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Meet Our Alumni

Juline Beaujouan

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Juline Beaujouan joined the School of Government and International Affairs (SGIA) in October 2016 after she was awarded the al-Sabah doctoral fellowship and named in honour of General Sir Peter de la Billière. She subsequently became part of an interdisciplinary research team acting as a key contributor to the British Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)’s Open World Research Initiative (OWRI).

In her doctoral research, she investigated the effects of Islamic State’s use of language on key issues characterising the dynamic modern Middle East such as diplomacy, migration, identity or social cohesion. Drawing on a three-dimensional approach to the analysis of narratives, she provided a study of the formation and recontextualisation by Middle Eastern media, academia and population of IS’s socio-political Narrative.

Tahani Noori AlTerkate

Tahani Noori AlTerkate was the Khaled al-Duwaisan Doctoral fellow at Nasser al-Sabah research Program. She joined the School of Government and International Affairs in 2011. In her research, Ms. AlTerkate measured democracy in the state of Kuwait by examining the theories of democracy in Western political thought; 'Challenges of Democracy in the State of Kuwait from 1961- 2011.'

Research interests include :

  • democracy and democratisation in the Arab world,
  • the impact of social networks on shaping public opinion within the Arab Spring,
  • feminism, women and youth movements,
  • human rights
  • the interrelation between society and politics in the modern world.

Before joining Durham University, Tahani earned her MA in International Studies and Diplomacy from the School of Oriental and African Studies-University, London in 2009.

In 2000 Tahani completed a program at George Washington University specialising in Public Diplomacy which entitled her to be the first female Press Attaché at the Embassy of Kuwait- Washington D.C. (2001-2007)

As a former diplomat and media specialist in the Kuwait Ministry of Information, she aims at strengthening the ties of diplomacy, cultural and academic ties between Kuwait & the rest of the world through research and open discourse.

Mumtoz Kamolzoda

Mumtoz Kamolzoda was the Khaled al-Duwaisan Doctoral fellow at the HH Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah Research Programme. She joined the School of Government and International Affairs in 2012. In her doctoral research, she focused on identity politics in Tajikistan, applying the theories of nationalism and the state to her case: ‘State-building and National Identity in Post-Soviet Central Asian States: The Case of Tajikistan’.

Before joining Durham University, Mumtoz Kamolzoda was a Fulbright scholar earning her MA in Arts from Tufts University, Boston, USA. She was a scholar of China Scholarship Council, getting certified in Chinese language at the Beijing Language and Culture University. She studied negotiation efficiency at the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, and management at Harvard University.

She completed various internship programmes at such organisations as the Embassy of the Republic of Tajikistan – Washington D.C., Navy Yard – Washington D.C., Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery – Washington, D.C, CEC ArtsLink, New York. She was a programme assistant for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, an instructor of Chinese language and a tutor at the Russian Tajik Slavonic University, administrator assistant at the Delegation of the European Union to Tajikistan and an editor assistant for the Tajik Television, ‘First Channel’, and Tajik Society for Friendship with Foreign Countries. Kamolzoda went on to be a chairman and co-founder of the Mino Educational Art Centre in Tajikistan.

Clemens Chay

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Clemens Chay was awarded the Khaled al-Duwaisan Doctoral Fellowship in April 2015, joining the School of Government and International Affairs thereafter. He contributes to the HH Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah Research Programme through his knowledge of the Persian Gulf, particularly of Kuwait. In his doctoral research, he uncovers the social and spatial aspects of the diwaniyyas in Kuwait, places of social gathering where Kuwaiti men sit together to discuss issues relevant to them. He applies theories of capital and soft power to the unique case study of Kuwait in: ‘The Diwaniyya in Urban Kuwaiti Society: A Reflection of Socio-Spatial and Political Realities’.

Mhabeni Bona

Ms Mhabeni Bona joined the School of Government and International Affairs in 2011, and successfully completed her MA in International Relations with special focus on the Middle East.

Her MA research focused on the nexus between feminist and multicultural interests in the Arab world, proposing a theoretical discursive framework that would allow women to pursue their interests in both spheres. She received her BA in International Studies from the School of International Service at American University, Washington D.C., in 2010.