Yafa El Masri identifies as both a refugee and a researcher, a dual perspective that deeply informs her mission to transform refugee experiences in the Middle East. Born and raised in Borj Al-Barajneh, a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, she has dedicated her career to advocating for Palestinian refugees and other migrant communities across the Levant. El Masri is currently a Lecturer in Geography and Global Development at the University of East Anglia, UK. Her work focuses on the intersection of development and displacement. She has led and contributed to numerous research projects exploring the lived experiences and representations of refugees, especially in Lebanon. Her scholarship has been published extensively in internationally recognized academic journals such as Frontiers and Globalizations, as well as in books and edited volumes. In July 2024, El Masri was awarded the prestigious British Society for Middle East Studies (BRISMES) Early Career Prize to transform her research into a monograph. She holds a PhD in Geographic Studies (2023) and an MSc in Local Geographic Development (2019), both from the University of Padova, Italy. Before embarking on her academic journey, she gained extensive experience working with international and local humanitarian aid organizations in Lebanon, enriching her understanding of the communities she now engages with in her research.

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