Roua Al Taweel is a PhD candidate at Ulster University specializing in transformative/transitional justice in Syria, with dual MA degree in Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Hull. Her MA thesis was on ‘Critically Reading the Dominant Human Rights Discourses: Freedom of Movement in the Context of Syria Forced Displacement’.  Human Rights in relation to forced displacement is an issue of concern on personal, academic, and professional levels. Roua has been in a direct contact with refugees and IDPs since 2006. It started in Damascus with Lebanese and Iraqis refugees as well as Syrian IDPs (as a result of the drought) and continued in Sudan where she worked with IDPs from Darfur. Another key experience was working with Syrian forced migrants in the hosting communities of Egypt and Turkey as well as the IDPs in northern Syria. Her scope of work varied from providing humanitarian aid and first-aid services, administration work, conducting surveys, facilitating youth and women empowerment programs and workshops, and working on project proposals. She was a Project Manager at the Syrian Women’s Network, and a Youth Empowerment Program Consultant at the International Medical Corps. She has also formerly worked as an aid work at the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, and a Peer Educator at Y-PEER.

Participant in: August 2016 Fellowship: Peacebuilding and Women’s Meaningful Participation in Peacebuilding Processes