Professor Yasir Suleiman-Malley has vast academic leadership experience in the UK and the Arab World. He is Emeritus Professor of Modern Arabic Studies at the University of Cambridge, formerly His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said chair of Contemporary Arabic Studies at the University of Cambridge, and Iraq chair of Arabic Studies at the University of Edinburgh. He is Chair of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF), Member of the Board of Trustees of the Gulf Research Centre-Cambridge, and a member of the Panel of Judges of the British Kuwaiti Friendship Society Book Prize for Middle Eastern Studies. Professor Suleiman-Malley is a former Vice President and Chair of Council of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies, Former Chair of the British Kuwaiti Friendship Society Book Prize, and former member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Edinburgh. Professor Suleiman-Malley is an internationally leading scholar in Arabic sociolinguistics and Middle Eastern Studies. His edited book ‘Being Palestinian: Personal Reflections on Palestinian Identity in the Diaspora’ won the Palestine Book Award, Narrative Section in 2016. The Universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh set up graduate awards and prizes in his name in recognition of his significant contributions to both institutions.

Dr. Chunliang Yang is a Research Fellow in the Diabetes Research Center at the Qatar Biomedical Research Institute (QBRI). She earned her Ph.D. in Immunology from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), under the mentorship of Prof. Cong-Yi Wang, a leading expert in diabetes immunology. During her doctoral and master's training at HUST, Dr. Yang specialized in dissecting the immunometabolic mechanisms underlying type 1 and type 2 diabetes, with a particular focus on the pathogenic roles of T cells and macrophages in disease progression.

Dr. Yang is highly skilled in establishing murine models of diabetes and employing advanced techniques in cellular immunology and metabolic phenotyping to investigate disease pathogenesis. Her productive research has led to multiple first-author publications in high-impact journals, including Molecular Therapy, in which her work has elucidated novel mechanisms involving the PDIA3 chaperone function and interferon regulatory factors in diabetes.

At QBRI, Dr. Yang continues to pursue her research interests at the intersection of immunology and metabolic diseases. She aims to further unravel the cellular crosstalk and immunometabolic pathways that contribute to diabetes and related metabolic disorders, with the ultimate goal of identifying novel therapeutic strategies.

Dr Alexei Abrahams blends social science and computer science methods to study asymmetric conflict and information warfare, with particular application to the Palestinian struggle. He is the author of Social Media Exposed, an upcoming book on how to archive and analyze social media data in the public interest. He is also the author of numerous research papers, published at outlets such as the Journal of Information Technology & Politics, Political Science Research & Methods, and the International Journal of Communications. Professor Abrahams holds a PhD in Economics from Brown University, and before joining HBKU was the digital research team lead at McGill University’s Canadian Media Ecosystem Observatory.
 

Dr. Marwa AbdelGawad joined HBKU as an Assistant Professor of Practice. She earned her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, where her research was focused on examining the impact of microstructure on the corrosion response and mechanical integrity of magnesium alloys used in biomedical applications, specifically orthopedic implants.

Dr. AbdelGawad's interests are centered around materials and manufacturing, with a strong focus on corrosion of light metal alloys. With an extensive teaching background spanning over 10 years, she has developed a keen interest in advancing innovation in engineering education. At present, she actively explores various methods to enhance student engagement and optimize their learning experiences through curriculum and course design.

Her primary teaching objective is to foster a lifelong learning mindset in her students by promoting critical thinking and problem-based learning. Dr. AbdelGawad’s teaching philosophy integrates real-life ethical dilemmas to encourage students to think deeply, challenge their opinions, and integrate ethics into their coursework to help shape them into successful, professional, and socially responsible engineers.

Dr. Omar Mendoza Mahmood is the clinical director and assistant professor of clinical and counseling psychology at the College of Islamic Studies (CIS), Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU). Previously, he was the acting clinical director of psychology and a neuropsychologist at Sidra Medicine. He is licensed to practice psychology in both California and Qatar. As a clinician, he has conducted numerous neuropsychological evaluations of children and adults. As a clinical supervisor, he focuses on developing the ethical and professional skills of mental health practitioners who are early in their careers.

Dr. Mahmood grew up in California and completed his undergraduate degree from UCLA with a double-major in Psychobiology and Arabic. He then studied Arabic and Islamic studies at Dar al-Mustafa in Hadramawt, Yemen. Dr. Mahmood earned his graduate degrees in clinical psychology from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. He completed his internship and his postdoctoral neuropsychology fellowship at the University of California, San Diego. He frequently gives community lectures on topics of mental health, brain development, and psychology from an Islamic perspective. In addition, he serves as an ad-hoc reviewer for various peer-reviewed scientific journals in the fields of addiction, psychology, neuropsychology, and neuroimaging.

Dr. Rudwan Abdul-Al is a Senior Consultant Psychiatrist at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) and Adjunct Lecturer in the Master of Arts program in Counseling Psychology at HBKU’s College of Islamic Studies (CIS). With over 25 years of clinical, academic, and leadership experience in the UK and Qatar, he is recognized for his contributions to psychiatry, medical education, and research innovation.

Dr. Abdul-Al trained extensively in the UK, where he held senior leadership roles, including Associate Medical Director and Director of Research and Innovation within the National Health Service (NHS). His early career featured significant contributions at Cambridge University through the landmark ÆSOP study on psychosis and ethnicity, alongside advanced psychotherapy training under leading Cambridge clinicians. He has also served as Honorary Clinical Teacher at the University of Sheffield and Senior Clinical Tutor at Hull York Medical School.

He is a member of the board of examiners for the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Qatari Board of Medical Specialties (QBMS). Dr. Abdul-Al holds an MD from Damascus University, an MPH from the University of Nottingham, and a Master of Usul al-Fiqh from Qatar University. His research interests include cognitive styles in depression, eye movement studies, and integrating AI and virtual reality in mental health assessment. A recipient of multiple clinical excellence awards, he co-authored Qatar’s National Clinical Guidelines for Anxiety Disorders and Dementia and continues to advance mental health education through innovative projects.