Research Staff

Aisha Al-Sarihi, Research Officer

Aisha Al-Sarihi is Research Officer at the Kuwait Programme working on Climate Change in GCC States. Aisha is completing her doctoral thesis at the Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London. 

Dr Valeria Cetorelli, Research Officer

Valeria Cetorelli is currently working on a large-scale mortality and health survey among households displaced by the Islamic State into the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Her research revolves around the political and social determinants of population health.

Dr Filippo Dionigi, Leverhulme Research Fellow 

Filippo Dionigi is researching the impact of the Syrian refugee crisis on Arab statehood from a comparative perspective. In addition, Filippo is leading on a capacity-building project, in collaboration with Tunis University,  to enhance the didactic capacity of Tunis Business School (TBS), on the level of International Relations teaching.

Dr Fatima El-Issawi, Assistant Professorial Research Fellow

Fatima El-Issawi is leading on a collaboration project with the American University of Dubai entitled 'Arab National Media and Politics: Democracy Revisited', looking at changes in media practices in traditional media industries in Morocco and Algeria. 

Dr Courtney Freer, Research Officer

Courtney Freer's thesis focused on revising rentier state theory by examining the socio-political role played by Muslim Brotherhood affiliates in the so-called 'super-rentiers' of Kuwait, Qatar, and the UAE.

Dr Aula Hariri, Research Officer

Aula Hariri is Research Officer at the LSE Middle East Centre, currently working on the Historical Sociology of the Middle East. This research builds on her thesis which examined the role of the Iraqi Independence Movement on state formation in Iraq between 1914-1958.

Dr Steffen Hertog, Associate Professor in Comparative Politics

Steffen Hertog is lead researcher on 'The Comparative Political Economy of the MENA Region' project in the Kuwait Programme. He is also Associate Professor in Comparative Politics in the Department of Government. 

Dr Zeynep Kaya, Research Fellow

Zeynep Kaya is Research Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre and Research Officer at the LSE Centre for Women, Peace and Security. She is currently leading a project on responses to internal displacement in Iraqi Kurdistan. 

Dr Cristina Moreno Almeida, Research Officer

Cristina Moreno Almeida is Research Officer working on the project ‘Personalised Media and Participatory Culture’ at the LSE Middle East Centre and the Department of Media and Communications.

Dr Aitemad Muhanna-Matar, Assistant Professorial Research Fellow

Aitemad Muhanna-Matar is currently conducting research on Salafist youth in Tunisia and their process of subjectification. 

Haneen Naamneh, Research Assistant

Haneen is Research Assitant on the project The Regulation of Palestinian Everyday Life’ run in collaboration with Birzeit University.