A researcher, analyst and project leader having lived and worked mostly in the MENA region for the past 25 years, I specialise in forced-migration (refugees and IDPs), religion in development and conflict, cultural diversity, and the socioeconomic and governance aspects of cultural heritage and protected areas. My professional experience straddles applied and scholarly research, project design and management, monitoring and evaluation, training and capacity-building together with leadership and facilitation. I combine an in-depth knowledge of the polities, societies and cultures of the Middle East with a thorough understanding of humanitarian and development policies, requirements and operational environments.
On refugees and internal displacement, I have led or collaborated to policy analyses, surveys, needs and gap assessments and project or performance evaluations for international organisations and think tanks (EU, UN Office of Internal Oversight Services, NGOs, Brookings Institution, Middle East Institute, etc.). My most recent assignment is an evaluation of the protection environment for Syrian refugees in Turkey in the context of EU’s support to the country. On displacement in Iraq and Iraqi refugees, I have led or been involved in several research programmes, am a published author, a regular speaker at international conferences, and a country-of-origin expert for the European Asylum Support Office.
I have researched and published on religion's intersection with other factors (social and political identification and participation, access to resources, conflict, forced displacement, tribal and national identities, culture and heritage) in the Jordanian and Iraqi contexts, and have performed conflict sensitivity analyses for educational and development projects in complex and/or tense multi-confessional environments.
On the socioeconomic, governance and management aspects of protected areas and cultural heritage, I have completed several medium-term assignments for UNDP and USAID in Syria (Abu Qubais, Fronloq and Jebel Abdel Aziz) and Jordan (Petra and Wadi Rum), and for UNESCO, IUCN and the NGO Nature Iraq in the marshlands of southern Iraq and major Sumerian archaeological sites (Ur, Uruk and Eridu). I provide regular advisory services to the Iraqi Ministries of Culture and Water Resources to develop and implement participatory management planning for World Heritage cultural and natural sites.
I also consult on cultural diversity and intangible cultural heritage for national institutions (to date in Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Algeria and Palestine) more specifically on culture/heritage and development, participatory planning and management, and training and capacity-building. I am involved with UNESCO in efforts to understand how disasters affect the intangible cultural heritage of communities, and how their living heritage helps individuals and groups recover and rebuild social cohesion and livelihoods in emergency situations. In this context, I have authored a report on the impact of conflict and displacement on cultural diversity in Northern Iraq under ISIS; I have also designed and coordinated participatory needs assessments among Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan and internally displaced persons in North-Kivu (DRC).
Between 2011 and 2014, I was Culture Programme Specialist/Project Manager at the UNESCO Office for Iraq and oversaw and/or provided technical input into a large and diverse portfolio of projects including inter alia capacity development to combat the illicit traffic of cultural property, the drafting of a national tourism strategy with a focus on cultural and religious tourism, the institutional and physical modernisation of the Sulaymaniyah Museum, studies for the conservation and restoration of historic buildings in Baghdad and Mosul, trainings in manuscript and book conservation, and the creation of a UNESCO Chair for inter-religious dialogue studies.
Under various statuses, I have long been a researcher with the French Institute in the Near East (Ifpo). Previously, I was a Jean Monnet then Marie Curie Post-Doctoral Fellow at the European University Institute, Florence, and an Adjunct Professor at the Graduate Institute of Development Studies, University of Geneva, where I lectured on conflict, emergency and development.
I have degrees in English, Arabic and sociology, and a doctorate in History and Civilisation from the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS) in Paris, and am based between southwestern France and Amman, Jordan.
On refugees and internal displacement, I have led or collaborated to policy analyses, surveys, needs and gap assessments and project or performance evaluations for international organisations and think tanks (EU, UN Office of Internal Oversight Services, NGOs, Brookings Institution, Middle East Institute, etc.). My most recent assignment is an evaluation of the protection environment for Syrian refugees in Turkey in the context of EU’s support to the country. On displacement in Iraq and Iraqi refugees, I have led or been involved in several research programmes, am a published author, a regular speaker at international conferences, and a country-of-origin expert for the European Asylum Support Office.
I have researched and published on religion's intersection with other factors (social and political identification and participation, access to resources, conflict, forced displacement, tribal and national identities, culture and heritage) in the Jordanian and Iraqi contexts, and have performed conflict sensitivity analyses for educational and development projects in complex and/or tense multi-confessional environments.
On the socioeconomic, governance and management aspects of protected areas and cultural heritage, I have completed several medium-term assignments for UNDP and USAID in Syria (Abu Qubais, Fronloq and Jebel Abdel Aziz) and Jordan (Petra and Wadi Rum), and for UNESCO, IUCN and the NGO Nature Iraq in the marshlands of southern Iraq and major Sumerian archaeological sites (Ur, Uruk and Eridu). I provide regular advisory services to the Iraqi Ministries of Culture and Water Resources to develop and implement participatory management planning for World Heritage cultural and natural sites.
I also consult on cultural diversity and intangible cultural heritage for national institutions (to date in Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Algeria and Palestine) more specifically on culture/heritage and development, participatory planning and management, and training and capacity-building. I am involved with UNESCO in efforts to understand how disasters affect the intangible cultural heritage of communities, and how their living heritage helps individuals and groups recover and rebuild social cohesion and livelihoods in emergency situations. In this context, I have authored a report on the impact of conflict and displacement on cultural diversity in Northern Iraq under ISIS; I have also designed and coordinated participatory needs assessments among Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan and internally displaced persons in North-Kivu (DRC).
Between 2011 and 2014, I was Culture Programme Specialist/Project Manager at the UNESCO Office for Iraq and oversaw and/or provided technical input into a large and diverse portfolio of projects including inter alia capacity development to combat the illicit traffic of cultural property, the drafting of a national tourism strategy with a focus on cultural and religious tourism, the institutional and physical modernisation of the Sulaymaniyah Museum, studies for the conservation and restoration of historic buildings in Baghdad and Mosul, trainings in manuscript and book conservation, and the creation of a UNESCO Chair for inter-religious dialogue studies.
Under various statuses, I have long been a researcher with the French Institute in the Near East (Ifpo). Previously, I was a Jean Monnet then Marie Curie Post-Doctoral Fellow at the European University Institute, Florence, and an Adjunct Professor at the Graduate Institute of Development Studies, University of Geneva, where I lectured on conflict, emergency and development.
I have degrees in English, Arabic and sociology, and a doctorate in History and Civilisation from the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS) in Paris, and am based between southwestern France and Amman, Jordan.
