Team

Miriam Younes
Research and Projects Coordinator

Miriam Younes is a researcher in sociology and political science with a focus on the history and politics of Lebanon, Iraq and Iran. She has previously worked as a research assistant at the German-Orient Institut in Beirut, and as a research associate at the Middle Eastern Studies Department at the University of Basel/Switzerland.

She has previously worked as a research coordinator at Lebanon Support and the director of the regional office of the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung in Beirut. 

Miriam is the author of "Die Revolution des 17. Oktobers: Ursachen, Verlauf und Ziele der Massenproteste im Libanon" ("The Revolution of October 17th: Causes, course and objectives of the mass protests in Lebanon") published by Unrast-Publications in 2021.
 
She is currently the research and project coordinator at "The Centre for Social Sciences Research & Action".
She holds an MA in Middle Eastern Studies, Political Science and Sociology from the University of Freiburg/Germany.

Email: myounes[at]socialsciences[dash]centre[dot]org

Nancy Farhat
Research & Project Coordinator - Policy Lab

Nancy is a Research & Project Coordinator within the programme “Policy labs: solving social problems in the MENA region using new methodologies of civic engagement”.

She is responsible for the overall, strategic, and day-to-day management of the action-oriented research projects and undertakes field research using a variety of methodologies and techniques in order to develop a reflexive policy lab model in Lebanon that analyses the processes of social policy making in Lebanon, with the active involvement of end users and citizens.

Nancy is a professional mediator – specialist in peace making and conflict resolution and holds an L.L.B. from the Université Saint Joseph de Beyrouth, and a Master’s degree in Litigation, Arbitration & Alternative Dispute Resolution from the Filière Francophone de Droit.

Email: nancy[at]socialsciences[dash]centre[dot]org

Michele Scala
Head of Research

Michele is currently the Head of Research at the centre, and the lead researcher on the regional social justice and protection thematic. His main research areas include the transformations of labour and labour conflicts, clientelism and collective action in Lebanon and in the Mediterranean area. 
He is also an associated lecturer at Sciences Po Lyon and an associated researcher at the Ifpo of Beirut. Since 2019, he coordinates the ANR Programme “PRECARités: travail, mobilités, propriétés” with  Myriam Catusse (Ifpo) and Nizar Hariri (USJ) and is responsible for the axis on “labour’. He has previously worked as a consultant for different international organisations and NGOs.
Michele holds a Ph.D. on Arab and Muslim World of Aix-Marseille Université. His dissertation has been awarded the special prize of the Jury of the French CNRS GIS-MOMM.

E-mail: michele[at]socialsciences[dash]centre[dot]org

Dr. Rossana Tufaro
Researcher in Contentious Politics - MENA

Rossana is a Research Fellow and a researcher in Contentious Politics - MENA at the centre.
In the past years, she devoted most of her research activities to the investigation of Lebanese labor history and the history of Lebanese popular politics in the global 1960s from a transnational perspective. Her main research interests include the history of popular and contentious politics in the Levantine region, Lebanese political economy, and the history of transnational radical cultures in the Mediterranean area. Over the years, she has lectured in a variety of international conferences and universities, and has been affiliated with  numerous Lebanese and Italian academic institutions. Rossana is currently a teaching Assistant of Contemporary History of the Arab Middle East at the University of Rome “La Sapienza”. 

Rossana  has a PhD in Studies on Africa and Asia, she specialised in the social and political history of contemporary Lebanon. 

E-mail: rossa[dot]tufaro[at]gmail.com

Rena Haidar
Daleel Madani Programme Associate

Rena Haidar is the Daleel Madani Programme Associate. She joined the team in 2021. Rena is responsible for managing, monitoring, and coordinating the Daleel Madani website, in order to effectively achieve the aim of the Programme in establishing a network of cooperation within the civil society.

She is currently pursuing a BA in Political Science and International affairs at the Lebanese American University. 

Email: rena[at]socialsciences[dash]centre[dot]org

Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi
Co-Director

Dr. AbiYaghi is the co-director of the centre. She joined the centre in 2014, and has initiated and institutionalized the research axis of the centre, maintaining synergies between the academic and the practitioner fields. As a co-director, in addition to managing the centre and providing strategic leadership, she ensures the scientific rigor of the contextualised research produced by a multidisciplinary team of scholars, while facilitating the insertion of homegrown research within global theoretical debates and fora. 

She has previously worked in academia (as a senior researcher at the Centre for Lebanese Studies, University of Oxford, and as a political science lecturer at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik and the Saint-Joseph University in Beirut), as well as in international organisations. 
As a scholar, she specialises in the sociology of political processes, contentious politics, and the social question in the MENA.  

Marie-Noëlle holds a PhD in Political Science from the Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, France. 

E-mail: mabiyaghi[at]socialsciences[dash]centre[dot]org

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8558-6722

Find her on Twitter on: @mnabiyaghi 

To be published in 2019:

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi, S’engager « autrement » au Liban. Mobilisations et militantismes alternatifs dans les années 2000.

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi. Chiara Erminia Calabrese (coord), « Liban, Syrie : circulations et réactivations de réseaux militants en temps de guerre », Revue Internationale de Politique Comparée.

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi. Miriam Younes, “On the move in times of war and exile: Engagement, continuities, and caesura in the itineraries of Syrian activists”, in, AbiYaghi and Calabrese, Revue Internationale de Politique Comparée.

- Virginie Troit, Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi, Transition humanitaire et réflexions éthiques au Liban, Karthala, collection Devenir Humanitaire, Tome IV.

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi, Léa Yammine, ““Out with the old, in with the new”? A portrait of a torn generation in the making”, Generation What, European Commission.

Books:

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi (ed.), Gender Dictionary. Travelling concepts and local usages in Lebanon, Lebanon Support, 2016.

Published edited volumes:

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi, Risha Jagarnathsingh (eds), “Unraveling ‘Civil Society:’ Policy, Dependency Networks, and Tamed Discontent. Reflections from Lebanon and Palestine,” The Civil Society Review, The Civil Society Knowledge Center, Lebanon Support, Issue 3, 2018.

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi (ed), “Lebanese, refugee and migrant women in Lebanon: from sociopolitical marginality to turnaround strategies”, The Civil Society Review, The Civil Society Knowledge Center, Lebanon Support, Issue 2, 2016.

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi, Bassem Chit and Léa Yammine (eds), “Revisiting Inequalities in Lebanon. The case of the ‘Syrian refugee crisis’ and gender dynamics”, The Civil Society Review, The Civil Society Knowledge Center, Lebanon Support, Issue 1, 2015.

Published scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals and scientific book chapters:

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi, Myriam Catusse, Miriam Younes, "From isqat an-nizam at-ta’ifi to the Garbage Crisis Movement: Political Identities and Antisectarian Movements", in Rosita di Peri, Daniel Meier (eds.), Lebanon facing the Arab Uprisings. Constraints and Adaptation, Palgrave 2017.

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi, « Militer par “projets”. Fragmentation et reproduction de l’espace contestataire féministe au Liban», in "Féminismes dans les pays arabes", Nouvelles Questions Féministes, Vol.35, n°2, Octobre 2016.

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi, Myriam Catusse, « Liban : le mouvement « pour la chute du système confessionnel » et ses limites.», in Michel Camau, Frédéric Vairel, Soulèvements populaires et recompositions politiques dans le Monde arabe, Editions des Presses Universitaires de Montréal, 2014.

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi, “Civil Mobilization and Peace in Lebanon”, in. Elisabeth Picard, Alexander Ramsbotham, Reconciliation, reform and resilience. Positive Peace for Lebanon, Accord Publications, Issue 24, London, July 2012. http://www.c-r.org/sites/c-r.org/files/Accord24_Lebanon_ENG.pdf.

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi, Elisabeth Longuenesse, “Temps de travail et temps social : Le cas des employés de banque et des chauffeurs de taxi”, in. « Temps et temporalités du monde arabe (XIXe-XXIe siècles) » Temporalités, n° 15, juin 2012. http://temporalites.revues.org/1982.

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi, Greg Albo, Kako Nubukpo, Rhina Roux, Son Youg Woo, « Crises alimentaires et économiques en Amérique, en Afrique, au Moyen-Orient et en Asie : entre luttes et résignation », in « Crises, Révoltes, Résignations », Actuel Marx, no 47, 2010.

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi, Myriam Catusse, « Non à l’Etat holding, oui à l’Etat providence ». Logiques et contraintes des mobilisations sociales dans le Liban de l’après-guerre», in « Protestations sociales, révolutions civiles. Transformation du politique dans la Méditerranée arabe », Revue Tiers Monde, hors série mai 2011.

- « Et pourtant ils votent ! Entre Contestation et Participation : la participation de la gauche antisystème aux élections de juin 2009 », in Catusse M., Karam K. et Lamloum O. (ed.) in Métamorphoses des figures du leadership au Liban. Champs et contrechamps des élections législatives de 2009 au Liban, Beyrouth, Presses de l’IFPO, 2011.

Published articles in non-peer reviewed journals and expertise reports:

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi, Léa Yammine, Risha Jagarnathsingh, “Civil Society in Lebanon; the Implementation Trap”, The Arab NGO Network for Development, 2018.

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi, Risha Jagarnathsingh, “"A Shoulder to Lean On.” Towards Rights-Based Interventions and Policies for Syrian Refugees in Lebanon”, The Civil Society Knowledge Center, Lebanon Support, 2016.

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi, Risha Jagarnathsingh, “Access to Healthcare for Syrian Refugees. The Impact of Fragmented Service Provision on Syrians’ Daily Lives”, The Civil Society Knowledge Center, Lebanon Support, 2016.

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi, Risha Jagarnathsingh, “Syrian Refugees' Livelihoods. The Impact of Progressively Constrained Legislations and Increased Informality on Syrians’ Daily Lives”, The Civil Society Knowledge Center, Lebanon Support, 2016.

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi, Miriam Younes, and Risha Jagarnathsingh, “Formal Informality, Brokering Mechanisms, and Illegality. The Impact of the Lebanese State’s Policies on Syrian Refugees’ Daily Lives”, The Civil Society Knowledge Center, Lebanon Support, July 2016.

- Estella Carpi, Miriam Younes, Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi, “Crisis and Control. (In)Formal Security in Lebanon”, The Civil Society Knowledge Center, Lebanon Support, July 2016.

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi, “Social Protection in Lebanon between charity and politics”, in: Arab Watch 2014, Arab NGO Network for Development, December 2014.

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi, “Report on Disability Good Practices in Lebanon: accessibility, employment and education”, Handicap International, May 2014.

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi, “Disability National report on Lebanon”, Handicap International, Middle East Regional Office, Musawa Project, September 2011.

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi, “Disability National report on Jordan”, Handicap International, Middle East Regional Office, Musawa Project, September 2011.

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi« Les femmes et le droit au Liban. Questionnements à partir du concept de nationalité », Les carnets de l’Ifpo, La recherche en train de se faire à l’Institut Français du Proche Orient (hypothèses.org), 2011.

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi, « Liban : clivées et instrumentalisées, les résistances peinent à se développer ”, in Alternative Sud, «Etat des résistances dans le Sud - Monde arabe”, éd. CETRI/Syllepse, 2010.

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi (ed), “Access to Employment for Persons with Disabilities in the Middle East”, unpublished report for the Disability Monitor Initiative- Middle East Journal, 2010.

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi (ed), “All Equal- All Different; Ensuring Access to Education for Persons with a Disability in the Middle East”, 2nd issue of the Disability Monitor Initiative- Middle East Journal, May 2009.

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi (ed), “Social Protection and Persons with a Disability in the Middle East: Issues, Challenges and Debates”; 1st issue of the Disability Monitor Initiative Journal- Middle East, February 2009.

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi and Muhannad al-Azzeh (eds), “A view from the Middle East on the Entry to Force of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with a Disability”; Disability Monitor Initiative Middle East launch publication, August 2008.

- Blandine Destremeau, Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi, “Workers’ security and rights in the Arab region”, in Gender, Employment, and the Informal Economy in Arab States: A regional overview, Beirut, ILO, 2007.

Léa Yammine
Co-Director

Léa Yammine is the co-director of the centre. She joined the centre in 2013, and has established and led the interpretation of the centre’s scientific research, programmes, and activities into various formats, from an interdisciplinary perspective. As a co-director, in addition to managing the centre and providing strategic leadership, she focuses on overseeing a multidisciplinary team of designers, data analysts, and digital creators to develop innovative ways to visualise and disseminate the centre’s data, in line with its mission to make knowledge openly accessible. 

As a creative, she has been in the publishing world for over 15 years, and was involved at various stages of the publication process. She provided creative direction, and management and strategic input in several organisations.

Léa holds a BA in Graphic Design from the American University of Beirut, and an MA in Culture, Creativity & Entrepreneurship from the University of Leeds, UK.

E-mail: lea[at]socialsciences[dash]centre[dot]org

Find her on Twitter: @lea_yam

 

Recent publications authored by Léa include:

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi, Léa Yammine. “Understanding the social protection needs of civil society workers in Lebanon. Towards strengthening social rights and security for all.” Lebanon Support. 2019. Available on: https://civilsociety-centre.org/resource/understanding-social-protection...

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi, Léa Yammine. “ ‘Out With The Old, In With The New?’ A Portrait of A Torn Generation in The Making.” Generation What. 2019. Available on: https://civilsociety-centre.org/resource/%E2%80%9Cout-old-new%E2%80%9D-p...

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi, Amreesha Jagarnathsingh, Léa Yammine. “Civil Society in Lebanon: The Implementation Trap.” Lebanon Support. 2018. Available on: http://civicspace.annd.org/countries.php (in Arabic); https://civilsociety-centre.org/paper/civil-society-lebanon-implementati... (in English)

- Léa Yammine. “On Mixed Identities, Racism, and Activism in Lebanon; A Discussion with Nisreen Kaj.” In Civil Society Review issue 2, eds. Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi, Léa Yammine, Mariam Younes, p.72-79. Beirut: Lebanon Support. 2016. Available on: https://civilsociety-centre.org/paper/mixed-identities-racism-and-activi...

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi, Léa Yammine, Mariam Younes (eds). “Lebanese, refugee, and migrant women in Lebanon: From sociopolitical marginality to turnaround strategies,” Civil Society Review, issue 2. Beirut: Lebanon Support. 2016. Available on: https://civilsociety-centre.org/resource/civil-society-review-issue-2-le...

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi, Bassem Chit, Léa Yammine (eds).“Revisiting Inequalities in Lebanon: the case of the “Syrian refugee crisis” and gender dynamics,” Civil Society Review, issue 1. Beirut: Lebanon Support. 2015. Available on: https://civilsociety-centre.org/resource/civil-society-review-issue-1-re...

Nadim Haidar

Nadim is a research Fellow within the Center's Social Justice Fellowship program for 2021 - 2022. His research seeks to conduct a critical discursive analysis with the aim of examining the various interpretations and meanings of social justice in the context of multiple and overlapping crises in Lebanon since October 2019. Specifically, the envisioned research will investigate the motives, arguments, and positions of Lebanese activists, students, and workers who actively participated in the "October 17 Revolution". The analysis hopes to uncover the ideological assumptions, political limitations, and potential social consequences of the discourses enveloping the Lebanese uprising, and shed light on the ways in which the meanings of social justice take shape in the context of compounding and overlapping crises.

He holds a BA in Political Studies and an MA in Middle Eastern Studies, both from the American University of Beirut. His Master's thesis focused on Palestine, where he provided a critical appraisal of the global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS). He has worked as a researcher and school teacher for several years, and his main research interests lie at the intersection of political theory, contentious politics, and critical theory.

Sébastien Lesne

Sébastien is a research Fellow within the Center's Social Justice Fellowship program for 2021 - 2022. His research mainly focuses on the impact and role of humanitarian organisations during crisis management, and on the the questions of power issues and representations of socio-political actors in Lebanon and Syria. He has conducted multiple fieldwork in Lebanon since 2019 and has worked with the French non-governmental organization Première Urgence Internationale in Lebanon for 2 years as a Grants Manager. 

Sébastien holds a Masters' degree in Gepopolitics with a specialization on geopolitics of the cyberspace from the Institut Français de Géopolitique, where he presented a Master thesis on the impact of the Syrian crisis in Tripoli, Lebanon. 

Cynthia Azzam

Cynthia Azzam is an architect and a postdoctoral fellow in the 2018 Bassem Chit Fellowship program for the study of activism at Lebanon Support (in collaboration with the Arab Council for the Social Science). Her current work focuses on identifying collective action and mobilisation in the education sector.
She holds an MA (professional) in Architecture and an MA (research) in Sciences of Architecture and Landscape from the Lebanese University, as well as a PhD in Architecture in a co-tutorship between Paris-Saclay University and the Lebanese University. Her thesis investigated school infrastructures in Lebanon focusing mismanagement and project distribution along the territory. Publications

Recent publications authored by Cynthia include:

- Azzam C., “Lebanese Learning Landscape’s Reconstruction: Territorial Inequality and Poor Management”, International Journal of Spaces and Urban Territory, Tunisia, Issue 3, 2017, p.20-36.

- Azzam C., “Recapturing Beirut for the Benefit of Children and Teenagers Via School Infrastructure”, Enfants, Familles, Générations, Montréal, Issue 30, 2018.

Stephanie Daher

Stephanie Daher is a Research Fellow and a researcher in Contentious Politics - MENA at the centre. She has conducted extensive fieldwork in Lebanon and Tunisia, in addition to visiting research periods at the Institute of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at Durham University (UK) and Centre D'Etudes Maghrébines in Tunisia working on the Lebanese "You Stink" and the Tunisian "Manich Msamah" movements. Stephanie is also currently a research consultant on a project-based collaboration between Italy and Greece at CIVIPOL (Paris, France) on preventing violent extremism and radicalism in EU Member States. She is also a research fellow at the European Foundation for Democracy, a policy institute based in Brussels where she works on security studies. Her main research interests include contentious politics in the MENA region, social movements, sectarianism, and security studies. 

She holds a PhD in Political Science and International Relations from the Sant’Anna Advanced School of Studies in Italy, where she specialised in contentious politics and protest movements in the Middle East and North Africa. She also has an MA in World Politics and International Relations from the University of Pavia (Italy) and a Masters Degree in Law from the Lebanese University.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DaherStephany
LinkedIn: https://it.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-daher-phd-493252b9 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8085-8474
 

- “The Politics of Contentious Action: Case-Study of the Lebanese “You Stink” Movement”, Peer-Reviewed Journal “Siyasat Arabia”, Issue 39, July 2019, Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, Doha, Qatar.

Mariam Younes

Mariam joined Lebanon Support’s research department in 2015 and has since worked on several of its publications and reports. She has previously worked as research assistant at the German-Orient Institute Beirut, conducting a project on “The Reorientation of Communist Groups and Marxist Intellectuals after 1989 in Lebanon and Syria”. She has studied Middle Eastern Studies, Political Sciences and Sociology at the University of Freiburg in Germany.
Currently, she is finishing her PhD thesis entitled “Living leftism in Lebanon. A historical anthropology of leftist intellectuals in Lebanon, 1930-1990” at the University of Roskilde, Denmark under the supervision of Sune Haugbolle/Samer Frangie. Mariam focuses in her thesis on the question of political activism and ideology production in general, and the historical conditions of communism/socialism and leftism, in Lebanon from the 1930s on.

Publications

Recent publications authored by Mariam include:

- Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi, Myriam Catusse, Miriam Younes, "From isqat an-nizam at-ta’ifi to the Garbage Crisis Movement: Political Identities and Antisectarian Movements", in Rosita di Peri, Daniel Meier (eds.), Lebanon facing the Arab Uprisings. Constraints and Adaptation, Palgrave 2016.

- “’A tale of two communists’ – The revolutionary projects of the Lebanese Communists Husayn Muruwah and Mahdi ‘Amil”, Arab Studies Journal, Spring 2016, p. 98-116.

-“The Specters of Marx in Edward Said’s Orientalism”, Die Welt des Islam 53, issue 2, 2013, p. 149-191.

Rossana Tufaro

Dr. Rossana Tufaro is a Research Fellow and a researcher in Contentious Politics - MENA at the Centre for Social Sciences Research and Action, with a focus on Lebanon and Jordan. In the past years, she devoted most of her research activities to the investigation of Lebanese labor history and the history of Lebanese popular politics in the global 1960s from a transnational perspective. Her main research interests include the history of popular and contentious politics in the Levantine region, the political economy of the MENA region, and the history of transnational radical cultures in the Mediterranean area. Over the years, she has lectured in a variety of international conferences and universities, and has been affiliated with numerous Lebanese and Italian academic institutions. Rossana is currently a teaching Assistant of Contemporary History of the Arab Middle East at the University of Rome “La Sapienza”. Rossana has a PhD in Studies on Africa and Asia, she specialised in the social and political history of contemporary Lebanon.

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6814-8736
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rossana.tuf/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rossana_tuf

Daniel L. Tavana

Daniel L. Tavana is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse (IAST) at Université Toulouse 1 Capitole. His research interests include a focus on elections, identity, and comparative political behavior, as well as the dynamics of political opposition in authoritarian regimes. He studies these issues in the Middle East and North Africa, where he uses a variety of methods and sources of data to study electoral politics. His research is motivated by a broader interest in understanding the origins of contemporary patterns of mass politics across the region. He received his Ph.D. from the Department of Politics at Princeton University in September 2021.

Website

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0633-2829

Recent publications authored by Daniel include:

- Tavana, D. (2018). “The Evolution of the Kuwaiti ‘Opposition’: Electoral Politics after the Arab Spring,” Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University.

- Harris, K. and D. Tavana (2017). “Voter Behavior and Political Mobilization in Iran: Findings from the Iran Social Survey,” European Middle East Research Group (EIRG).

- Tavana, D. (2017). “Egypt Five Years after the Uprisings: Findings from the Arab Barometer,” Arab Barometer.

Maissam Nimer

Maissam Nimer is a sociologist working in the fields of migration, education, language, and social and gender inequalities. She is currently involved in a project called Memovives, which seeks to examine the way in which intellectual production is transformed by exile. This project is carried out as part of the Labex les passés dans le futur, at Paris Nanterre University. She has carried out work at Koç University, Istanbul, dealing with the experiences of Syrian refugee youth in Turkey. As a Mercator IPC fellow at Sabanci University and recipient of a one-year Koç University Seed Grant, she further explored language learning among Syrian refugees in Turkey. Her doctoral dissertation at Paris Saclay University (PhD obtained in July 2016) looked at inequalities of access to higher education and mechanisms of action of an internationally funded development program in Lebanon. Her work has been published in international and regional academic journals including Gender and Education, Critical Sociology, Migration Studies, Third World Quarterly, Sociological Research Online, International Studies in Sociology of Education, Multilingua and New Perspectives on Turkey. She obtained her MSc from the London School of Economics and BS from the American University of Beirut.

Website

Publications

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9594-3463

Recent publication authored by Maissam include:

- "Prior identities and responses to habitus mismatch among scholarship students in a private elite university" (under review by British Journal of Sociology of Education).

- "Gendered family practices and emergence of dispositions 'to resist' in an elite university in Lebanon" (under review by Gender and Education).

- "Developing human capital or encouraging emigration? Case study of an international development program in Lebanon," in forthcoming, Cambridge Scholar Publishing.

- "Lutte contre les inégalités d’accès à l’enseignement supérieur au Liban : étude d’un programme de bourses," in Réussite scolaire, réussite professionnelle, l’apport des données longitudinales, XXIes journées d’étude sur les données longitudinales dans l’analyse du marché du travail, Dijon, Relief 48 Echanges du Céreq, 2014

- "La méritocratie néolibérale contre l’égalité sociale? Analyse d’un dispositif de développement destine aux étudiants libanais", Civil Society Review, Lebanon Support, 2014.

- "Liban: 'misère' de l’école publique", Les Carnets de l’Ifpo. La recherche en train de se faire à l’Institut Français du Proche-Orient (Hypotheses.org), 2013.

Abdalhadi Alijla

Abdalhadi Alijla is a social and political scientist and science advocate. He is the 2021 International Political Science Association Global South Award and the author of the “Trust in Divided Societies” by  Bloomsbury Academics and I.B.Tauris UK. He is the Co-Leader of Global Migration and Human Rights at Global Young Academy. He is a co-founder of Palestine Young Academy in 2020. He is an Associate Researcher and the Regional Manager of Varieties of Democracy Institute (Gothenburg University) for Gulf countries. He is a Post-doctoral fellow at the Orient Institute in Beirut (OIB). Since 2021, he is an associate fellow within SEPAD, sectarianism, proxies and de-sectorisation at Lancaster University. Since April 2018, He is an associate fellow at the Post-Conflict Research Center in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Abdalhadi has a PhD in Political Studies from the State University of Milan and an M.A. degree in Public Policy and Governance from Zeppelin University- Friedrichshafen, Germany. He has been granted several awards and scholarships, including DAAD (2009), RLC Junior Scientist (2010), UNIMI (2012), ICCROM (2010), Saud AL-Babtin(2002) among others. In 2016, he was a fellow of the Royal Society of Art and Science, UK.  He worked for many NGOs and INGOs in the Middle East and Europe such as Transparency International, GiZ, EU Maddad Fund for Syria Crisis, and UNV among others.  He is a member of the scientific and consultative committee of Center for Arab Unity Studies in Beirut. His writings appear on OpenDemocracy, Mondoweiss, Huffpost, Qantara, Your Middle East, Jaddaliya and other media outlets.  His main research interests are divided societies, Rebel Governance, Democracy, Social Capital, Middle East Studies,  and Comparative Politics.

Publications.

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3593-480X

Dalya Mitri

Dalya is a consultant and researcher who joined Lebanon Support in 2013 and has since published several papers and reports pertaining to civil society issues in Lebanon, specifically within the Gender Equity Network. She has previous experience in research, having participated in various projects related to civil society in the Arab world, and has a strong experience in managing development and humanitarian projects in both international and local organizations.
She holds an MA in History from the University of Geneva, Switzerland, and an MA in Political Science from Science-Po Paris, France.

Albert Charara

Albert Charara is a political scientist with experience in the fields of political analysis, conflict prevention and conflict resolution. Currently working at the Directorate of International Relations of the Barcelona Provincial Council, his professional activity has focused on the Euro-Mediterranean and Middle East regions. He has contributed to the success of political dialogue efforts in the Basque Country (Spain/France) and Kirkuk (Iraq) and has conducted qualitative research on the consequences of the Syrian humanitarian crisis in Lebanon and Iraq, among other projects. Albert obtained his MA in Conflict Studies and Human Rights from Utrecht University in 2017, and his BA in Political Science and Public Management from the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 2015.

Publications

Recent publication authored by Albert include:

- Charara, Albert. (May 10, 2018). “Why Kirkuk matters. A Kirkuk-centric approach to Iraqi elections and the country’s most immediate challenges.”. Notes Internacionals CIDOB. Available here.

- Charara, Albert. (2016). "Líbano, país de acogida: cinco años después". Universitat de Barcelona/(UN)Protected: Working papers. Available here.

- Charara, Albert. (October 14, 2016). "Nuevas guerras, nueva seguridad humana, ¿nueva Siria?". World Economic Forum. Available here.

- Charara, Albert. (March 16, 2016). "Cobijados bajo el cedro: refugiados sirios en el Líbano". Passim: Ideas y Análisis Internaciona/Arabia Watch. Available here.

Joey Ayoub

Joey Ayoub is a Ph.D. candidate in Cultural Analysis at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. He earned his B.S. in Environmental Health from the American University of Beirut in 2013, and his MA in Cultural Studies from SOAS, University of London in 2015. His research focuses on temporality and the politics of postwar cinema in Lebanon. In addition to Lebanon, his wider interests include postgrowth, solarpunk, gender & masculinity, post-2011 Syria/MENA and global implications, de-colonisation efforts in Israel/Palestine and global developments with a focus on environmental, intersectional/feminist and transnational politics. He was also the editor for the MENA region at Global Voices Online and IFEX. He currently hosts the podcast 'The Fire These Times' and runs the 'Hummus For Thought' newsletter.

Tiwtter: Twitter.com/joeyayoub
Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0720-6867

Sbeih Sbeih

Sbeih SBEIH, Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, IREMAM, LabexMed, Aix-en-Provence, France.

Postdoctoral fellow at IREMAM (Institute for Research and Study of the Arab and Muslim Worlds) LabexMed, Aix Marseille University and associate researcher at the French Institute in the Near East (IFPO). He defended his doctoral thesis in sociology, in 2014, at the Printemps laboratory at the Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University, on international development aid and the "professionalisation" of Palestinian NGOs. Subsequently, Mr. Sbeih taught at Birzeit University in Ramallah. As a researcher he has worked extensively in the Palestinian cultural field and is currently working on "new" Palestinian novelists. See: https://www.iremam.cnrs.fr/fr/sbeih-sbeih

Estella Carpi

Estella Carpi is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Migration Research Unit, Department of Geography, University College London (UCL), where she works in the framework of a European Research Council project on Southern-Led Responses to Displacement from Syria, with a focus on Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. She is presently a Visiting Researcher in the Department of Sociology at Koç Universitesi-Istanbul. She received her PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Sydney (Australia), with a study on the social response to humanitarian assistance provision in contemporary Lebanon. After studying Arabic in Milan and Damascus (2002-2008), she worked for several research and academic institutions in the Middle East, such as the New York University (Abu Dhabi), The Centre for Social Sciences Research and Action (Beirut), Trends Research & Advisory (Abu Dhabi), UN-Habitat (Beirut), the American University of Beirut, the United Nations Development Program-Egypt (Cairo), and the International Development Research Center (Cairo), mostly focusing on forced migrations, humanitarianism, and identity politics. She has lectured extensively in the Social Sciences in Italy and Australia. She has been selected as a 2020-25 Global Young Academy member. It is possible to read her work in international academic journals such as the Journal of Refugee Studies, Third World Quarterly, and Middle East Critique. Estella is also the author of Specchi Scomodi. Etnografia delle Migrazioni Forzate nel Libano Contemporaneo, published in Italian with Mimesis (2019). She loves conducting research on the places that have been part of her life.

Wordpress: www.mabisir.wordpress.com
Southern responses:https://southernresponses.org/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/estycrp

Mariam Eichbüchler

Mariam Eichbüchler interned at Lebanon Support in 2017. She did a prior internship at the German Orient Institute in Beirut where she also worked as a research assistant. Mariam holds two Bachelor degrees in English Language, Literature and Linguistics/Media Sciences and in Middle Eastern Studies and is currently finishing her Master's degree in Arabic-German translation.

Monia Bsat

Monia joined Lebanon Support in October 2018 as a communication intern for the purpose to gain more experience in the communication field. During her internship, Monia also assisted in research and coding tasks on the Civil Society Knowledge Centre, notably the Conflict Analysis Project, as well as in planning for the centre’s events. After that, she was hired as a Coding and Communication Assistant. Monia holds a BA in Public Relations from the American University of Science and Technology.

Simona Baloghova

Simona interned at Lebanon Support as a project assistant in 2014 and 2015, helping in the development of the Gender Equity and Conflict Analysis projects. She also managed the virtual resources libraries. Simona holds a BA in English-Arabic Translation from Damascus University and is currently completing her Bachelor of Political Science at the Lebanese University.

Asser Khattab

Asser interned at Lebanon Support in 2017, he assisted in research and data collection on the Civil Society Knowledge Centre, notably the Gender Equity Network and Conflict Analysis Project. Asser is a multilingual freelance journalist from Syria. He holds a BA in Media from Damascus University and has covered the Syrian war for four years for various local and international media outlets before he moved to Sudan and then to Lebanon.

Jozie Yusof

Jozie interned with Lebanon Support in 2018. During this time, she contributed to research for the Civil Society Knowledge Centre, notably, under the Migration, Mobility and Circulation project, where she was responsible for drafting timelines and articles on refugee returns and migrant domestic labour in Lebanon. She also assisted in content creation for the Civil Society Incubator. Jozie holds a degree in Political Science from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and is currently completing her Masters in International Public Management at Sciences Po Paris, with concentrations in Middle East Studies and Migrations.

Hala Najjar

Hala interned at Lebanon Support in 2014. She mainly collaborated on the Gender Equity Network project and the Conflict Analysis Project, as well as assisted the centre in organizing events. Hala is currently a legal researcher at the Legal Agenda. She has undertaken several internships in the Lebanese Parliament and in International and Local NGOs, in which she worked as a researcher, translator, responsible for the media monitoring, security updates, the fortnightly and quarter report. Hala holds a bachelor degree in Law and a Bachelor in Administrative and Political Science from the USJ Lebanon.

Charlotte Peltre

Charlotte Peltre was an intern at Lebanon Support in 2016. She is completing her Master's degree in Political Science and International Relations at Sciences Po in Aix-en- Provence in France and at the University of Freiburg in Germany. She did former internships at the German Ministry of Development and Cooperation in the department for migrants and refugees and at the canadian NGO "Social Justice Connection".

Amer Saliba

Amer joined Lebanon Support as an intern in February 2020. He is working with the Civil Society Knowledge Centre team, coding the daily collective actions in Lebanon, and also assisting in translation and desk research among other administrative tasks. He previously worked as a Research Intern at the Middle East Institute for Research and Strategic Studies (MEIRSS) where he conducted desk research and assisted in writing two papers on the Iraqi and the Iranian protests movements.    
Amer holds a BA in Political Studies from the American University of Beirut. 

Joy Saade

Joy joined Lebanon Support in 2018 as an intern for the Communications department and Civil Society Incubator progarmme. During her time at the organisation, Joy participated in the establishment of the Civil Society Incubator’s blog series on gender mainstreaming as well as conducting research and data collection for projects within the programme. She assisted the Content and Communication Officer in Daleel Madani, as well as in the preparation of several bulletins that are sent to Lebanon Support's newletter subscribers. Joy holds a combined BA in Political Science and Historical Studies, and a Major in English Literature from the University of Toronto. She is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut.

Camille Zouein

Camille joined Lebanon Support in February 2019 as a research assistant within the Civil Society Knowledge Centre. She notably worked on the Conflict Analysis project and contributed to the redaction of the Conflict Analysis Bulletin as well as the data collection and mapping of  Security Incidents, Collective Actions, and Public Decisions. Camille is currently undertaking a Masters in Social Sciences, Population & Development Expertise, in Paris Descartes University.

 

Camille Lons

Camille is a contributor and former intern of Lebanon Support. She holds a Master's degree in International Relations from Sciences Po Aix and is currently finishing her studies at the London School of Economics (MSc Population and Development) and at the University of Aix-Marseille (Middle eastern studies).

Marisa Raiser

Marisa Raiser was an intern at Lebanon Support in 2017. Currently, she is completing her bachelor degrees in Political Science and Islamic Science at the University of Freiburg. She has previously interned at several German organizations which target the issues refugees and migration.

Witold Dubus

Witold was an Intern at Lebanon Support during the spring of 2019 within the Civil Society Knowledge Centre. He contributed to several research projects, notably the RESPOND plan part of the Horizon 2020 programme as well as projects regarding conflicts, refugees and sustainability. His previous NGO experiences include participation in organisations in Poland, India and Morocco. Witold holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Middle Eastern Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies and is finalising his Master’s Degree, in July 2019, centred on the Mediterranean: the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree Program - MIM Crossing the Mediterranean - towards investment and integration.

Sophie Schmid

Sophie interned at Lebanon Support in 2013. She assisted in researching and mapping different kinds of human rights violations in Lebanon on the Civil Society Knowledge Centre. She has further work experience in Quranic manuscript studies from the German research project “Corpus Coranicum” and has done an internship at the German Orient Institute in Beirut. Sophie Schmid holds a B.A. in Islamic Studies and Anthropology from the University of Zurich and an M.A. in Arabic Studies from the Free University of Berlin.

Nora Lajarge

Nora interned at Lebanon Support in 2017. During her time at the organisation, she mainly assisted in research and data mapping on the Civil Society Knowledge Centre, notably for the Conflict Analysis Project and Gender Equity Network. She did a prior internship at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris, following Gender and Middle East countries issues. Nora recently completed her Masters in International Relations from Sciences Po Aix.

Cybele Atme

Cybele interned at Lebanon Support in October 2018. She worked on the Migration, Mobility and Circulation Project, nested within the Civil Society Knowledge Centre. She contributed to setting up timelines and other research tasks. After that, she was hired as a research assistant for a migration project at Lebanon Support. Her research interests include; economic anthropology, humanitarian assistance, science and technology studies (STS), politics of bordering and critical security studies. Cybele has BA in Sociology and Anthropology from the American University of Beirut and is pursuing a Research Masters in International Development Studies at the University of Amsterdam.

Manon Glaser

Manon has interned at Lebanon Support in 2015, subsequently working for a short time as Assistant Research and Research Officer. During her time in the organisation, she mainly worked on the Conflict Analysis Project, as well as on developing the research platform by liaising with contributors and editing research papers and articles. Following her position within Lebanon Support, she moved back to Paris to join Crisis Action where she holds a position as a Campaigns and Research Assistant. Manon holds an MA in International Peace and Security from King’s College London.

Lisa Dorith Kool

Lisa Dorith Kool interned at Lebanon Support in 2016. She assisted in research and data collection for projects on the Civil Society Knowledge Centre, notably the Gender Equity Network and Conflict Analysis Project. She also worked on developing research on Syrian LGBTIQ refugees in Lebanon. Lisa holds a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and Religious Studies from University College Utrecht and is currently continuing her studies in Arabic language.

Isabel Cerrada

Isabel Cerrada is currently an intern at the centre, she joined the team in the summer of 2022. She is responsible for assisting the co-directors in managing and administrating the centre. She is currently pursuing a Double Major in Law and International Relations at the Francisco de Vitoria University in Spain. Isabel was an exchange student at USEK-Holy Spirit University of Kaslik for one semester. During this academic year she discovered her passion for the Middle East. She is also a volunteer at the Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH), at the Communications and Advocacy department.

Guusje Somer

Guusje interned at Lebanon Support in 2018. During her time at the organisation, she assisted in research and data collection on the Civil Society Knowledge Centre, notably the Gender Equity Network. She also contributed to the launch of the Migration Library by collecting sources. Guusje holds a degree in Interdisciplinary Social Sciences from the University of Amsterdam and the University of Cape Town. She will also be pursuing a Master's degree at the War Studies department of King's College London starting fall 2018.

Melina de Siqueira

Melina was a research intern in Lebanon Support in 2015. During her internship, she conducted a survey on local gender actors, which subsequently served as a basis for the development of a report assessing the state of gender actors and interventions in Lebanon: Overview of Gender Actors & Interventions in Lebanon, between emancipation and implementation (2016). She holds a Bachelor Degree in Social Communication and is currently completing a Master in Political Sciences with a focus on the Arab World. She speaks five languages, and is specializing in gender issues in the Arab World through several internships in Lebanon.

Negin Najjarnejad

Negin Najjarnejad was a research intern at Lebanon Support. She is a junior development practitioner and an independent researcher, currently based in Beirut. Negin has an MA degree in Development Studies from York University. Her research interests revolve around the fields of gender-based violence, conflict resolution, and social justice in the humanitarian context. She has previously collaborated with a number of local and international NGOs in Lebanon such as the Danish Refugee Council, KAFA, and ABAAD.

Maria Sebas

Maria Sebas was an intern at Lebanon Support in 2016. She is completing her Bachelor's Degree in History and Political Science at the University of California, San Diego. During the academic year, she works as the news editor for UCSD's newspaper. In addition, during the summer of 2015, she took courses in Arabic and Political Science at Birzeit University in Palestine.

Chloe Aldridge

Chloe interned at Lebanon Support in 2018. During her time at the organisation, Chloe contributed to both the Conflict Analysis Project and the Civil Society Incubator programme. Chloe previously interned at NGOs in Dublin, Ireland, and Seoul, South Korea as an Monitoring & Evaluation and Research Assistant, respectively. She holds a BA in International Relations and Global Studies- International Security Track, with a minor in Middle Eastern Studies from The University of Texas at Austin, and an MPhil in International Peace Studies from Trinity College Dublin.

Marie Murray

Marie Murray joined the team in Spring 2019 as a volunteer in order to learn more about the thematic research projects and civic engagement work that Lebanon Support undertakes. Her experiences include working as regional director for an international youth NGO, conducting extensive research on Lebanese emigrants, and freelance writing. In addition to her interest in international social issues, Marie is also passionate about writing fiction. She holds a BA in International Studies from Ramapo College of New Jersey, and an MA in International Affairs from the Lebanese American University.

Nabil Rabah

Nabil interned at Lebanon Support in 2015 and 2016. He participated in the Conflict Analysis Project, notably working on the mapping of conflict incidents, and contributed in making it a large and precise database concerning the security, social and legal challenges ongoing in Lebanon. Nabil graduated in 2016 with a bachelor in Social Science from Sciences Po Paris.