Georgetown Announces their First Qatari Postdoctoral Fellow at QF

Setting yet another historical milestone for Qatar’s higher education landscape, Dr. Haya Al-Noaimi, who was a member of QF partner Georgetown University in Qatar’s (GU-Q) first graduating class in 2009, has just been appointed GU-Q’s first Postdoctoral Fellow, a program aimed at supporting advanced research by Qatari nationals.

As a Fellow, Dr. Al-Noaimi will be fully integrating into the vibrant teaching and research environment at GU-Q. She will have the opportunity to produce academic publications, refine her research agenda, and gain valuable experience working on research projects with students, while building an academic and professional network in Qatar and beyond. 

The dean of GU-Q, Dr. Ahmad Dallal, said: “We are honored that Dr. Al-Noaimi has returned to her alma mater to further her academic career in her new capacity as a postdoctoral fellow.” He went on to explain that through this program, GU-Q hopes “to support emerging Qatari scholars who are launching their academic careers, and who will go on to play crucial roles in ensuring that higher education investments in Qatar are sustainable, and drive further academic growth and development.”

Dr. Al-Noaimi joins GU-Q from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) University of London where she recently defended her Ph.D. dissertation in Gender Studies. She also holds an MA in International Law and Legal Studies from Sorbonne University. 

Noting the significant role fellowships play in helping Ph.D. holders bridge the gap between student and working professional, Dr. Al-Noaimi said: “I am very excited to be affiliated with GU-Q through this fellowship. With institutional time and support, I hope to begin the process of publishing my dissertation, engaging students in research and seeing my work from their fresh perspectives, and to explore other research strands within my own thesis.”

When she was just beginning her higher education journey an info session introduced her to GU-Q in 2005, a new addition to Qatar’s ambitious Education City project that promised to change the course of the nation’s development, and would eventually lead to Qatar’s position as a major hub of research and education. 

Dr. Al-Noaimi’s research falls at the intersection of politics, gender, and security, and for the past four years, she has focused on developing a theoretical and conceptual framework that helps explain the gendered phenomenon of militarization in the Arab Gulf.