Disrupted and Displaced Palestinian Scholars
This spring and summer, the University of Alberta will welcome nine scholars through its Disrupted and Displaced Palestinian Scholars and Students (DPSS) Initiative.
This work reflects the University’s commitment to ensuring that scholars facing displacement can continue their academic work and remain connected to global scholarly communities. It also advances priorities outlined in Changing the Story: An Integrated Action Plan, particularly in strengthening access, inclusion and global engagement.
Ahmed Kamal Junina is an assistant professor of applied linguistics and head of the English Department at Al-Aqsa University in Gaza, Palestine.
Ahmed Kamal Junina is assistant professor of applied linguistics and head of the English Department at Al-Aqsa University in Gaza. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the European Centre for Palestinian Studies at the University of Exeter and a Fellow at the Centre for Comparative and International Research in Education (CIRE), University of Bristol, UK.
Writing from within Gaza during the genocidal war, he has theorized knowlash: the deliberate obstruction of liberatory knowledge-building processes amid structural violence. His scholarship and advocacy have been featured in major media outlets, including CBC, CBS, The Independent, and The Guardian. He leads initiatives such as Resilient Voices and RECONNECT, supporting displaced youth in Gaza through capacity building, digital storytelling and multimodal narrative practices.
PROJECT: Knowlash in Gaza and Beyond: Manifestations, Tendencies, and Continuities of Liberatory Knowledge Obstruction
“Knowlash in Gaza and Beyond” investigates how liberatory knowledge is obstructed both through direct wartime destruction and through subtler transnational mechanisms that marginalize Palestinian scholars. Building on lived academic experience in Gaza, the project conceptualizes knowlash as both direct destruction through attacks on infrastructure, killings, and digital blackouts, and indirect, translocal mechanisms such as mobility restrictions, bureaucratic exclusion, and algorithmic suppression.
Using narrative interviews, comparative case studies, and digital platform analysis, the research maps continuities between Gaza’s scholasticide and global epistemic barriers targeting Palestinian scholars. It contributes a conceptual framework connecting Gaza’s structural scholasticide to global patterns of epistemic control, while documenting strategies for sustaining intellectual life under persistent disruption.
Anas A. M. Alqanoo is an assistant professor of condensed matter physics (optoelectronics) in the Physics Department at the Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine.
Anas A. M. Alqanoo is an assistant professor of condensed matter physics (optoelectronics) in the Physics Department at the Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine. He obtained his Ph.D. In 2024 from Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia. He has participated in numerous international and local conferences and exhibitions and has published approximately 34 articles in international peer-reviewed journals.
He has also supervised many graduate and undergraduate students. His research interests include integrated optics for sensor applications, waveguides, ellipsometry, numerical techniques, nonlinear optics, left-handed materials, photonic crystals, and nanotechnology for photodetector fabrication based on AgNW-assisted semiconductors.
PROJECT: Graphene-Integrated Metasurface Perfect Absorber for Refractometric Detection of Tuberculosis-Related Samples in the Mid-IR
This project proposes a tunable graphene-assisted plasmonic metasurface absorber for mid-infrared refractive-index biosensing aimed at tuberculosis-related samples. The design uses ring-based metallic resonators on a dielectric spacer backed by a metallic ground plane to suppress transmission and produce near-unity absorption with strong field confinement. By tuning geometric parameters and graphene’s Fermi level, the resonance can be shifted and sharpened, enabling label-free detection through wavelength shifts in reflection measurements.
Finite-element simulations analyze absorption spectra, resonance behavior under analysis refractive-index variation, and near-field distributions to explain the sensing mechanism and guide fabrication-ready optimization toward practical biomedical refractometry for rapid screening and monitoring
Bassam A. O. Tayeh is a full professor of civil engineering at the Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine.
Bassam A. O. Tayeh is a Full Professor of Civil Engineering at the Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine. He received his PhD in Concrete Structures from Universiti Sains Malaysia in 2013. His research focuses on sustainable concrete technologies, ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC), recycling of construction and war-generated debris, and eco-efficient cementitious materials.
He has published more than 300 peer-reviewed papers and has been ranked among the world’s top 2% researchers in Building and Construction (Stanford University classification, 2021–2025). He actively collaborates internationally and serves as reviewer, editor, and evaluator for multiple global research programs.
PROJECT: Sustainable Concrete Technologies for Post-Conflict Reconstruction: Recycling War-Generated Construction Debris into High-Performance Cementitious Materials
This project aims to develop sustainable concrete technologies for post-conflict reconstruction by converting war-generated construction debris into high-performance cementitious materials. The research focuses on recycling damaged concrete and rubble as supplementary cementitious materials and aggregates to reduce cement consumption, lower carbon emissions, and promote circular economy principles. Through advanced material characterization, durability evaluation, and performance optimization, the study seeks to establish scientifically validated solutions for rebuilding infrastructure in conflict-affected regions.
The outcomes will contribute to environmentally responsible reconstruction strategies while strengthening international collaboration and knowledge exchange between Gaza and the University of Alberta.
Belal A. M. Aldabbour is an assistant professor of neurology at the Faculty of Medicine, Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine.
Belal A. M. Aldabbour, MD, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at the Faculty of Medicine, Islamic University of Gaza, and a practicing neurologist and neurophysiologist. He leads the Medical Research and Evidence-Based Medicine divisions and has served as Head of the Internal Medicine Department since 2023, while providing frontline neurological care during the war in Gaza.
His research focuses on war-related disability, neuropsychiatric morbidity, and health system resilience, with numerous publications in international journals across neurology, psychiatry, public health, and health service research. His work integrates clinical practice with rigorous conflict-health research and international collaboration.
PROJECT: War-related disability, neuropsychiatric morbidity, and health system resilience in conflict-affected settings
Dr. Aldabbour’s research examines war-related disability, neuropsychiatric morbidity, and health system resilience in conflict-affected settings, using Gaza as a contemporary case study. It integrates clinical data and population-based research to document traumatic brain injury– and amputation-related disability, PTSD, Complex PTSD, sleep disorders, and psychological distress, and analyzes how disrupted health systems respond under extreme strain, including in relation to maternal and neonatal health and non-communicable diseases.
Through collaboration with University of Alberta researchers in neurology, global health, and public health, the project will advance comparative analyses, strengthen methodological approaches, and support manuscript development. The findings aim to generate rigorous, policy-relevant evidence to inform clinical practice, humanitarian response, and health system recovery in protracted conflict settings.
Faten S. A. Abu Shoga is an assistant professor of mathematics at the Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine.
Dr. Faten S. A. Abu Shoga is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine. She obtained her Ph.D. in Mathematics from Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, in 2017. Her research interests include double sequences, topology, summability theory, functional analysis, and approximation theory. She has extensive teaching and academic leadership experience, having served as Head of the Mathematics Department from 2019 to 2023.
Dr. Abu Shoga is a recipient of several awards, including the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award (Arab Region, 2018). She is actively involved in international collaborations and initiatives supporting scientific education and women in science.
PROJECT: Double Sequences and Their Topological Applications in Approximation Theory
The project Double Sequences and Their Topological Applications in Approximation Theory investigates convergence structures generated by double sequences and their role in modern approximation methods. The research focuses on constructing and analyzing topologies induced by multidimensional convergence, particularly Pringsheim convergence, and studying their compactness, continuity, and approximation properties in functional spaces.
By extending classical single-sequence techniques to two-dimensional index systems, the project aims to provide new theoretical tools for multivariate approximation, summability methods, and numerical analysis. The results are expected to contribute to both pure and applied mathematics by offering a deeper understanding of convergence phenomena in higher-dimensional discrete frameworks.
Mahmoud Altarabin is an assistant professor of translation and linguistics and head of the Department of English at the Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine.
Mahmoud Altarabin, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Translation and Linguistics and Head of the Department of English at the Islamic University of Gaza. His research focuses on translation studies, media and political translation, and the ideological aspects of cross-cultural communication in Arabic–English contexts. Altarabin has published books and peer-reviewed research with international publishers including Routledge and Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
His work examines topics such as media discourse, legal and Qur’anic translation, and the translation of culturally embedded expressions. Despite the severe disruptions caused by the October 7th war in Gaza, he continues to teach, supervise students, and contribute to international scholarship on translation, ideology, and digital mediation.
PROJECT: Translation, Ideology, and Digital Mediation in Contexts of Conflict
The project titled “Translation, Ideology, and Digital Mediation in Contexts of Conflict,” investigates how translators render political discourse and culturally embedded expressions related to Palestine for global audiences. The paper combining qualitative discourse analysis and comparative translation analysis to examine ideological framing and translator’s intervention in translated texts or speeches related to the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
The paper also discusses the extent to which media mediation can intervene in shaping international representations of Gaza. In addition, the project aims to contribute to translation studies by exploring how translation practices mediate political narratives and cultural or religious meanings in conflict settings. it also highlights challenges and constraints faced by translators working in highly sensitive contexts.
Mohammed A. Awadallah is currently an associate professor of computer science (artificial intelligence) at the College of Computers and Information Technology, Al-Aqsa University, Gaza, Palestine.
He was recognized among the world’s top 2% scientists by Stanford University and Elsevier B.V. in 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025. Dr. Awadallah has authored or co-authored more than 120 research papers published in reputable international journals and conference proceedings. According to Scopus and Google Scholar, his h-index is 41 and 47, respectively. His work has received over 5,000 citations in Scopus and more than 7,000 citations in Google Scholar. His research primarily focuses on practical and real-world applications, particularly the integration of optimization algorithms with machine learning techniques to address complex real-world problems.
PROJECT: Development and application of advanced optimization algorithms and their effective integration with machine learning and deep learning techniques
The rapid growth of artificial intelligence and high-speed internet has significantly increased the generation and use of data worldwide. The Internet now plays a vital role in the public, governmental, and business sectors, producing vast amounts of data daily that can yield valuable knowledge. However, raw data are often unstructured and unsuitable for direct use without automated methods to extract meaningful information.
In machine learning, feature selection (FS) techniques are employed to reduce data dimensionality and training complexity by identifying the most relevant features. As a combinatorial optimization problem, FS can be effectively addressed using optimization algorithms.
This project proposes integrating a recent optimization algorithm with machine learning algorithms to select optimal medical features for disease diagnosis and will evaluate its performance against existing methods.
Mohammed S. Ellulu is an assistant professor and head of the Department of Clinical Nutrition at Al-Azhar University in Gaza, Palestine.
Dr. Mohammed S. Ellulu is an Assistant Professor and Head of the Department of Clinical Nutrition with extensive expertise in obesity, inflammation, and metabolic disorders. He holds a PhD in Clinical Nutrition and has published about 30 peer-reviewed articles in international journals, with research spanning clinical trials, epidemiology, and metabolic health. His work focuses on nutritional interventions, diabetes, and cardiometabolic risk factors.
Recognized among the world’s top 2% scientists (Stanford University list, 2022), he has led and collaborated on funded research projects, supervised postgraduate students, and contributed actively to multidisciplinary academic and clinical research initiatives.
PROJECT: Nutritional Vulnerability, Inflammation, and Metabolic Dysregulation in Conflict-Affected Populations: Evidence from Gaza
This project investigates the clinical and psychosocial consequences of prolonged food insecurity in conflict-affected populations in Gaza Strip. It examines how chronic dietary disruption and contributes to systemic inflammation, metabolic dysregulations, adverse mental health outcomes such as depression and stress-related disorders, and reduced health-related quality of life. By synthesizing existing datasets and ongoing field-based research, the study integrates epidemiological analyses, inflammatory biomarkers (where available), and validated mental health and quality-of-life instruments.
The aim is to generate multidimensional evidence on nutritional vulnerability in protracted conflict settings and produce a high-impact publication in an international public health or nutrition journal.
Mosab M. H. Aldabbas is a physiotherapist with a PhD in Physiotherapy and a Master’s degree in Orthopedics.
PROJECT: Functional and psychosocial outcomes of tailored physiotherapy interventions in conflict-affected populations, including individuals with war-related injuries, amputations, and chronic musculoskeletal pain
The proposed project examines the functional and psychosocial outcomes such as sleep quality, fatigue, chronic pain and mental health factors as well as a delay in receiving rehabilitation services and prosthetic fitting among patients with amputation in conflict-affected populations (GAZA STRIP). The study aims to evaluate changes in physical function, disability, pain severity, psychological distress, sleep quality, and delay in receiving rehabilitation services and prosthetic fitting among patients with amputation.
By integrating biopsychosocial assessment models with evidence-based physiotherapy strategies, the project seeks to generate context-specific data that can inform rehabilitation practices in low-resource and humanitarian settings. The findings are expected to support the development of sustainable, patient-centered rehabilitation frameworks for vulnerable populations.