Scholars

Abubakar Kagermanov has six years of experience in the nonprofit sector and two years of work in university. Abubakar graduated from Grozny State Oil Technical University in Russia. During his second year of studies, he realized his goal of working to solve social problems in the local community. He couldn’t leave the university, as his parents were paying tuition fees and they had their own expectations. But it didn’t stop him from volunteering at local NGOs and creating his own social projects focused around conflict management, peacebuilding, communication, and human rights. After graduating from university, he started to work as an Assistant Director of the local NGO “Youth the Future.” In 2017 Abubakar received a scholarship for his Master of Arts on Theory and Technology of Social Work at Chechen State University.To this day, he is continuing his research on the topic: Socialization of Children with Disabilities in the Chechen Republic. He also created a project on socialization of children with disabilities and is still engaged in the project as a volunteer. For the last five years, the project helped more than 220 children and involved more than 150 volunteers. Since 2013, Abubakar participated in different long term programs and has won grants to support his local activities and projects. For the last two years, he has worked at the Chechen State University. Thanks to this job, he was able to attract young people’s attention to certain social problems, create new workshops, and facilitate sessions for the students to improve their soft skills and find creative solutions for complex social issues.

Current Organization: CEO at Ardom.lab

Areen Dweekat is a Palestinian lawyer. She started her job as a public interest lawyer in 2015 at the National Institution for Human Rights in Palestine. In 2019, she received the Open Society Foundation Scholarship to earn her Master’s degree in law from Syracuse University in New York and she graduated in 2020. During her job, she focuses on marginalized groups’ rights, including women, persons with disabilities, refugees, and persons in prisons and detention centers.

Current Organization: Researcher at The Independent Commission for Human Rights

Ei Ei Aung has nearly eight years of progressive experience as a public health specialist and international health researcher. With a scholarship funded by the Japanese government, Dr. Aung earned her PhD in health promotion with a dentistry background from Tokyo Medical and Dental University in Japan. Dr. Aung has academic and professional experience in analytical strategies for research on the burdens of diseases and clinical trials research. She worked as a Policy Researcher at the International Health Policy Program Foundation under the Thailand Ministry of Public Health and wrote a successful grant proposal for the ASEAN-CHINA Cooperative Fund. She demonstrates a solid track record of peer-reviewed publications and also contributed to capacity building training on the national burden of diseases in research methodology. She was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship for young foreign researchers in Tokyo and successfully received a research grant from the Futokukai Foundation in Japan.

Current Organization: Doctor at Coalition for Global Health Innovation

Hana Jasem possesses more than seven years of progressive experience working in universities and with NGOs. Hana’s professional history includes positions such as a Lecturer and Project Coordinator as well as an Undergraduate Students Mentor at University of Bedfordshire. She also worked at Juhoud for community and rural development as Project Coordinator. In this role, she was responsible for coordinating project sponsorship by the U.S. General Consulate. Hana’s professional experience at the university level has developed her skills in planning, training, and mentoring, along with providing workshops, advice, and support to students. In addition, studying at University of Bedfordshire was a remarkable experience to broaden her vision and understanding of project and business management, as well as celebrating diversity by working and teaching students from all over the world. Her supervisor during postgraduate study relied on her research, time management, communication, interpersonal, and organizational skills. Hana has always wanted to be in a place where she can be part of the solution through her innovation and positive impact. She is passionate about developing the leadership expertise that is necessary to make a difference by applying and developing leadership skills.

Current Organization: Lecturer at Al-Istiqlal University

Hira Jamshed has more than seven years of work experience in the tech industry. Hira earned a Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design from Punjab University, in addition to completing five weeks of Entrepreneur Training Session at Draper University in San Mateo. Hira joined the tech industry in 2013 and is currently leading the Art and Design Teams at Tintash. Throughout her journey, she’s been part of famous IP projects like the BeatBugs Sing-Along App, Care Bears Care Karts, Stick Cricket, and Room Builder, among others. One of the projects she worked on, BeatBugs Sing-Along App, was selected for the “Made with Unity” showcase booth at Unite LA 2018, where she was invited to speak on panels such as “Developing Games Based on a TV Show” and “Unite Creator Career.” She volunteered with Girls Make Games, a nonprofit organization, and mentored 8 to 12 year-old girls in game creation. In March 2018, Girls Make Games invited her to attend the “Games Developers Conference.” Hira has been collaborating with local and international organizations to help young girls become part of the growing tech industry.

Current Organization: Design Team Manager/Lead UI Designer at Tintash

Huma Iqbal has over ten years of experience working in Pakistan’s nonprofit sector, and earned her MA from the University of Karachi with a major in Development Communications. Huma is a public health influencer and employs strategic communications to promote sexual and reproductive health and rights, especially during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on policy reforms for family planning services in Pakistan. Working with the Population Council as an Advocacy Manager, Huma lobbies with parliamentarians for stronger legislation on family planning programs, advocates with religious leaders on championing the cause, and leverages the media’s role to influence policy makers and the masses. In her current role, Huma has helped build a new narrative on population, focusing on the balance between population size and resources and breaking away from more traditional and coercive approaches of limiting family size in the past. Previously, Huma worked with Oxfam where she led public and digital campaigns to end child marriages and sexual violence against girls, boys, and the gender minorities of Pakistan. Huma has acquired influencing and leadership skills to influence high-level stakeholders for policy and programmatic action. She has also acquired campaigning skills for effective public and media engagement. Huma is passionate about empowering people and socially and politically equipping them to break structural inequality and live quality lives. Huma likes to explore digital spaces for innovation and freedom of speech.

Current Organization: Manager, Communications and Advocacy at Population Council

Lina Valencia has four years of experience working to empower young leaders and advance the rights and living conditions of vulnerable communities. Currently, Lina works for the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, one of the leading international organizations in climate change adaptation and mitigation practices, on initiatives to promote the scaling of climate-smart agriculture alternatives. Her work helps developing countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America improve food security and the implementation of sustainable practices. Previously, through her work at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), Lina helped to facilitate the coordination between other UN agencies and local organizations to deliver humanitarian aid to vulnerable populations. As a young leader committed to social change, she co-founded a microcredit training program to improve low-income population access to basic goods and services in rural areas of Colombia. The program provided financial management training to communities impacted by high levels of violence and forced displacement. Lina has also volunteered with international nonprofits, such as AISEC and America Solidaria, to empower young leaders and promote meaningful social change in Latin America. Lina holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a major in International Relations, from the ICESI University in Cali in Colombia. Through her studies and experience, she has acquired in-depth knowledge of the different social, political, economic, and cultural dynamics of several countries, particularly in Latin American and the Caribbean.

Current Organization: Research Assistant at CGIAR

Lishu Gang has four years of professional experience at the intersection of technology, media, and politics. Currently, Lishu is a project manager at a data science startup working on products that help liberal-progressive political parties and organizations better control their media narratives. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences from Minerva Schools at KGI in a six-country global rotation program. Most recently, she completed a Master’s degree in Nationalism Studies from Central European University in Austria and Hungary, with a focus on migration and refugee studies and the Israel-Palestine conflict. While volunteering for the Alumni Relations Office and the Student Recruitment Office at CEU, Lishu contributed to various projects in event planning and operations, media production, and marketing and communications. Previously, she worked at an NGO to promote effective implementation of youth social change programs in Kenya, during which she researched the informal sector innovation gap and helped design a curriculum on systems-thinking. She also led several marketing projects and website development for two ed-tech startups in Berlin and San Francisco. Additionally, Lishu volunteered as a community-building assistant on diversity and inclusion at her undergraduate university. Through these experiences, she developed a diverse skill set of research and policy analysis, project coordination, and media production. She enjoys exploring innovative solutions to address complex political, social, and cultural problems.

Current Organization: Project Manager at Big Data Analytics