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Administration
Director
Adel Iskandar
Adel Iskandar is an Associate Professor of Global Communication at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver/Burnaby, Canada. He is the author, co-author, and editor of several works including "Egypt In Flux: Essays on an Unfinished Revolution" (AUCP/OUP); "Al-Jazeera: The Story of the Network that is Rattling Governments and Redefining Modern Journalism" (Basic Books); "Edward Said: A Legacy of Emancipation and Representation" (University of California Press); "Mediating the Arab Uprisings" (Tadween Publishing); and "Media Evolution on the Eve of the Arab Spring" (Palgrave Macmillan).
Iskandar's work deals with media, identity, and politics, and he has lectured extensively on these topics at universities worldwide. His forthcoming publications are two monographs, one addressing the political role of memes and digital satire and the other about contemporary forms of imperial transculturalism. Iskandar's engaged, participatory research includes supporting knowledge production through scholarly digital publishing such as "Jadaliyya" and academic podcasting such as "Status." His community research agenda involves showcasing local grassroots, participatory, creative production by communities in the Middle East to confront the rise of extremism.
Iskandar's work also involves the autobiographical documentation and self-representation of Syrian newcomer women in the Lower Mainland illustrating their ingenuity in the face adversity. Prior to his arrival at SFU, Iskandar taught at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies and the Communication, Culture, and Technology Program at Georgetown University, in Washington, DC.
Steering Committee
Yıldız Atasoy
Professor, Sociology
Tamir Moustafa
Professor, School for International Studies
Tammara Soma
Associate Professor, School of Resource & Environmental Management
Janice Jeong
Assistant Professor, History
Spyros Sofos
Associate Professor, Global Humanities
Staff
Joelle Lee
Coordinator, Communication & Events
Parsa Alirezaei
RESEARCH ASSISTANT
Parsa Alirezaei is a researcher of Middle Eastern and North African politics. He is a research assistant at Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Comparative Muslim Studies. His professional experience includes an internship at the International Court of Justice (2023–2024) and work as a researcher for Law for Palestine in 2024. His analysis of Middle East politics has been featured by CBC and The Globe and Mail (Canada), Mezopotamya Agency (Turkey), and Expresso (Portugal). He is currently researching the impact of the Iran War (2026) on global energy geopolitics with the Iran War Observatory.
Joseph Methuselah
COMMUNICATION COORDINATOR
Joseph Methuselah Egyptian filmmaker, visual artist, and researcher based in Vancouver, BC, Canada, with over a decade of experience in the film industry. His work is dedicated to pushing boundaries, experimenting, and exploring uncharted territories at the intersection of visual art, film, and mixed media fostering meaningful dialogues between arts and broader culture through multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary artistic practices.