Laila Omar is a researcher at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies (ACRPS) and an
adjunct professor in the Sociology and Anthropology Program at the Doha Institute for Graduate
Studies (DI). She earned her PhD in Sociology from the University of Toronto, where her doctoral
research examined the temporal experiences and future projections of Syrian refugee mothers and
youth in Canada. Previously, she was a Fung Global Fellow and Postdoctoral Research Associate
at the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies, Princeton University. She currently
serves as Chair of the 11th Social Sciences and Humanities Conference at ACRPS, Executive
Committee Member of the Arab Society for Conflict Studies (ASCS), and Coordinator for IMISCOE's Meth@Mig Standing Committee.
Her research spans international migration, forced displacement, temporality, gender, family, youth,
and qualitative research methods, with a particular focus on the Middle East and North Africa. She has
published in leading journals including Ethnic and Racial Studies and Journal of Ethnic and Migration
Studies. Her work has been supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of
Canada and other competitive awards.
Dr. Omar has organized and chaired multiple international workshops and conferences and is the host
of the 2026 Meth@Mig Annual Workshop at DI. Committed to bridging academic research with public
engagement, she works to make scholarship more accessible beyond academia and to narrow the gap
between research produced in the Global North and the Arab world and wider Global South. She
advances this goal through cross-regional collaborations, capacity-building initiatives, and events that
bring together scholars and students from diverse backgrounds.
| Migration Reasearch Hub ID: 2589 | |
| ORCID | https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7795-4879 |
| https://www.linkedin.com/in/www.linkedin.com/in/lailamomar/ | |
| X/Twitter | https://twitter.com/@LailaMOmar |
Expertise
Migration processes
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Migration drivers
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Migration forms
Migration consequences (for migrants, sending and receiving countries)
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Socio-cultural consequences
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Transversal consequences
Cross-cutting topics in migration research
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Transversal themes
Disciplines
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Disciplines
Methods
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Other
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Qualitative research
Geographies
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Scope
Roles
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Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies
Research Institute, Doha, Qatar
Researcher -
Doha Institute for Graduate Studies
Other, Doha, Qatar
Adjunct Professor - Sociology and Anthropology Program
Research
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Suggested Research
‘If I Knew How to Speak English…’: How language shapes refugee mothers’ perceptions of past, present, and future in Canada
| Authors | Laila Omar, Laila Omar |
| Year | 2024 |
| Journal Name | Journal of Refugee Studies |
| Citations (WoS) | 1 | Taxonomy | View Taxonomy Associations |
“Heaven without people is not worth going to”: refugee resettlement, time, and the institutionalization of family separation
| Authors | Neda Maghbouleh, Laila Omar |
| Year | 2025 |
| Journal Name | Ethnic and Racial Studies | Taxonomy | View Taxonomy Associations |