Aya Musmar
Dr. Aya Musmar is an Assistant Professor of Architecture and Feminism at The University of Petra in Amman, Jordan. Her transdisciplinary research sits at the confluence of refugee studies, feminist studies and architecture and it aims at contesting the established boundaries of each. She investigates humanitarian response in refugees’ spaces and beyond, thinks of the refugee camp as a spatial phenomenon that embodies world unjust politics. She applies a decolonialist feminist critique and is interested in exploring the ways by which architectural research and architectural pedagogies could bear testimony to social injustice. In 2020, her PhD research, Witnessing the Refugee Camp: Feminist Positions, Practices, and Pedagogies was shortlisted for the RIBA President’s awards. Aya co-leads several international projects taking place in Jordan. Amongst these is PPE for Refugees project with University of Sheffield, Al Al-Bayt University, The University Arts of London, and the UNHCR in which she is leading the social working group. Also, Investigating Heritage-Led Resilience to Scarcity, Conflict, and Climate Change with Anglia Ruskin University. Since her assignment as an Assistant Professor, Aya has been interested in feminist scholarly activism and the ways by which she could be vocal about the struggles women academics undergo in postcolonial geographies.