Mawahib Khalil M. Hassan

Research Topic: The Importance of Social and Economic Capital in Protracted Displacement: A Case Study of Displaced Sudanese in Turkey

Country: Sudan

Columbia Global Center: Amman

Mawahib is a lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology at the University of Khartoum, Sudan. From 2024 to August 2025, she worked as a researcher at the Migration Research Foundation in Ankara. She earned her PhD in Social Work from Hacettepe University in 2022. Her dissertation, entitled “Syrian Married Refugee Women’s Experiences with Intimate Partner Violence and Their Strategies for Dealing with It”, examined how patriarchal cultural norms contribute to women’s exposure to intimate partner violence. 

Mawahib has published several articles in peer-reviewed journals, including Barriers to Reporting Intimate Partner Violence by Syrian Women Refugees in Turkey. She has also contributed to numerous reports and analyses focused on the Sudan crisis, such as Militarized Politics, Civilian Fragmentation, and a Deepening Humanitarian Catastrophe and The Consequences of Internal Conflict on Displacement in Sudan. In addition, she has presented at several international conferences, including the International Health Sciences Research Days Congress. 

Her academic interests focus on forced migration, displaced Sudanese communities, integration, identity issues, social policies, and gender-based violence, with a particular emphasis on intimate partner violence.

Throughout her career at the University of Khartoum, she has taught various courses in social work and social anthropology, mentored students, and contributed to curriculum development. She has also actively participated in several international research projects in collaboration with organizations such as the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), taking on roles ranging from data collector and team leader to fieldwork supervisor.

Mawahib’s current research project at the Columbia Global Center in Amman aims to explore how social and economic capital has helped displaced Sudanese in Turkey survive since the onset of the war in 2023, and how it supports their adaptation to a new environment while fostering connections between host and displaced communities. The research also examines the role of social and economic capital in shaping their identities as displaced Sudanese in Turkey.