School of Social Sciences, at Heriot-Watt University.

I hold a PhD in Languages (HWU), an MSc in Translating and Conference Interpreting (HWU) and First Class Honours Diploma in Critical Literary Studies and BA in English Literature from Syrian Universities.

What else? I am a marathon runner, an avid bibliophile and a coffee snob, and have a soft spot for cellos, stone bridges, vintage balconies and everything Levantine. But feel free to forget all of that; what you really need to know and remember about me is that I am a strong believer in human rights, dignity and equality for all. I believe that it is a must, a shared responsibility, to fight any form of discrimination towards migrants and refugees' right to education, social and political participation and achieving a solid sense of belonging to and 'feeling home' in their host communities.

My background is in languages and intercultural studies. My research is interdisciplinary and focuses on a number of related topics that might be summed up as ways of approaching issues of sameness and difference in multicultural contexts. Among these is the role of gender, language and power in the (re)construction of identity among members of ethnic groups, with a particular focus on Syrian diaspora.

Following work with Syrian refugees in Scotland, I have developed a keen interest in employment and work-related issues that affect their belonging. My most recent collaborative project looks at narratives of work and belonging of highly-skilled Syrians in the UK. In 2018, I also collaborated with researchers from the University of Edinburgh and Damascus University to study how conflict affects the psychological health of internally-displaced Syrian children, the first ever research to be conducted on this issue.

I am a member of the Intercultural Research Centre (IRC) at Heriot-Watt University, the British Sociological Association and the Political Studies Association.