Rukaya Al Zayani

About Rukaya Al Zayani

Rukaya Al Zayani is a doctoral student in the Gender Studies department at Örebro University. They are researching technology-mediated sexual violence against the queer community in Turkey as part of the Feminist Violence Studies

Rukaya is investigating multifaceted forms of gendered violence, in particular, online violence against the queer community in Turkey and how violence travels between time and space. 

Rukaya is currently writing on online queer sex work in Turkey and the spatial forms of violence that targets queer refugees in Turkey (Rukaya's queer refugees population includes Syrian refugees and Iranian refugees).

Rukaya has also worked previously on a British Academy funded project: Transcity Istanbul with Istanbul Bilgi University and Queen’s University, Belfast as a Research Assistant.

She wrote her MA thesis on Discrimination and Gender-based Violence Against Syrian Migrants in Turkey. She has conducted two ethnographic fieldwork projects in Istanbul, and for the past year she has been conducting a fieldwork in Istanbul for her PhD project. Rukaya recieved a grant from the Swedish Institute, Istanbul and has worked as a fellow in the institute during her first year of the fieldwork.

Rukaya has a BA in Political Science and International Relations from Bahcesehir Universitesi and an MA in International Relations from Istanbul Bilgi Universitesi.

Besides academia, Rukaya is a mental health advocate, a queer feminist, and an activist. Rukaya founded ADA: Anxiety & Depression Association in Bahrain and they are a certified domestic and sexual violence counselor at Shamsha (previously known as Women’s Crisis Care International) since 2016. They also undertook certifications in psychotherapy and cognitive-behavior therapy for their role in ADA.