I am a member of the School of Social Sciences Doctoral Centre team and deliver core (basic and advanced) Social Science Research Methods training to postgraduate and doctoral candidates at the School of Social Sciences. I am a member of the Intercultural Research Centre where I also act as PGR Lead. I supervise both on the DBA and PhD programmes and welcome PhD projects in the area of migration and refugee studies, which relate to home and place-making, liminal identities, race and othering in relation to identity negotiation and formation, or related topics.

I hold a PhD in Languages (HWU), an MSc in Translating and Conference Interpreting (HWU), and a Diploma in Critical Literary Studies and a First Class Honours 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. What you really need to know and remember about me, however, 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 socio-political and cultural 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.