Dr Shilan Fuad

Dr. Shilan Fuad Hussain

Cultural Analyst with a focus on Gender, Culture & Society

Marie Sklodowska Curie Postdoctoral Fellow, Senior Research Fellow, Department of Law and Politics and the Social Policy Research Centre - Middlesex University.

Dr. Shilan Fuad Hussain is currently a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow in the field of Gender Studies and cultural analysis, and a Senior Consultant for gender-related issues in society. She was previously a Visiting Fellow at the Washington Kurdish Institute (U.S.), and a Doctoral Fellow at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (Switzerland), where she has published a number of papers and received tailored training. She holds a Master’s degree from the University of Bologna (Italy) in Middle Eastern Studies, and a Ph.D. from the University of Urbino (Italy) in Cultural Analysis. Since gaining her Ph.D., she has continued to publish in academic peer-reviewed journals and has developed a track record in the field of Cultural Analysis, alongside Middle Eastern and Kurdish Studies.

She is an interdisciplinary academic and works on a variety of topics, among them: cultural representation, production, and practices; gender-based violence and women’s human rights; state policies enhancing female equality; Female Genital Mutilations, and arranged/forced marriages; the social impacts of masculinity; and multi-identity in the diaspora – which are topics that mirror her published papers. Her current work sits at the intersection of sociology and cultural analysis, and its symbiotic relevance to modern society. She has engaged in comparative cultural research in the Middle East and Europe, with a focus on women and society, hence her research is multi-sited and multi-method.

She has published 16 articles in peer-reviewed academic journals, 3 special issues, 4 book chapters, one co-edited book, 12 open-access articles online, 2 op-eds; one single-authored book is forthcoming and 3 peer-reviewed articles in academic journals. She has been an invited speaker to 40 international conferences in Europe, the US, and the Middle East. She has worked for over eleven years with international NGOs, liaising with a diverse range of local, national, international, and non-governmental officials, policymakers, bureaucrats, and civil society members – conducting interviews, and research on issues affecting the most vulnerable members of society. As a Kurdish woman who grew up in Iraq amidst war before transitioning to the diaspora, her personal experiences have shaped her worldview and unique perspectives on current cultural and political debates.