KIRDAR, Serra
Director, Muthabara Foundation (Dubai, UAE)
Session: Pluralism - Women’s Education
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
- 11.00-12.30
Dr. Serra Kirdar is the Founder and Director of the Muthabara Foundation which was established in partnership with Oxford University Middle East Centre and the Centre for Applied HR Research, Oxford, to help maximise the potential of Arab women to achieve managerial and professional roles in the workplace. The Foundation is based in Dubai and aims to implement activities to promote initiatives to improve the education and career opportunities of undergraduate and graduate level local women. Furthermore, Muthabara, through its research, will offer practical guides and recommendations to local women and international companies as well as support and guidance to accelerate the leadership responsibilities of local women themselves.
Having received her schooling in London at St Paul’s Girls School, she then went on to earn her BA in Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oxford, where she also completed her MSc in Comparative and International Education. She then completed her DPhil at St Antony’s College, Oxford University, in 2004, entitled: “Gender and Cross – Cultural Experience with Reference to Elite Arab Women”. Serra, a founding member of the New Leaders Group for the Institute for International Education (IIE), founded the Initiative for Innovative Teaching (INTEACH) under the IIE and Oxford University Middle East Centre. INTEACH aims to develop tailor-made locally geared professional training programmes for public-sector teachers in the Arab world with the aim of enhancing pedagogical instruction in the region. She is a Foundation Life Fellow of St Antony’s College, Middle East Centre, Oxford University, and the Chairperson for the New Leaders Group (NLG) UAE. Dr. Kirdar also serves on the International Advisory Board for the newly established Asian University for Women (AUW). She recently wrote the 2008 UAE Women’s Rights Report for Freedom House as well as “The Development of Women's Education in the Arab World”, in Rosarii Griffin (Ed), Education in the Muslim World: Different Perspectives, and “The Impact of Educational Empowerment on Women in the Arab World”, in Colin Brock & Lila Zia Levers (Ed), Aspects of Education in the Middle East and North Africa.
Kirdar currently lives in Dubai, UAE, with her husband Riad Meliti, CEO of Arqaam Capital, and her eighteen-month-old son.
Having received her schooling in London at St Paul’s Girls School, she then went on to earn her BA in Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oxford, where she also completed her MSc in Comparative and International Education. She then completed her DPhil at St Antony’s College, Oxford University, in 2004, entitled: “Gender and Cross – Cultural Experience with Reference to Elite Arab Women”. Serra, a founding member of the New Leaders Group for the Institute for International Education (IIE), founded the Initiative for Innovative Teaching (INTEACH) under the IIE and Oxford University Middle East Centre. INTEACH aims to develop tailor-made locally geared professional training programmes for public-sector teachers in the Arab world with the aim of enhancing pedagogical instruction in the region. She is a Foundation Life Fellow of St Antony’s College, Middle East Centre, Oxford University, and the Chairperson for the New Leaders Group (NLG) UAE. Dr. Kirdar also serves on the International Advisory Board for the newly established Asian University for Women (AUW). She recently wrote the 2008 UAE Women’s Rights Report for Freedom House as well as “The Development of Women's Education in the Arab World”, in Rosarii Griffin (Ed), Education in the Muslim World: Different Perspectives, and “The Impact of Educational Empowerment on Women in the Arab World”, in Colin Brock & Lila Zia Levers (Ed), Aspects of Education in the Middle East and North Africa.
Kirdar currently lives in Dubai, UAE, with her husband Riad Meliti, CEO of Arqaam Capital, and her eighteen-month-old son.
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