People
Centre Staff, Researchers & Visitors
Leadership
Katerina Dalacoura | Director
k.dalacoura@lse.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)20 7955 6198
Robert Lowe | Deputy Director
r.lowe@lse.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)20 7955 6365
Alistair McGuire | Kuwait Chair
a.j.mcguire@lse.ac.uk
Tel: +44(0)20 7955 6176
Nadine Almanasfi | Events and Engagement Manager
Nesrin Alrefaai | Arabic Managing Editor
Mustafa Al-Soufi | Programme Coordinator, PeaceRep Iraq
Amira Djuric | Communications Coordinator (on maternity leave)
a.djuric@lse.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)20 7955 7497
Hala Haidar | Communications Coordinator (maternity cover)
h.haidar@lse.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)20 7955 7497
Salma Ibrahim | Doctoral Affiliate
Yasmeen Jaber | Centre Administrator
Y.Abdel-Jaber@lse.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)20 7955 6198
Kendall Livingston | Projects and Research Development Manager
k.livingston@lse.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)20 7955 3625
Michael Mason | Palestine Programme Director
m.mason@lse.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)20 7852 3661
Mercedes Masters | Programme Manager, Kuwait Programme
m.c.masters@lse.ac.uk
Tel: +44(0)20 7955 6639
Jack McGinn | Communications Manager
j.mcginn@lse.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)20 7955 6932
Salma Moustafa Khalili | Assistant Editor
s.i.moustafa-khalil@lse.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)20 7955 6250
Dr Nidal Al Haj Sleiman | Research Officer
Nidal is Kuwait Research Officer for the Kuwait Programme. Nidal focuses education policy in Kuwait and the wider Gulf Region.
Dr Arda Bilgen | Research Officer
Arda is Research Officer working on the project 'Surface Water Changes in the Euphrates-Tigris Basin since 1984 and their Governance Implications for Iraq'.
Dr Kamaran Palani | Research Officer
Kamaran is Research Officer for PeaceRep– Iraq. He is the PI for the project, conducting research on the drivers of conflict and state fragmentation in Iraq.
Greg Shapland | Research Fellow
Greg is Principal Investigator and UKRI FCDO Senior Research Fellow on the project, ‘The Political Economy of Water in the MENA Region: A Cross-Regional Assessment’.
Dr Polly Withers | Research Officer
Polly is a Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre, where she leads the project 'Neoliberal Visions: Gendering Consumer Culture and its Resistances in the Levant'.
Richard Barltrop | Visiting Senior Fellow
Richard's research focuses on contemporary international approaches to peacemaking and why peace processes fail or succeed, with a focus on Yemen, Sudan, and South Sudan.
Marouf Cabi | Visiting Fellow
Marouf is interested in the social and cultural histories of Kurdistan and Iran, as well as political and social movements, especially since WWII, and modern history-writing.
Jessica Northey | Visiting Fellow
Jessica’s research focuses on the work of charities, youth and local activists in different political systems and their potential to contribute to reform, with a focus on Algeria.
Mostafa Khalili | Visiting Fellow
Mostafa is an Assistant Professor at the Hakubi Center for Advanced Research at Kyoto University. His research interests includes exploring ethnicity and minority nationalism from an anthropological angle, with a particular focus on politically unstable regions.
Aitemad Muhanna-Matar | Visiting Senior Fellow
Aitemad's research focuses on gender, agency, and radicalisation. She served on multiple projects across Arab countries and the Middle East including at LSE, UNDP, and CARA.
Dr Sana Murrani | Visiting Senior Fellow
Sana's research focuses on built, destroyed, and imagined geographies of war, violence and displacement in the Middle East, with a focus on Iraq.
Reza Omidi | Visiting Fellow
Reza's research focuses on social inequalities, solidarity, political economy, and social policy developments in Iran.
Dena Qaddumi | Visiting Senior Fellow
Dena is a scholar of urban politics and the built environment and has conducted research in Palestine, Qatar, and Tunisia.
Durukan Imrie-Kuzu | Visiting Senior Fellow
Dr Durukan Imrie-Kuzu is a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Middle East Centre, LSE, and an editor of Nations and Nationalism at LSE IDEAS. His research examines Kurdish responses to Syrian refugee governance in Turkey and its implications for minority politics, citizenship and regional security.
Necla Acik | Visiting Fellow
Dr Necla Acik’s research focuses on Kurdish Gender Studies, including the development of the Kurdish Gender Studies Network (KGSN), alongside work on migration, diaspora, radicalisation, and participation, employing a wide range of mixed methods, from survey design and analysis to participatory, arts-based, and ethnographic approaches.
Omar Al-Ghazzi | Assistant Professor
Omar is Assistant Professor at the Department of Media and Communications. He researches the reporting and representation of conflict, digital journalism and the politics of time and memory, focusing on the Middle East and North Africa.
Sara Alqaiwani | Guest Teacher
Sara is a teacher of International History at LSE, where she completed her PhD, and J-Term Visiting Professor at NYU-Abu Dhabi. She has also worked as an opera singer. Her interests are on MENA, decolonisation, gender and the performing arts.
Roham Alvandi | Associate Professor
Roham is Associate Professor of International History at LSE. His current research focuses on global human rights activism and the origins of the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
Nigel Ashton | Professor
Nigel is Professor of International History at LSE. His main research surrounds the fields of contemporary Anglo-American relations and the international history of the Middle East.
Lydia Assouad | Assistant Professor
Lydia is Assistant Professor of International Development at LSE. Her research lies at the intersection of political economy, development economics and economic history, with a particular focus on the Middle East.
Dr Deema Awad | Assistant Professor
Deema is currently LSE Fellow in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science where she teaches on the BSc Psychological and Behavioural Science programme.
Martin W. Bauer | Professor
Martin is Professor of Social Psychology in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science at the LSE, and Co-PI on the Kuwait Programme project on science culture in Kuwait.
Federica Bicchi | Associate Professor
Federica is Associate Professor of International Relations of Europe at LSE. Her research interest lies in EU foreign policy and external relations - especially as they relate to the Middle East and to the Mediterranean.
Ryan Centner | Assistant Professor
Ryan is Assistant Professor of Urban Geography at LSE. His research revolves around a core interest in urban transformation at the nexus of social, spatial, and economic change.
John Chalcraft | Professor
John is Professor of Middle East History and Politics at the Department of Government. He works on history and politics ‘from below’ in the modern Middle East and North Africa.
Ernestina Coast | Professor
Ernestina is Professor of Health and International Development at the Department of International Development at LSE.
Joan Costa-i-Font | Associate Professor
Joan is Associate Professor (Reader) in Health Economics at the Department of Health Policy at LSE.
Nuno F. da Cruz | Senior Associate
Nuno is a Senior Associate at LSE Cities and an interdisciplinary academic working in the field of urban governance.
Muna Dajani | LSE Fellow
Muna is an LSE Fellow in Environment in the Department of Geography and Environment at LSE. Her work aims to understand environmental and water governance through decolonial and critical lenses.
Hassan Damluji | Senior Visiting Fellow
Hassan is a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Department of International Relations at LSE. He is co-founder of Global Nation, a think/do-tank that reimagines international cooperation.
Yazan Doughan | Assistant Professor
Yazan is Assistant Professor at the Department of Anthropology. He researches the question of social justice in contemporary postcolonial contexts, particularly in Jordan.
Shereen Fernandez | ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow
Shereen is a Fellow at LSE100. Her research looks at global Islamophobia, particularly technologies of pre-emptive securitisation and surveillance, with a focus on racialised Muslims.
George Gaskell | Emeritus Professor
George is Emeritus Professor of Social Psychology and Research Methodology at the Department of Methodology at LSE.
Mazen Gharibah | Research Associate
Mazen is Research Associate at the Conflict and Civil Society Research Unit in the Department of International Development at LSE. His work focuses on the role of governance during and post conflict with a focus on Syria.
Pooya Ghoddousi | LSE Fellow
Pooya is an LSE Fellow in Human Geography in the Department of Geography and Environment. His research focuses on nomadism, identity and Iran.
Jeremy Ginges | Professor
Jeremy is a Professor in Behavioural Science. His research focuses on two related problems: how do humans decide whether to cooperate across cultural boundaries, and why do people sacrifice everything (their own lives, the lives of loved ones) for an abstract cause like nation or god?
Alexandra Gomes | Research Fellow
Alexandra is Research Fellow at LSE Cities and is PI on a ACAUP projectand Co-PI on a Kuwait Programme project. Her projects focus on urban planning, public space and mobilty.
Yaprak Gürsoy | Professor
Yaprak is Chair of Contemporary Turkish Studies at LSE. Her main areas of interest are Turkey’s relations with the West and the UK, and Turkish politics in comparison with Europe.
Ellen Helsper | Professor
Ellen is Professor of Digital Inequalities at the Department of Media and Communications. She is a Co-PI on the Kuwait Programme project 'Evaluating Digital Skills and Tangible Outcomes in Kuwait'.
Steffen Hertog | Associate Professor
Steffen is Associate Professor in Comparative Politics in the Department of Government. Steffen’s main interest lies in Gulf and Middle East political economy, with a specific focus on the political economy of public sectors, state-business relations and labour markets.
Jennifer Jackson-Preece | Associate Professor
Jennifer is Associate Professor in Nationalism at the European Institute and the Department of International Relations at LSE. She is PI on an MEC collaboration project with UAEU.
Naila Kabeer | Emeritus Professor
Naila is Professor of Gender and Development at LSE. Her research interests include gender, poverty, and social exclusion, her research is mostly focused on South and South East Asia.
Emrah Karakus | LSE Fellow
Emrah is a Fellow in the Department of Gender Studies at LSE. His interdisciplinary research lies at the intersection of cultural anthropology, critical security studies, and gender and sexuality studies, with a focus on the modern Middle East.
Adnan Khan | Professor in Practice
Adnan is Professor at the School of Public Policy. He works on state capacity and fragility, development and geoeconomics. He has worked as Chief Economist and Director Analysis at FCDO and at the International Growth Centre.
Mohsen Khezri | Visiting Senior Fellow
Mohsen is Visiting Senior Fellow at the Department of Geography and Environment at LSE. His research applies advanced econometric methodologies to investigate critical issues in environmental and energy economics, intending to inform policy decisions in oil-exporting nations.
Tiziana Leone | Professor
Tiziana is Professor in Health and International Development at LSE.
Sara Mehryar | Research Fellow
Sara is a research fellow at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. Her research is mainly focused on supporting decision-making and governance of climate change adaptation and resilience.
Anahita Motazed Rad | Visiting Senior Fellow
Anahita is Visiting Senior Fellow in the Department of International Relations, LSE. Her research focuses on international politics and development in the Middle East, specifically in Iran.
Susana Mourato | Professor
Susana is Professor of Environmental Economics, Academic Director of LSE Summer School, and Associate of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
Mohamed Saleh | Associate Professor
Mohamed is Associate Professor of Economic History at LSE. His research is focused on the Economic History of the Middle East and North Africa.
Sara Salem | Assistant Professor
Sara is Assistant Professor at the Department of Sociology. Her work explores the connections between postcolonial theory and Marxism, with special attention to the context of Egypt.
Hakan Sandal-Wilson | Assistant Professor
Hakan is Assistant Professor of Gender, Peace and Security at the Department of Gender Studies, LSE. His research critically interrogates gender and sexuality in relation to war, peace and conflict, as well as ethnicity, religion, and migration.
Romola Sanyal | Associate Professor
Romola is Associate Professor in Urban Geography at LSE. Her research focuses on the relationship between forced migration and urbanisation with a focus on India and Lebanon.
Hakan Seckinelgin | Associate Professor
Hakan is Associate Professor at the Department of Social Policy at LSE. His work focuses on both the epistemology and politics of international social policy.
Jennifer Sheehy-Skeffington | Assistant Professor
Jennifer is Assistant Professor of Social Psychology at LSE. Her research investigates the psychological impact of experiencing low socioeconomic status at times of rising inequality.
Hyun Bang Shin | Professor
Hyun is Professor of Geography and Urban Studies at LSE. He is PI on the Kuwait Programme project 'Asian Capital and the Rise of Smart Urbanism in Kuwait'.
Ganga Shreedhar | Assistant Professor
Ganga is Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science at LSE. She is interested in how, when and why people take action – or fail to – to address complex global environmental social dilemmas.
Gagan Sood | Assistant Professor
Gagan is Assistant Professor at the Department of International History at LSE. His main research interests lie in the Middle East and South Asia between the 17th and 19th centuries.
Swenja Surminski | Professor in Practice
Swenja is a Professor in Practice at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, and PI on a Kuwait Programme project on flood resilience in Kuwait.
Buğra Süsler | Visiting Fellow
Buğra is Visiting Fellow at LSE IDEAS. His research focuses on Turkish foreign policy, emerging powers, and international conflict and cooperation.
Miriam Tresh | Assistant Professorial Lecturer
Miriam is Assistant Professorial Lecturer at the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science at LSE. Her research looks at public perceptions and the psychological impact of Covid-19 in Libya.
Mai Taha | Assistant Professor
Mai is an Assistant Professor in Human Rights at the Department of Sociology. Mai has written on international law and empire, human rights, labour movements, class and gender relations, and care work and social reproduction.
Rim Turkmani | Research Fellow
Rim is Research Fellow at the Conflict and Civil Society Research Unit at LSE. She directs the Syria conflict research programme at the Unit.
James Walters | Professor in Practice
Jim is Professor in Practice in the Department of International Relations and leads the LSE Religion and Global Society research unit. He is active in interfaith dialogues across the Middle East and leads educational visits to Israel and Palestine that deepen students’ understanding of the religious dimensions of the conflict.
Frederick Wojnarowski | Research Fellow
Frederick is a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Anthropology. Fred is interested in the political and economic anthropology and history of the Middle East, especially Jordan, as well as broader questions of social change and socio-political categorisation.