Faculty Network
Dr. Abdullah M. Awad is the founding director of the Institute, where he convenes seminars and research programs at the intersection of Arab and Western thought. His work spans the fields of intellectual history, aesthetics, and religion, and he lectures internationally on education, the humanities, and the role of knowledge production in the Arab world. A Herchel Smith Fellow at the University of Cambridge, he was previously a fellow in history at Harvard University.
Dr. Rana B. Dajani is a professor of science and society at the Institute, and of biology at the Hashemite University. She is an authority on the genetics of the Circassian and Chechen populations in Jordan. Her research focuses on stem cells, epigenetics, and intergenerational trauma, while her civil society and grassroots initiatives have transformed stem cell research laws, female empowerment, and literacy in Jordan and internationally. She was formerly a Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard University.
Dr. Hussam Hussein is a senior research fellow in Environmental Politics at the Institute and a research associate in International Relations at the University of Oxford, having previously been an executive director at the Royal Scientific Society in Jordan. His research focuses on the role of discourses in shaping water policies in the Middle East, transboundary water governance, and critical hydropolitics, as well as wider issues related to the political economy of environmental governance.
Dr. Shahd Hammouri is an academic and international lawyer. Her research and teaching focus on international law, legal and critical theory, and the complicity of economic actors in illegal occupations. She is the author of the forthcoming book: Corporate War Profiteering and International Law (Cambridge University Press). A senior legal consultant at Law for Palestine, she is also a non-resident fellow at Al Haq for Applied International Law.
Dr. Kaveh Abbasian is a filmmaker and scholar whose work focuses on archive-based audiovisual research, refugee filmmaking, Kurdish cinema, and the film culture of Iran. His recent feature-length film, Triumph (2022), is an essay documentary about the contrasting narratives of the contemporary history of Iran since the 1979 Revolution. His works have been screened in film festivals and exhibitions worldwide, including the Venice Biennale and the Havana International Film Festival.
Dr. alma aamiry-khasawnih is a scholar of social movements, women's issues, and aesthetics. Her research focuses on urgent ephemera, works such as graffiti, stencils, stickers, and wheatpaste which are produced during moments of political, social, and cultural unrest. Her current research focuses on the ongoing 25 January Egyptian Revolution, examining ephemera that help orient, disorient, and reorient feminist debates on collectivity and belonging outside the construct of the nation-state.
Institute Staff
Sarah Aeshan tends to the Institute's library. Having studied anthropology and political science at Harvard University and the American University of Beirut, she now undertakes research at the intersection of state formation and the arts. Sarah's previous work in journalism and the legal sector informs her current work at the Institute.
Malek Zuaiter manages projects at the intersection of curricular reform, virtue ethics, and Arab-Islamic history. His research also explores sociological questions about the role of Sufism in modern society, the history and practice of decolonization, and the relationship between individual privacy and the surveillance state.
Ahmad Hani is the space and program coordinator of the Institute, where he manages the daily operations of the programs in Arabic and English. Having studied English literature, he has taught Arabic and English in public schools and privately, developing case-specific curricula for his students.
Faris Ahmad is the administrative manager of the Institute's research projects at Taghyeer.