12 IAS Undergraduate Fellows Earn International Recognition at IAMCR 2026
Following a rigorous blind peer-review process, twelve projects developed through the year-long fellowship were accepted to the conference, with ten featured in the final program. The fellows will present alongside graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and established scholars from around the world, reflecting the scholarly quality of their work and the strength of undergraduate research at Northwestern Qatar.
"The work of our undergraduate fellows demonstrates what is possible when students are entrusted with ambitious research and supported through close mentorship," said Marwan M. Kraidy, dean and CEO of Northwestern University in Qatar. "Their participation at IAMCR reflects not only the quality of their scholarship, but also our commitment to cultivating the next generation of researchers whose work expands knowledge production from and about the Global South."
The accepted projects explore a broad range of issues affecting communities across the Global South, including migration, memory, cultural heritage, gender, identity, and social justice. Together, they demonstrate how rigorous research and creative practice can generate new ways of understanding complex social issues while bringing underrepresented perspectives into international academic conversations.
“The work of our undergraduate fellows demonstrates what is possible when students are entrusted with ambitious research and supported through close mentorship”
Many of the presentations embrace multimodal forms of scholarship, an area that sits at the heart of #IAS_NUQ's mission. Fellows will present documentary films, interactive digital experiences, graphic narratives, oral history projects, educational websites, and game-based research that combine academic inquiry with evidence-based storytelling.
Five fellows will present original documentary films exploring themes ranging from displacement and cultural memory to migration, gender identity, and women's lived experiences. Their work will be shared both through scholarly conference presentations and through the conference's Flow34 screenings, creating opportunities for delegates to engage with research through multiple forms of storytelling.
Other fellows will present innovative digital and creative projects, including an interactive oral history documenting the experiences of Ahiska Turks, an educational platform exploring Kazakh ornamentation, a graphic novel examining gender-based violence in Kyrgyzstan, and an immersive game prototype centered on the 1986 Jeltoksan protests in Kazakhstan. Maryam Al-Musleh’s paper on Gulf Television, for example, is one of only two papers on the Gulf region in the program. Collectively, these projects illustrate how emerging scholars are expanding the possibilities of communication research through interdisciplinary and creative methodologies.
The fellows' research aligns closely with this year's IAMCR theme, foregrounding voices and experiences that have often remained at the margins of global scholarship. Representing multiple countries, cultures, and languages, their work contributes fresh perspectives on memory, identity, resilience, and social transformation.
Their participation forms part of a broader #IAS_NUQ presence at IAMCR, which includes faculty, postdoctoral scholars, and Institute leadership. Together, they reflect the Institute's commitment to cultivating emerging scholars while creating opportunities for undergraduate researchers to contribute meaningfully to international academic dialogue.
Presenting at IAMCR offers the fellows an opportunity not only to share their work with leading scholars from around the world, but also to engage in conversations shaping the future of media and communication research. Their participation exemplifies Northwestern Qatar's distinctive approach to integrating undergraduate education, original research, and evidence-based storytelling on a global stage.
