International Education Policy; Education in Emergencies; Refugee Education; Conflict and Peacebuilding; Peace Education; Humanitarian Aid; Language Policy; Gender and Development; Education in the Middle East

Zeena Zakharia is Associate Professor of International Education Policy and the Harold R.W. Benjamin Professor of International and Comparative Education at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her research examines education and peacebuilding in contexts of conflict and advances a critical approach to refugee studies in the Middle East. These interests stem from over two decades of educational research, teaching, and leadership in war-affected contexts. Her recent research (with F. Menashy and M. Shuayb) investigated partnership arrangements in the global educational response to the Syria refugee crisis. She is co-author of Transforming Humanitarian Partnerships: Dismantling Colonial Legacies for Refugee Education (Bristol University Press, 2026). Her current projects document how educators work as frontline responders in humanitarian contexts and how organizations and actors are reconfiguring the global humanitarian architecture for education in emergencies. She was a Tueni Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government and a Middle Eastern Studies Postdoctoral Fellow at Columbia University. She works with international and governmental organizations and schools operating in conflict-affected contexts.

Selected:

  • Mentor of the Year, University of Maryland Graduate School
  • Best Paper Award Honorable Mention, Comparative and International Education Society Post-Foundational Approaches SIG
  • Middle East Studies Postdoctoral Fellowship, Columbia University Middle East Institute and Teachers College
  • Tueni Human Rights Fellowship, Hariri Foundation-USA and Harvard Kennedy School of Government
  • Outstanding Dissertation Award Honorable Mention, American Anthropological Association Council on Anthropology and Education 
  • NAEd/Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellowship for Research Related to Education
  • Spencer Foundation Research Training Grant Dissertation Fellowship
  • Teachers College Office of Policy and Research Fellowship
  • Spencer Foundation Research Training Grant Pre-Dissertation Fellowship
  • Middle East Institute Research Fellowship

Full list of publications here and access to selected publications here. Some recent publications and other resources:

Selected:

  • Baltimore Compass, Support for international early career teachers in Baltimore Public Schools. Funded by the Maryland State Department of Education, System of Professional Learning Grant.
  • REFRAME--Reimagining Education in Emergencies: Foundations for Resilience, Action, and Meaningful Equity. Funded by the Spencer Foundation.
  • Fugitive Pedagogies in the Context of Scholasticide. Funded by the Spencer Foundation.
  • Forging an Anti-Colonial and Anti-Racist Agenda in Global Education. Funded by UMD College of Education, Support Program for Advancing Research.
  • Confronting White Supremacy and Racism in Global Education. Funded by UMD Graduate School, Faculty-Student Research Award.
  • Partnerships in Education in Emergencies: Project website, related resources, and brief explainer video here. Funded by Dubai Cares, Evidence for Education in Emergencies Research Grant.
  • The Business of Schooling in Conflict: A Mapping and Analysis of Private Participation in the Education of Syrian Refugees. Funded by Education International, Global Response Research Grant.
  • Rethinking the region: New approaches to 9-12 US curriculum on the Middle East & North Africa: Project website. Funded by the Social Science Research Council and British Council, Our Shared Past Grant.
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