Salma Daoudi awarded an XCEPT Women Researchers Fellowship by The Asia Foundation

Salma Daoudi, who is working towards a DPhil in International Relations, is one of six early career female researchers to have been awarded a Fellowship by The Asia Foundation for women researchers researching conflict dynamics in border regions.

Salma's research will centre on governance challenges in unstable border regions, with a specific emphasis on the subversion of public health governance in Syria and its transnational ramifications. More specifically, it seeks to bridge a gap in the development-security nexus literature, by investigating the patterns of health weaponisation in Syria and the regional health governance challenges that arise as a result. It will explore the underlying aims of employing violence against health as a modality of governance, discussing the strategic rationale of health weaponisation by state and non-state actors, as well as repercussions on human (in)security against the backdrop of the peculiar (geo)political and socio-economic regional framework within which it is situated. In order to illustrate the complexities underlying the exercise of violence against healthcare, this project will employ a qualitative and participant-centred approach.

"I am deeply honored to have been awarded the XCEPT Women Researchers fellowship and to collaborate with academic and local policy partners. This represents a unique opportunity for me to meaningfully contribute to research on the impact of conflict dynamics on public health governance and individual security across the MENA, as well as work towards generating practical insights that can inform policy recommendations"