CV
education
PhD in Multi-Disciplinary Gender Studies, Centre for Gender Studies, University of Cambridge
Thesis Title: Menstruation and Data Flows: How Users of Period Trackers Navigate the Datafication & Commodification of their Menstrual Cycles (Viva: no corrections)
Supervised by Dr. Lauren Wilcox
ESRC DTP Scholar
2019-2023
Magister in Arabic Studies, passed with Distinction, University of Vienna
Thesis: Political Islam versus Secularism: The Debate over Article 2 of the new Egyptian Constitution as Example of the Relations of Islamic and Secular Movements in Egypt
Supervised by Dr. Rüdiger Lohlker
2006-2013
Magister in Political Science, passed with Distinction, University of Vienna
Thesis: Can Democracy Theory Explain the Emergence of the Egyptian Democratic Movement
Supervised by Dr. Heinz Gärtner
2006-2012
work experience
Research Associate, Minderoo Centre for Technology & Democracy
I work as part of the Horizon Europe-funded project AI4TRUST: AI-based-technologies for trustworthy solutions against disinformation where I conduct qualitative fieldwork with stakeholders working against mis/dis/malinformation in Europe. My research aims to understand (1) how people use AI tools in their work, (2) how they assess trustworthiness of technologies in their work, and (3) how we can improve the ways in which we build AI tools.
I have contributed to calls for evidence from OFCOM, DISIT and parliamentary committees.
I also regularly speak and present insights from my PhD work on how people use cycle tracking apps, how they navigate the datafication and commodification of their (menstrual) data.
Since Sept 2023
Research Fellow, Tactical Tech
As part of a fellowship organised through the ESRC, I translated insights from my doctoral research into two guides for the organisation’s Data Detox Kit. The guides aim to explain to users of period tracking apps how to identify a safe menstrual tracking option (Cycles of Influence) and how to navigate the privacy policies of period tracking apps (None of Their Business).
Supervised by Safa Ghnaim.
2022
Research Assistant, Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Law (CIPIL), Cambridge University
Assisted Dr. David Erdos’ research on the implementation of the Right to be Forgotten across different G20 countries.
2019-2020
Bartlett Fellow & Senior Researcher, Access to Knowledge for Development Centre (A2K4D), American University in Cairo
I coordinated a global research network the Access to Knowledge Global Academy with partners in Brazil, China, Egypt, India, South Africa, and the United States.
Together with my co-editor Ramesh Subramanian, we published a book bringing together global case studies analysing social transformations around mobile technologies through an access to knowledge framework.
I successfully applied for funding to lead the Inclusive Internet Governance project at the centre. I independently coordinated multi-stakeholder dissemination and outreach events to facilitate discussions around inclusive Internet Governance, in close collaboration with Baher Esmat, ICANN Regional Vice President for stakeholder engagement in the Middle East. Read more about the work here.
I also ran A2K4D’s blog knowledgemaze as editor. One of the series I am most proud of is Speculative Data Futures, a series of speculative fiction pieces, co-curated with Yara Sultan, that explored possible futures at the intersection between gender, open data, and urban spaces.
2015-2019
teaching
Marking for MPhil in Digital Humanities, Faculty of English & Cambridge Digital Humanities, University of Cambridge
2023-2025
Supervision of Master Student for MPhil in Multi-disciplinary Gender Studies, Cambridge University Centre for Gender Studies
2024-2025
2020-2022
Undergraduate Supervision for Control and Resistance in Digital Societies (SOC3), Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge UK
seminars &
research networks
2024-2025
CriTECHAL research network, co-convenor
CriTECHAL is a group of early career scholars based at the University of Cambridge launching a new, interdisciplinary space, open to all. We think critically about the design, use, and effects of new and emerging digital technologies. Rather than taking technologies themselves as the starting point in our intervention and inquiry, we begin with analyses of specific social contexts.
2022
Move Slow and Proof Read: Working Papers in Critical Tech, POLIS Early Career Research Seminar Series, University of Cambridge
Co-organised a cross-disciplinary working paper series bringing together researchers on critical tech to share and receive feedback on work in progress. Facilitated discussions and feedback sessions between 10-12 attendees.
2022
Biohacking: The Limits and Possibilities of Technologically Reimagining Bodies, POLIS Early Career Research Seminar Series, University of Cambridge
Co-conceptualised and co-organised a seminar series that interrogates biohacking and its implications for queer rights, healthcare, reproduction, life expectancy, gender diversity, racial capital, aging, and speciesism.
2021-2022
Co-coordinator Reading Group Gender & Working Lives, University of Cambridge
Co-coordinated the reading group by developing thematic readings each term (such as Gender, Labour and Technology)
Co-coordinator of New Media & Tech Research Network, Centre for Digital Humanities, University of Cambridge
Initiated research network bringing together researchers focused on digital labour, digital media cultures, AI ethics, tech workers, automation, environmental impacts as well as the economic transformations in informal meet-ups.