PROFILES OF DOCTORAL STUDENTS
Neema Landey is a third year PhD student in Education, at Concordia University. Her specialization is in Educational Studies. Her research interests include girls and women studies, education inequalities, adolescent’s reproductive health and HIV/AIDS. Her primary research focuses on girl’s participation in formal education among the Maasai communities from Tanzania. Her research under the supervision of Dr A. Arshad-Ayaz, uses young girls’ personal stories to investigate social-cultural practices that hinder their participation in formal education. In her research she is using feminist theory and ethnographic approach to ensure girls voices are heard. She is also interested in exploring the linkages between gender inequalities, education, and empowerment among the pastoralist communities in Tanzania. By examining whether the power of positive change in a community can emerge from women and girls formal learning in the process of ensuring self empowerment. She holds MSc in Rural development from Van Hall Larenstein, University of Applied Science, The Netherlands. Also, MS in Global Health Policy and Management from Brandeis University, USA.
Neslihan Sriram-Uzundal holds both a B.Ed. and M.Ed. as well as a M.A. from the university of Tuebingen, Germany. She moved from Germany to Montréal to pursue a PhD in Education Studies at Concordia University. Her research interests range from the woman’s role in German and French medieval literature to educational issues focusing on class, gender, and race. In her PhD, supervised by Dr. Adeela Arshad-Ayaz, she aims to compare discourses of racism in the German and Canadian school system. Further topics connected to her PhD comprise processes of exclusion and inclusion, discrimination, epistemic injustice, EDI, integration, assimilation etc. She is currently not only teaching a literature course at the University of Tuebingen, but also German at the École Allemande de Montréal Centre.
Hedia Hizaoui is a first-year doctoral student in education at Concordia University. She holds a master’s degree in Educational Studies from the same university. Her professional experiences include working in a variety of settings and with professionals from diverse backgrounds in areas ranging from ESL instruction, teacher training and professional development to curriculum design. Her research interests include exploring global education policy and how it is intertwined through international organisations to influence local education policy in the MENA region, as well as the factors that influence teaching, teacher education and professional development. She also examines the complex ideologies that continue to underlie global discursive constructions of global citizenship education. Her research aims to shift discourses toward a national and global contextualization of education policy in the MENA region.
Muhammad Akram is currently pursuing his doctoral studies at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, where his research focuses on critical social media literacy amidst radicalism and extremism online. He holds MA in Conflict Transformation from Eastern Mennonite University in Virginia, USA, and is a graduate of a year-long Atlas Corps Fellowship in Washington DC, USA, under the Emerging Global Leadership Initiative by the U.S. Department of State. He has published 17 research articles in peer-reviewed journals, in addition to various development reports and blogs. During his career, Akram has completed various certificates to build and strengthen his skills in analysis and technical writing. Furthermore, he has worked in the international development sector for over 10 years. He has worked on inclusive development projects in Afghanistan, Canada, Nigeria, Pakistan, and United States; which were funded by multilateral development agencies such as USAID, UK-Aid, United Nations, and World Bank.