Nominees for the BRISMES Committee on Academic Freedom (2025-2028)

Mira Al Hussein

My name is Mira Al Hussein, and I’m a sociologist at the University of Edinburgh, with a research focus on the Arab States of the Gulf. I hold a PhD from the University of Cambridge, where my thesis, “Educated Acquiescence”: An Ethnography of Higher Education in Post-Arab Spring United Arab Emirates, explored how the national security state permeates spaces of higher learning to engineer compliant citizens and residents, and how the latter engage in the politics of self-preservation. I currently serve on the Committee of Academic Freedom and Freedom of Expression at the University of Edinburgh, and as a non-resident fellow with Democracy in Exile (DAWN), where I monitor and write on the systematic erosion of rights across the Gulf. Beyond my academic research, I have actively advocated for scholars targeted in the region, offering platforms for them to share their experiences and raising awareness of the risks facing researchers in political sensitive environments. My writing has also addressed the politics of censorship and the ethical responsibilities of institutions in safeguarding those conducting fieldwork in the MENA region. In one article, I touched on how academic freedom intersects with migration and employability in the MENA region, creating a ripple effect that shapes knowledge production, professional futures and the circulation of expertise across borders. I am in the process of submitting a journal article on transnational precarity and academic unfreedom in the UAE, contrasting the campus politics there with the unfolding censorship and repression witnessed recently on U.S. campuses. Having been personally affected by academic unfreedoms in my own country of the United Arab Emirates, I am deeply committed to advancing protections for academics who engage in critical scholarship on the MENA region.