Description:
I studied political science and Middle Eastern studies at Sciences Po Paris and the American University of Beirut for my undergraduate degree. I then completed a Master’s degree in urban policy at Sciences-Po Paris and another postgraduate degree in urban geography at the London School of Economics. After practising as an urban development professional for the German development agency GIZ and the urban planning and design branch of UN-Habitat in Tunisia, Egypt and Kenya for several years, I joined the Department of Geography of Durham University in October 2016 as a PhD candidate. I am currently undertaking field research in used goods markets in Tunisia’s capital city Tunis, as I am interested in the complex circulations, everyday negotiations and hybrid governance mechanisms that constitute these particular urban spaces and influence social and political relations in the wider city. I have long been involved in social work and non-profit education initiatives, in contexts as diverse as Uganda, Lebanon, France and Germany. I have also initiated and implemented arts education projects independently, most recently a film city project for children and youth in cooperation with an independent film school in Cairo. With my on-going research in urban geography, I aim to engage in different forms of collaborative practice, bridging the gap between art practice, knowledge production and activism in order to look at urban change processes from numerous different perspectives.
