Fellowships

Omnia Khalil is a doctoral lecturer in the Department of Anthropology and Interdisciplinary Studies at City College of New York and an affiliated professor with the geography PhD program at the Graduate Center. Her research and writings focus on urban geography, counterinsurgency, violence and political economy, cross-cutting with revolution. Khalil is currently working on her book manuscript, Counterinsurgent Geographies: Policing Cairo’s Urban Poor Neighborhoods. Since 2008, she has focused, as an urban researcher, on community participatory action planning and has led many projects in Cairo, working with local communities toward urban upgrading and anti-gentrification.

Rachid Benharrousse is a research fellow at the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at The American University in Cairo (AUC). He has a PhD in migration and political studies from Mohammed V University in Rabat. His research focuses on irregular emigration, neoliberalism, necropolitics and infrastructure. His international experience includes roles such as Don Lavoie Fellow at the Mercatus Center, George Mason University and the Research Director at Palah Light Lab, The New School. Benharrousse has also held positions as a research fellow at the African Academy for Migration Research (AAMR), University of Witwatersrand and as a researcher at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, Harvard University and Digital Asia Hub. Benharrousse's early career was marked by his role as an early career researcher with the Association of Middle Eastern Women's Studies (AMEWS) and as a graduate researcher at the Paris Institute for Critical Thinking. He also contributed as a lab researcher at Palah Light Lab and Amatryx Lab, University at Buffalo, SUNY.

Ahmed Hamdy is a political science scholar, disability and inclusion researcher and international development practitioner. He received his master's degree in comparative and Middle East politics and society from AUC and the University of Tuebingen. His key research interests and experience include populism and the far right, the politicization of development aid, international organizations, migration, public policy analysis and social protection. He worked with several national and international organizations including United Nations Development Programme, and has conducted qualitative and quantitative research and policy analysis. In addition, he wrote several research and policy papers on various topics including his master's dissertation about the rise of right-wing populism and foreign aid, a policy paper on the social dimension of transportation for PWDs, and his research article about the use of multi-modal writing and use of assistive technology for PWDs. During his fellowship, Hamdy developed a research on the EU’s utilization of development aid as a securitization tool to externalize its borders and prevent migration flows from the MENA region particularly North Africa and the Mediterranean.

Wafa Abuelkheir Mataria’s contributions to the Pathways from Neoliberalism project encompass two key projects. The first, Global Health in the Grip of Neoliberalism, is currently published. It involves a comparative heuristic analysis of neoliberal health policies across multiple countries, examining their varied impacts on equity and healthcare access. The second is an ongoing qualitative study focused on Egypt’s 2024 law on the private sector management of public healthcare facilities. This study aims to assess the developmental implications of the law on healthcare services in Egypt, exploring both opportunities for improved efficiency and challenges in maintaining equitable access for all communities.