Team
Stephanie Shaar is a Research and Project Assistant, supporting the team in both research notably on social justice in the MENA region, and civic space. She is also in charge of following up on project activities, within the Civil Society Incubator programme. She was previously a Social Science Intern at UN-ESCWA, working alongside the interagency task force responsible for the preparation of the 2021 Arab Forum for Sustainable Development.
Stephanie graduated with a BA in Humanities and Social Sciences from Université Lumière Lyon 2. Her senior year was done on exchange at Tohoku University, Japan, as part of the International Program in Liberal Arts.
E-mail: stephanie[at]lebanon[dash]support[dot]org
Hussein El Mouallem is a Research and Project Assistant, working on the social justice and social protection research programme, focusing on the MENA region. He previously worked with AUB ASFARI in the Environmental Justice-Atlas as a Research Intern, in addition to working with NRC as an Information Field Assistant.
Hussein holds a BA in Political Studies from AUB, and is currently finalising his Masters’ thesis in Anthropology about dams' policies in Lebanon.
Email: hussein[at]lebanon[dash]support[dot]org
Madeleine Arnaout is the Communication Officer at Lebanon Support, she joined the team in 2021. Madeleine is responsible for managing Lebanon Support’s communication and outreach online as well in traditional media in line with the centre’s identity. She previously worked at Greenpeace MENA as a Content Creator Intern and Communication Support, and at UNHCR as a Public Information Intern.
She holds a BA in Journalism from the Lebanese University, Faculty of Information, where she also completed her MA’s courses in Economic Journalism.
Email: madeleine[at]lebanon[dash]support[dot]org
Rossana is a Research Fellow and a researcher in Contentious Politics - MENA at Lebanon Support.
In the past years, she devoted most of her research activities to the investigation of Lebanese labor history and the history of Lebanese popular politics in the global 1960s from a transnational perspective. Her main research interests include the history of popular and contentious politics in the Levantine region, Lebanese political economy, and the history of transnational radical cultures in the Mediterranean area. Over the years, she has lectured in a variety of international conferences and universities, and has been affiliated with numerous Lebanese and Italian academic institutions. Rossana is currently a teaching Assistant of Contemporary History of the Arab Middle East at the University of Rome “La Sapienza”.
Rossana has a PhD in Studies on Africa and Asia, she specialised in the social and political history of contemporary Lebanon.
E-mail: rossa[dot]tufaro[at]gmail.com
Rena Haidar is the Daleel Madani Programme Associate at Lebanon Support. She joined the team in 2021. Rena is responsible for managing, monitoring, and coordinating the Daleel Madani website, in order to effectively achieve the aim of the Programme in establishing a network of cooperation within the civil society.
She is currently pursuing a BA in Political Science and International affairs at the Lebanese American University.
Email: rena[at]lebanon [dash]support[dot]org
Stephanie Daher is a Research Fellow and a researcher in Contentious Politics - MENA at Lebanon Support. In addition to working currently at the University of Turin on the TOMidEast Summer School, Stephanie is also the EU Project Manager of the Local Police of Turin, where she works on Horizon EU-financed research projects on security studies, counter-radicalization efforts, and social inclusion policies. Stephanie has conducted extensive fieldwork in, both, Lebanon and Tunisia, in addition to visiting research periods at the Institute of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at Durham University (UK) and Centre d'ÉtudesD'Etudes Maghrébines in Tunisia.
She holds a PhD in Political Science and International Relations from the Sant’Anna Advanced School of Studies in Italy, where she specialised in contentious politics and protest movements in the Middle East and North Africa. She also has an MA in World Politics and International Relations from the University of Pavia (Italy) and a Degree in Law from the Lebanese University.
Email: stephaniedaher[dot]phd[at]gmail[dot]com
Marie-Belle Darraj is the Finance and Admin officer at Lebanon Support. She joined the team in 2020. Marie-Belle is responsible for finance management, accounts maintenance, budget control, and for coordinating broad administrative support functions. She previously worked at Digital Opportunity Trust as an Accountant.
Marie-Belle holds a BA in Accounting and Financial Management from Al Kafaat University.
Email: mdarraj[at]lebanon[dash]support[dot]org
Dr. AbiYaghi is a founding member and the director of Lebanon Support. She is also an associate researcher at the Institut Français du Proche- Orient (IFPO), and a member of the Lebanese Sociological Association. A former researcher at the Centre for Lebanese Studies, Saint Anthony's College at the University of Oxford, she has also collaborated with several local and international organisations. She specialises in the sociology of contentious politics in contemporary Lebanon, with a focus on socialisation processes and collective behaviour, transformation of commitment and logics of disengagement, as well as gendered dynamics within social movements. She also focuses on (re)production processes and forms of social control, order, and discipline.
Marie-Noëlle holds a PhD in Political Science from the Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, France.
Research thematics:
. Contentious politics
. Sociology of public action (with a focus on "social" and development" policies)
. Political economy of knowledge production
. Research methods
E-mail: mabiyaghi[at]lebanon[dash]support[dot]org
Léa Yammine joined Lebanon Support in 2013, and has been coordinating the interpretation of the centre’s research, programmes, and activities into various formats, online and offline, from an interdisciplinary perspective. She focuses on developing innovative ways to display and disseminate the centre’s outputs, in line with Lebanon Support’s identity and open access policy. She has been in the publishing world for over 10 years, and was involved at various stages of the publication process. She has previously worked as a graphic designer, art director, and project manager in creative organisations.
Léa holds a BA in Graphic Design from the American University of Beirut, and an MA in Culture, Creativity & Entrepreneurship from the University of Leeds, UK.
E-mail: lea[at]lebanon[dash]support[dot]org
Bassem is a founding member of Lebanon Support and was its Executive Director between 2008 and 2014. He has managed several programmes and projects in relief, recovery and development and has more than 14 years professional experience in information and knowledge management in development and humanitarian contexts. He developed and managed several information platforms and monitoring programmes, among which Lebanon Support's Civil Society Knowledge Centre.
Bassem holds a BS in Computer Science from the University of Balamand in Lebanon.
On October 1st 2014, Lebanon Support lost Bassem. Much has been written since his passing, we simply wish to reassert our determination to carry on with our work in the same spirit, and in constant betterment of our projects and deliveries.
Dalya is a consultant and researcher who joined Lebanon Support in 2013 and has since published several papers and reports pertaining to civil society issues in Lebanon, specifically within the Gender Equity Network. She has previous experience in research, having participated in various projects related to civil society in the Arab world, and has a strong experience in managing development and humanitarian projects in both international and local organizations.
She holds an MA in History from the University of Geneva, Switzerland, and an MA in Political Science from Science-Po Paris, France.
Albert Charara is a political scientist with experience in the fields of political analysis, conflict prevention and conflict resolution. Currently working at the Directorate of International Relations of the Barcelona Provincial Council, his professional activity has focused on the Euro-Mediterranean and Middle East regions. He has contributed to the success of political dialogue efforts in the Basque Country (Spain/France) and Kirkuk (Iraq) and has conducted qualitative research on the consequences of the Syrian humanitarian crisis in Lebanon and Iraq, among other projects. Albert obtained his MA in Conflict Studies and Human Rights from Utrecht University in 2017, and his BA in Political Science and Public Management from the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 2015. Publications
Joey Ayoub is a Ph.D. candidate in Cultural Analysis at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. He earned his B.S. in Environmental Health from the American University of Beirut in 2013, and his MA in Cultural Studies from SOAS, University of London in 2015. His research focuses on temporality and the politics of postwar cinema in Lebanon. He was also the editor for the MENA region at Global Voices Online and IFEX and he blogs at Hummus For Thought. In addition to Lebanon, his wider interests include deconstruction of masculinity, post-2011 Syria/MENA and global implications, de-colonisation efforts in Israel/Palestine and global developments with a focus on environmental, intersectional/feminist and transnational politics. He currently lives between Lebanon and Switzerland. Publications
Sbeih SBEIH, Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, IREMAM, LabexMed, Aix-en-Provence, France.
Postdoctoral fellow at IREMAM (Institute for Research and Study of the Arab and Muslim Worlds) LabexMed, Aix Marseille University and associate researcher at the French Institute in the Near East (IFPO). He defended his doctoral thesis in sociology, in 2014, at the Printemps laboratory at the Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University, on international development aid and the "professionalisation" of Palestinian NGOs. Subsequently, Mr. Sbeih taught at Birzeit University in Ramallah. As a researcher he has worked extensively in the Palestinian cultural field and is currently working on "new" Palestinian novelists. See: http://iremam.cnrs.fr/spip.php?article4772
Estella is a Research Associate at Lebanon Support working on (in)formal security provision and the rule of law in Syrian refugee communities in Lebanon. She recently worked as a Social Research Fellow at Trends Research & Advisory - Abu Dhabi (2015). She received her PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Sydney (Australia), with a dissertation on humanitarianism in Lebanon. After studying Humanities and Arabic at the University of Milan and the University of Damascus (2002-2007), she worked in Cairo (Egypt) for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) (2008) and the International Development Research Center (IDRC) (2009-2010). Publications
Stephanie Daher holds a PhD in Political Science and International Relations from the Sant’Anna Advanced School of Studies in Italy, specialized in contentious politics and protest movements in the Middle East and North Africa. She has conducted extensive fieldwork both in Lebanon and Tunisia, researching the connection between emerging “political opportunities” of contentious movements and the resilience of the “politically relevant elites” in power. She has an MA in World Politics and International Relations from the University of Pavia (Italy) and a Bachelors Degree in Law from the Lebanese University. In addition to her aforementioned interests, her wider research interests include security studies, particularly counter-radicalization and social inclusion policies. Currently, she is working as an EU Project Manager at the International Relations Unit of the Police of Turin (Italy).
Mariam joined Lebanon Support’s research department in 2015 and has since worked on several of its publications and reports. She has previously worked as research assistant at the German-Orient Institute Beirut, conducting a project on “The Reorientation of Communist Groups and Marxist Intellectuals after 1989 in Lebanon and Syria”. She has studied Middle Eastern Studies, Political Sciences and Sociology at the University of Freiburg in Germany.
Currently, she is finishing her PhD thesis entitled “Living leftism in Lebanon. A historical anthropology of leftist intellectuals in Lebanon, 1930-1990” at the University of Roskilde, Denmark under the supervision of Sune Haugbolle/Samer Frangie. Mariam focuses in her thesis on the question of political activism and ideology production in general, and the historical conditions of communism/socialism and leftism, in Lebanon from the 1930s on. Publications
Rossana Tufaro is a PhD in Studies on Africa and Asia, specialised in the labor history of contemporary Lebanon. Her PhD research focused on the reconstruction of the history of grass-roots labor movements and mobilisations in pre-war Lebanon. Along with labor and social history, she accounts among her main research interests and specialisations, the critical historiography of contemporary Lebanon, history of the ideas and public history. In the past four years she has been a research fellow at Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs, AUB, Beirut, at the Center for Arab and Middle East Studies (CAMES), AUB, Beirut, and at Centre d’Études pour le Monde Arabe Moderne (CEMAM), Université Saint Joseph, Beirut. She is currently Honorary Visiting Fellow at the Department of Political Sciences and International Studies, University of Birmingham (UK). Rossana Tufaro is also member of Lebanon Support’s editorial board of the Civil Society Review.
Daniel L. Tavana is a PhD candidate in the Department of Politics at Princeton University. Tavana holds degrees from Cambridge University and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. His research interests focus on elections, political behavior, and public opinion in the Middle East and North Africa. Publications
Maissam Nimer is a sociologist working in the fields of migration, education, language, and social and gender inequalities. She obtained a PhD in sociology at Paris Saclay University in July 2016. In her thesis, she looked at the mechanisms of social and cultural selection that explain the inequality of access to higher education in Lebanon. Nimer’s current work at Koç University, Istanbul, deals with the integration of Syrian refugee youth in Turkey. She is the recipient of a one-year Koç University Seed Grant and a Mercator IPC fellow at Sabanci University exploring the role of language instruction in integration of Syrian refugees in Turkey. She is also a committee member of the “Axe Migrations et Mobilités” at the French Institute for Anatolian Studies, Istanbul (AMiMo, IFEA). Nimer teaches courses on the sociology of education at Galatasaray University in Turkey.
She holds an MSc from the London School of Economics and BS from the American University of Beirut. Link to website. Publications
Hala interned at Lebanon Support in 2014. She mainly collaborated on the Gender Equity Network project and the Conflict Analysis Project, as well as assisted the centre in organizing events. Hala is currently a legal researcher at the Legal Agenda. She has undertaken several internships in the Lebanese Parliament and in International and Local NGOs, in which she worked as a researcher, translator, responsible for the media monitoring, security updates, the fortnightly and quarter report. Hala holds a bachelor degree in Law and a Bachelor in Administrative and Political Science from the USJ Lebanon.
Jozie interned with Lebanon Support in 2018. During this time, she contributed to research for the Civil Society Knowledge Centre, notably, under the Migration, Mobility and Circulation project, where she was responsible for drafting timelines and articles on refugee returns and migrant domestic labour in Lebanon. She also assisted in content creation for the Civil Society Incubator. Jozie holds a degree in Political Science from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and is currently completing her Masters in International Public Management at Sciences Po Paris, with concentrations in Middle East Studies and Migrations.
Charlotte Peltre was an intern at Lebanon Support in 2016. She is completing her Master's degree in Political Science and International Relations at Sciences Po in Aix-en- Provence in France and at the University of Freiburg in Germany. She did former internships at the German Ministry of Development and Cooperation in the department for migrants and refugees and at the canadian NGO "Social Justice Connection".
Negin Najjarnejad was a research intern at Lebanon Support. She is a junior development practitioner and an independent researcher, currently based in Beirut. Negin has an MA degree in Development Studies from York University. Her research interests revolve around the fields of gender-based violence, conflict resolution, and social justice in the humanitarian context. She has previously collaborated with a number of local and international NGOs in Lebanon such as the Danish Refugee Council, KAFA, and ABAAD.
Joy joined Lebanon Support in 2018 as an intern for the Communications department and Civil Society Incubator progarmme. During her time at the organisation, Joy participated in the establishment of the Civil Society Incubator’s blog series on gender mainstreaming as well as conducting research and data collection for projects within the programme. She assisted the Content and Communication Officer in Daleel Madani, as well as in the preparation of several bulletins that are sent to Lebanon Support's newletter subscribers. Joy holds a combined BA in Political Science and Historical Studies, and a Major in English Literature from the University of Toronto. She is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut.
Camille is a contributor and former intern of Lebanon Support. She holds a Master's degree in International Relations from Sciences Po Aix and is currently finishing her studies at the London School of Economics (MSc Population and Development) and at the University of Aix-Marseille (Middle eastern studies).
Marie Murray joined the team in Spring 2019 as a volunteer in order to learn more about the thematic research projects and civic engagement work that Lebanon Support undertakes. Her experiences include working as regional director for an international youth NGO, conducting extensive research on Lebanese emigrants, and freelance writing. In addition to her interest in international social issues, Marie is also passionate about writing fiction. She holds a BA in International Studies from Ramapo College of New Jersey, and an MA in International Affairs from the Lebanese American University.
Marisa Raiser was an intern at Lebanon Support in 2017. Currently, she is completing her bachelor degrees in Political Science and Islamic Science at the University of Freiburg. She has previously interned at several German organizations which target the issues refugees and migration.
Sophie interned at Lebanon Support in 2013. She assisted in researching and mapping different kinds of human rights violations in Lebanon on the Civil Society Knowledge Centre. She has further work experience in Quranic manuscript studies from the German research project “Corpus Coranicum” and has done an internship at the German Orient Institute in Beirut. Sophie Schmid holds a B.A. in Islamic Studies and Anthropology from the University of Zurich and an M.A. in Arabic Studies from the Free University of Berlin.
Heather interned at Lebanon Support as a communications assistant starting early 2019. She worked on Lebanon Support’s communication for its three programme notably on content creation - such as video content for the Civil Society Incubator website - as well as copywriting and copyediting among other tasks. She holds a BA in International Relations from the University of Texas at Austin and focuses her research on Culture, Media, and the Arts.
Nora interned at Lebanon Support in 2017. During her time at the organisation, she mainly assisted in research and data mapping on the Civil Society Knowledge Centre, notably for the Conflict Analysis Project and Gender Equity Network. She did a prior internship at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris, following Gender and Middle East countries issues. Nora recently completed her Masters in International Relations from Sciences Po Aix.
Manon has interned at Lebanon Support in 2015, subsequently working for a short time as Assistant Research and Research Officer. During her time in the organisation, she mainly worked on the Conflict Analysis Project, as well as on developing the research platform by liaising with contributors and editing research papers and articles. Following her position within Lebanon Support, she moved back to Paris to join Crisis Action where she holds a position as a Campaigns and Research Assistant. Manon holds an MA in International Peace and Security from King’s College London.
Cybele interned at Lebanon Support in October 2018. She worked on the Migration, Mobility and Circulation Project, nested within the Civil Society Knowledge Centre. She contributed to setting up timelines and other research tasks. After that, she was hired as a research assistant for a migration project at Lebanon Support. Her research interests include; economic anthropology, humanitarian assistance, science and technology studies (STS), politics of bordering and critical security studies. Cybele has BA in Sociology and Anthropology from the American University of Beirut and is pursuing a Research Masters in International Development Studies at the University of Amsterdam.
Lisa Dorith Kool interned at Lebanon Support in 2016. She assisted in research and data collection for projects on the Civil Society Knowledge Centre, notably the Gender Equity Network and Conflict Analysis Project. She also worked on developing research on Syrian LGBTIQ refugees in Lebanon. Lisa holds a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and Religious Studies from University College Utrecht and is currently continuing her studies in Arabic language.
Amer joined Lebanon Support as an intern in February 2020. He is working with the Civil Society Knowledge Centre team, coding the daily collective actions in Lebanon, and also assisting in translation and desk research among other administrative tasks. He previously worked as a Research Intern at the Middle East Institute for Research and Strategic Studies (MEIRSS) where he conducted desk research and assisted in writing two papers on the Iraqi and the Iranian protests movements.
Amer holds a BA in Political Studies from the American University of Beirut.
Melina was a research intern in Lebanon Support in 2015. During her internship, she conducted a survey on local gender actors, which subsequently served as a basis for the development of a report assessing the state of gender actors and interventions in Lebanon: Overview of Gender Actors & Interventions in Lebanon, between emancipation and implementation (2016). She holds a Bachelor Degree in Social Communication and is currently completing a Master in Political Sciences with a focus on the Arab World. She speaks five languages, and is specializing in gender issues in the Arab World through several internships in Lebanon.
Guusje interned at Lebanon Support in 2018. During her time at the organisation, she assisted in research and data collection on the Civil Society Knowledge Centre, notably the Gender Equity Network. She also contributed to the launch of the Migration Library by collecting sources. Guusje holds a degree in Interdisciplinary Social Sciences from the University of Amsterdam and the University of Cape Town. She will also be pursuing a Master's degree at the War Studies department of King's College London starting fall 2018.
Maria Sebas was an intern at Lebanon Support in 2016. She is completing her Bachelor's Degree in History and Political Science at the University of California, San Diego. During the academic year, she works as the news editor for UCSD's newspaper. In addition, during the summer of 2015, she took courses in Arabic and Political Science at Birzeit University in Palestine.
Camille joined Lebanon Support in February 2019 as a research assistant within the Civil Society Knowledge Centre. She notably worked on the Conflict Analysis project and contributed to the redaction of the Conflict Analysis Bulletin as well as the data collection and mapping of Security Incidents, Collective Actions, and Public Decisions. Camille is currently undertaking a Masters in Social Sciences, Population & Development Expertise, in Paris Descartes University.
Chloe interned at Lebanon Support in 2018. During her time at the organisation, Chloe contributed to both the Conflict Analysis Project and the Civil Society Incubator programme. Chloe previously interned at NGOs in Dublin, Ireland, and Seoul, South Korea as an Monitoring & Evaluation and Research Assistant, respectively. She holds a BA in International Relations and Global Studies- International Security Track, with a minor in Middle Eastern Studies from The University of Texas at Austin, and an MPhil in International Peace Studies from Trinity College Dublin.
Nabil interned at Lebanon Support in 2015 and 2016. He participated in the Conflict Analysis Project, notably working on the mapping of conflict incidents, and contributed in making it a large and precise database concerning the security, social and legal challenges ongoing in Lebanon. Nabil graduated in 2016 with a bachelor in Social Science from Sciences Po Paris.
Witold was an Intern at Lebanon Support during the spring of 2019 within the Civil Society Knowledge Centre. He contributed to several research projects, notably the RESPOND plan part of the Horizon 2020 programme as well as projects regarding conflicts, refugees and sustainability. His previous NGO experiences include participation in organisations in Poland, India and Morocco. Witold holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Middle Eastern Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies and is finalising his Master’s Degree, in July 2019, centred on the Mediterranean: the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree Program - MIM Crossing the Mediterranean - towards investment and integration.
Mariam Eichbüchler interned at Lebanon Support in 2017. She did a prior internship at the German Orient Institute in Beirut where she also worked as a research assistant. Mariam holds two Bachelor degrees in English Language, Literature and Linguistics/Media Sciences and in Middle Eastern Studies and is currently finishing her Master's degree in Arabic-German translation.
Simona interned at Lebanon Support as a project assistant in 2014 and 2015, helping in the development of the Gender Equity and Conflict Analysis projects. She also managed the virtual resources libraries. Simona holds a BA in English-Arabic Translation from Damascus University and is currently completing her Bachelor of Political Science at the Lebanese University.
Monia joined Lebanon Support in October 2018 as a communication intern for the purpose to gain more experience in the communication field. During her internship, Monia also assisted in research and coding tasks on the Civil Society Knowledge Centre, notably the Conflict Analysis Project, as well as in planning for the centre’s events. After that, she was hired as a Coding and Communication Assistant. Monia holds a BA in Public Relations from the American University of Science and Technology.
Asser interned at Lebanon Support in 2017, he assisted in research and data collection on the Civil Society Knowledge Centre, notably the Gender Equity Network and Conflict Analysis Project. Asser is a multilingual freelance journalist from Syria. He holds a BA in Media from Damascus University and has covered the Syrian war for four years for various local and international media outlets before he moved to Sudan and then to Lebanon.
