Research Affiliates | The Centre

Dr Marian Abouzeid

Senior Research Fellow, Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University

Available for: Consultancies, Industry partnerships

Dr Marian Abouzeid is based at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, and was previously a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Humanitarian Leadership. Dr Abouzeid served as inaugural Associate Project Lead of The Lancet – American University of Beirut Commission on Syria (2018-2020) and subsequently as Research Affiliate with the Commission (2021). She was founding Executive Director of the Global Alliance on War, Conflict and Health during its foundational phase (2019-2021) and now serves as a member of the Alliance’s interim Executive Board. Dr Abouzeid is currently co-principal investigator and Project Director of a multi-institutional international research initiative that examines humanitarian research and innovation investments and priorities globally, and Deputy Lead of the Global Humanitarian Mapping Consortium.

Alfred Deakin Professor Matthew Clarke

Pro-Vice Chancellor Researcher Development, Deakin University

Available for: Consultancies, HDR Supervisions, Industry partnerships

Prof Matthew Clarke has previously held formal roles with the Centre for Humanitarian Leadership, including as Chair and Deputy Chair, and separately as Head of Centre and Interim Centre Director. In 2010, he co-edited a volume on the Reconstruction of Aceh following the Indian Ocean Tsunami and a review of humanitarian workers’ experience during this response (published in 2008). Since the Centre’s establishment, he has continued undertaking research in this field as well as supervising a number of the Centre’s PhD students.

Prof Clarke has attended the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and Save the Children US office as part of a Fulbright Fellowship in Non-Profit Leadership which was awarded due to his leadership of the Centre. His current research considers the nexus between religion and development/humanitarian work, and he maintains an interest in humanitarian education.

Dr Tina Daniel

Researcher, School of Education, Deakin University

Available for: Consultancies, Industry partnerships

Dr Tina Daniel is an experienced teacher and early career researcher who has worked in Australia and internationally to improve learning access for second language learners and students with learning difficulties. She is motivated to drive collaborative efforts to enact change that focus on the needs of students too often neglected by government and school systems. Dr Daniel’s doctoral research focused on issues of social justice and equity for struggling readers through the lens of Paolo Freire’s late writings and the Theory of Practice Architectures. Her current work builds focuses on three key areas: trauma-informed teaching and the potential for teachers as humanitarian leaders, the equity and social justice implications of appropriate early reading instruction, and the challenges to equity, social justice and distributed power via the inappropriate translation of early reading research into teacher practice.

Dr Zouhir Gabsi

Senior Lecturer, Arabic and Islamic Studies

Available for: Consultancies, Industry partnerships, HDR Supervisions

Dr Zouhir Gabsi is passionate about making a positive change to society. His current research focuses on Tunisian youth’s marginalisation and minority communities in the Arab world. He is also engaged in research on xenophobia and Islamophobia, which is the subject of his forthcoming book. Dr Gabsi is multilingual with an intimate understanding of global societies. His interest in youth studies emanates from marginalisation – in North Africa, particularly, there is an unfolding humanitarian crisis due to clandestine migration and suicide. Dr Gabsi’s research attempts to understand the psychology of these youth, their concerns, and culture.

Ms. Hedyeh Gamini Esfahani

PhD Candidate, School of Architecture and Built Environment, Deakin University

Available for: HDR Supervisions, Consultancies, Industry partnerships

Ms. Hedyeh Gamini Esfahani was awarded a PhD scholarship with Deakin University’s HOME Research Hub to work on the Young Maggie Centre Project. Her thesis is titled “Young Maggie Centre: Investigating an appropriate design model for caring for children and their families living with life-limiting conditions”. The aim of this thesis is to present an appropriate design model for terminally ill children and their parents that adapts the Maggie’s Centre model.

Ms. Gamini has researched and studied disaster response in Iran, particularly as it relates to design and spaces for children. Her master’s thesis “The Role of Child-Friendly Spaces after the Bam Earthquake of 2003 in Iran” was selected as the best thesis in the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning. She has published more than 10 papers related to children, architecture, disaster, and design.

Dr Leanne Kelly

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University

Available for: Industry partnerships

Dr Leanne Kelly is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow on an Australian Research Council linkage project led by Associate Professor Anthony Ware and Professor Greg Barton. The project explores appropriate humanitarian-development NGO responses to preventing and countering violent extremism in Asia and Africa. Dr Kelly also works as the National Evaluation Advisor for Emergency Services at the Australian Red Cross.