I have over 15 years experience as an academic researcher and writer. I completed my PhD at the London School of Economics in 2012, after which I took up Post Doctoral positions at the University of Oxford and Manchester University. My publishing portfolio includes peer reviewed journals and a book chapter. I also have solid experience of grant writing having won five scholarships for my PhD research, while securing my own funding from the top UK research councils to run Post-Doc projects (AHRC, Leverhulme Trust and British Academy). I have also written for several Egyptian English language publications and worked as an assistant to the Ambassador/Deputy Ambassador at the British Embassy in Cairo
PhD: ‘A Tale of Three Cities? Mediated Imagination, Class and the Many Young Cosmopolitans of Cairo’ The London School of Economics, Department of Media and Communications
Supervisor: Dr Myria Georgiou. Funded by AHRC
http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/407/
MA International Communications (Distinction) The University of Leeds, Institute of Communications Studies
http://ics-www.leeds.ac.uk/sub1.cfm?pbcrumb=MA%20Showcase
BA (HONS) Communications Studies and Politics (First) The University of Leeds, Institute of Communications Studies
A Levels, Notre Dame Sixth Form College, Leeds
Media Studies (A), Sociology (A), Psychology (A), English Literature (A)
Research assistance, University of Leeds, AHRC grant
I am offering assistance on a project run by the University of Leeds. I am assisting with translation, as well as the transcription of audio recorded data and conducting thematic analysis.
Principal Investigator, British Academy grant Co-partnered with the American University in Cairo
Working with a team of sociologists, gender-studies specialists and anti-sexual harassment activists, this project investigated how prevalent media portrayals of sexuality are linked to public sexual violence targeting women in Egypt and how both have impacted the way young Egyptians articulate and negotiate norms around gendered interaction.
Principal Investigator, Leverhulme Grant Co-partnered with the Egyptian Research and Training Centre
Using this grant I conducted a survey with 300 university students in Egypt, and ran a series of focus group discussions to explore how these young people, across class and gender, use New Information and Communication Technologies (NICT) in post-revolutionary Egypt.
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Middle East Centre, University of Oxford, AHRC grant
I partnered with a local NGO in Egypt that uses art and music to promote and sustain cultural development amongst Cairo’s underprivileged youth. Using a survey and focus-group discussions, I explored the possibility of the NGO expanding their research agenda to include the important role of digital and new media as tools of youth awareness and political participation.
PhD, London School of Economics, AHRC grant
Focusing specifically on the everyday consumption of television, my thesis investigated the ways young Egyptian men and women from three different class backgrounds negotiate the relationship between the physical and cultural settings of their urban realities, the forces of globalization and ideas of cosmopolitanism, nationalism and religiosity. I conducted nine months of intensive media ethnography in Cairo. I organized and conducted 12 focus groups, 450 surveys, and weekly sessions of participant/non participant observation.
Media, Political Opportunity and the Anti-Sexual Harassment Campaign in Post-2011 Egypt
Middle East Studies Association (MESA) annual meeting, Washington
A Tale of Two Cities? A Divided City and the Many Young Cosmopolitans of Cairo
IAMCR, Istanbul: Cities, Creativity, Connectivity
Funded by LSE award
Working Class and Upper Middle Class Cosmopolitans in a Divided Cairo
Leeds University 5th Annual PhD Conference: Constructing and Deconstructing Identity
Classed Cosmopolitans in a Divided Cairo
Media@LSE, 4th Annual PhD Symposium
I’m Egyptian, I’m Muslim, but I’m also Cosmopolitan: The Unlikely Young Cosmopolitans of Cairo.
ICA, Singapore: Matters of Communication
Funded by AHRC award
Elsayed, H and Webb, A.k. (eds.) (2020). Cosmopolitanism in the Arab World [special issue]. Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication 13(2)
Elsayed, H (2017). Mediated Imagination, Class and Cairo’s Young Cosmopolitans. In: T. Sabry and L. Ftouni. Arab Subcultures: Reflections on Theory and Practice. London: I.B. Tauris
Elsayed, H. (2015) A Divine Cosmopolitanism? Religion, Media and Imagination in a Socially Divided Cairo. Media, Culture & Society, special edition: Media and Religion
Elsayed, H (2013). Egypt’s First Hyperlocal Paper: A New Route to Fostering Community Activism and Citizen Engagement. Re.Framing Activism. Available at:
Elsayed, H (2013). Social Media Helped Egyptians Win their Revolution, and Now it is Helping them in their Fight Against Sexual Harassment. Re.Framing Activism. Available at:
Elsayed, H (2013). How Mobile Phones, Cameras and Egypt’s Political Turmoil Gave the Mosireen Collective a Global Following. Re.Framing Activism.
Elsayed, H (2010). The Unlikely Young Cosmopolitans of Cairo. Arab Media & Society, Winter (13). Available at: http://www.arabmediasociety.com/?article=760
Elsayed, H (2013). Book review: Whitaker, Brian (2008). What’s Really Wrong with the Middle East (SAQI). LSE Middle East Centre blog. Available at:
Elsayed, H (2012). Book Review: Peterson, M.A (2011). Connected in Cairo: Growing up Cosmopolitan in the Modern Middle East (Indiana University Press). Published in Anthropological Notebooks.
Elsayed, H (2012). Book review: Iskander, E (2012). Sectarian Conflict in Egypt: Coptic Media, Representation and Identity (Routledge). Published in Africa@LSE. Available at:
Book Review: Sectarian Conflict in Egypt: Coptic Media, Identity and Representation
Anonymous review of special edition of Graduate Journal of Social Sciences (GJSS) on Muslim media audiences
Being the first point of contact between the embassy’s Political Section and the Ambassador/Deputy-Ambassador, I am primarily responsible for organising and implementing many of the elements that are vital to the smooth running of the embassy. This involves managing the embassy’s Crisis Management Plan, providing language support to the Chancery and offering advice on potential political and social contacts in Egypt.
I have been working with a local youth-development NGO in Cairo (Arts for Development), conducting media research with young men and women, including administering a survey and running focus group discussions, to explore their media consumption practices and preferences.
Targeting ex-pats in Egypt, I wrote about Cairo’s prominent social/cultural scene. As well as strengthening my writing abilities, my practical research skills were also developed through intense online and telephone searches, and interviews with relevant experts.
WASD is a group of journals that function as a global forum for bringing together experts from across the world to discuss issues relating to sustainable development. Working predominantly with authors, academics and experts from across the world whose first language is not English, I proofread their papers and prepare them for publication.
HarassMap is Egypt’s first ever independent initiative that uses the media to combat the social endemic of sexual harassment. I am conducting a quantitative/qualitative daily monitoring of Arabic-language television and newspaper coverage of sexual harassment in Egypt, analysing articles against a set of defined attributes and storing it in a database. I am also helping them write their quarterly media report.
DMI specialise in using mass media to promote development and health-awareness campaigns across Sub-Saharan Africa. Using my Arabic language skills, I am currently offering them support on a Gulf funding assignment, helping them to source out relevant grant opportunities from the Gulf region, ensuring that calls for funding complement MDI’s activities and research priorities.
Targeting ex-pats in Egypt, I wrote about Cairo’s prominent social/cultural scene. As well as strengthening my writing abilities, my practical research skills were also developed through intense online and telephone searches, and interviews with relevant experts.
AFD, an award winning youth-development NGO in Cairo, are currently conceptualising a new crowd-funding campaign via indiegogo in order to raise funds to continue their activities. I am part of an international team of four people who will be managing the campaign, using social media platforms and an email network to gain financial support from the Egyptian diaspora across the world. We are currently in the planning stages of the project.
I have been working with HarassMap on their global crowd-funding campaign to help them raise funds to establish Egypt’s first nation-wide anti-sexual harassment mass media campaign targeting TV, radio, art and print media. I am also working closely with their research division and helping them to establish successful social media platforms.
I liaised with British students who wished to undergo international student exchanges, setting up potential opportunities around the globe. I was responsible for maintaining and updating the student database, which has endowed me with organizational and administrative skills.
I dealt with the cases of refugees newly arrived to the UK, helping them sort out housing problems, benefits and also distributing food to them. This post substantially strengthened my people-skills as I communicated directly with the refugees, as well as reporting back to the manager.
I was responsible for helping the editor compile the ‘black book’ ready for printing, which gave me a strong eye for detail. I was also involved in proof-reading for the journalists.
I wrote travel-related articles for this magazine, which gave me experience of writing for a variety of audiences.
Excellent (native language): speaking, reading and writing
Excellent (first language): speaking, reading and writing
