Walaa Ammar Shehada
Status: PhD researcher
Walaa Ammar has been an affiliated research member of the Health and Demographic Research Group at the University of Gent since 2020. She successfully completed and defended her PhD dissertation in September 2024.
Her research focuses on the experiences of Palestinian women diagnosed with breast cancer, analyzing both pre- and post-diagnosis stages. Using an intersectional perspective of structural discrimination and a mixed-methods approach, Walaa collected data from breast cancer patients between August 2020 and April 2021. Her dissertation explores health-seeking decision-making processes, identifying barriers and facilitators at different stages of the illness. It also examines the social dimensions of illness, focusing on how the support women receive influences their lives post-diagnosis, including its impact on marriage dynamics. These findings are framed within broader socio-political contexts, social determinants of health, and cultural practices.
Her research interests include the intersections of health and human rights, gender, and the sociology of health and illness in contexts of conflict and complex emergencies.
From 2012 to 2021, Walaa worked with the UN World Health Organization as a Monitoring, Advocacy, and Communications Officer. In this role, she focused on information management, research, and evidence-based advocacy in health and human rights, particularly during emergencies such as conflicts and pandemics.
Walaa holds a Master’s degree in Development Studies, with a focus on Human Rights, Gender, and Conflict, from the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) at Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands. She was awarded the Wim Deetman Scholarship, which supports students from developing countries pursuing studies in peace and justice in The Hague, as well as the Mahmoud S. Rabbani Scholarship by the Lutfia Rabbani Foundation, which aims to foster mutual understanding between younger generations in Europe and the Arab world through educational exchange. Her MA thesis examined the influence of geopolitical relations on humanitarian interventions, with a focus on food assistance for Palestinian refugees.
Before obtaining her MA, Walaa worked with various international and local organizations in the fields of food security, gender empowerment, and ICT capacity building for women, serving as a trainer and in roles coordinating and managing projects.
Bibliography
https://biblio.ugent.be/person/5d00e1e5-faa0-11e9-a9eb-8edbae26ff16
Contact