Ruba Ali Al-Hassani

Ruba Ali Al-Hassani (@RubaAlHassani) is a legal sociologist who specializes in state-society relations in Iraq and aims to amplify voices on the ground in public discourse, analysis, and policy.

She is a Research Consultant at King’s College London and a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Lancaster University’s Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion and at Project SEPAD. The project at the university’s Richardson Institute focuses on conditions that give rise to sectarian violence along religious lines and proxy wars with the aim of creating space for a ‘de-sectarianisation’ of socio-political life.

Ms. Al-Hassani sits on the Board of Directors at the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture. She co-founded the Canadian Association for Muslim Women in Law, a cross-Canada network of Muslim women in the legal profession. She co-founded the Iraqi Women Academics Network, a platform with global reach supporting Iraqi women academics inside and outside Iraq.

Ms. Al-Hassani has taught sociology at her alma maters York University and Trent University in Canada. She holds a B.Sc. in Psychology & Sociology, a M.A. in Criminology, and an LL.M. in transitional justice, as she completes her Ph.D. at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University.

She was a Nonresident Fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy and has contributed columns to Inside Arabia and The New Arab. Her commentary and analysis have been featured on networks throughout North America, Europe, and the Middle East, including the BBC, AP, CBC, Al-Jazeera, The World Radio, Deutsche Welle, Newsweek, among many others, and in more than five languages.