Profile

I am a fourth year ESRC-funded PhD candidate in the PAIS department. I currently hold an MPhil in International Relations & Politics from the University of Cambridge; an MSc in Middle East Politics from SOAS; and a BSc in Government & History from the LSE. In addition to my academic qualifications, I have several years of experience working in media and publishing in Cairo, Egypt, with a particular focus on writing about women's issues. I am also an elected member of the Committee on Academic Freedom for the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies.

Research

My PhD research explores dynamics of place and locality in online gender violence activism in the Middle East and North Africa. Within the research, I am using digital ethnographic methods to unpack and situate the burgeoning ecosystem of social media activism currently emerging across Morocco, Lebanon, Egypt and Algeria. My project is grounded in feminist epistemologies and uses a modified approach to Social Movement Theory that accounts for feminist and postcolonial critiques. I see this as a vital intervention in response to narratives of a global #MeToo and a placeless internet.

More broadly, my research interests are:

• Cyberfeminism and digital activism - including issues of access, representation and equality;
• Social and resistance movements and governmental responses;
• Middle Eastern and North African politics;
• Feminist theories and methodologies.

Teaching

In 2024/25 academic year, I am teaching two seminar groups for PO219: Theories of International Relations.

In 2023/24 academic year, I taught two seminar groups for PO219: Theories of International Relations, and one seminar group for PO131: World Politics.
In 2022/23 academic year, I taught three seminar groups for PO107: Introduction to Politics.

Awards

• ESRC Midlands Graduate School PhD Studentship (2021-2025) - University of Warwick
• Jennings Prize for Academic Excellence for MPhil Dissertation (2020) - Wolfson College, Cambridge

Conference Papers

• “The I, the We, and the They: Exploring the Construction of Identity in Digital Gender Activism in the MENA Region”, Cyberfeminism in the Middle East and North Africa Region: Concepts, Case Studies, Methodologies Symposium at the University of Cardiff (2024); British Society for Middle Eastern Studies: Annual Conference (2024)
• Taḍāmun ‘abir lilḥadūd - ‘Solidarity Across Borders’: The construction of regional solidarities in the face of femicide in the MENA, British Society for Middle Eastern Studies: Annual Conference (2023); British International Studies Association (2023)
• Investigating transnationalism in Egypt’s digital anti-sexual harassment activism, British Society for Middle Eastern Studies: Annual Conference (2022)
• Shaped not silenced: Evaluating the Egyptian regime’s use of online information, LSE Middle East Centre: Gramsci in the Middle East and North Africa Conference (2022)
• Online Activism: Challenging transnational perspectives & recentring the local, Wolfson College: International Women’s Day Conference (2021)
• The economic and social impact of digital spaces in Egypt, Wolfson College: International Women’s Day Conference (2020)

Publications

Mehta, B., 2024, ‘Solidarity Across Borders’: online gender activism and the construction of a Middle East and North African regional public space,Link opens in a new window Gender & Development, 32:1-2, p547-573

Hamilton, M., Dixon, S., Young, J., McPherson, E., Srinivasan, S., Salter, E., Achermann, K., Barras, C., Czerwinsky, A., Mehta, B. and Siddiqui, M., 2020. The Right of Peaceful Assembly in Online Spaces: A Comment on the Revised Draft General Comment No. 37 on Article 21 (Right of Peaceful Assembly) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.Link opens in a new window