Zakia Aqra

Zakia Aqra (Ph.D. in Political Science and International Relations at the University of the Peloponnese) serves as Editor-in-Chief at the Centre for Mediterranean, Middle East and Islamic Studies (CEMMIS). She is a lecturer of International Relations and Security at the Department of History, Politics and International Studies at Neapolis University Pafos. During 2024-2025, she taught at the Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies at the University of Thessaly. She was a Research Fellow in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of the Peloponnese. She has conducted her post-doctoral research in “Diversity and Inclusivity in Security Studies”, a project funded by the European Union. She was a researcher in Christianity in the Middle East (CME), a project funded by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation between 2020 and 2023. She has been awarded with many scholarships, such as the Greek State Scholarships Foundation (IKY) for her PhD research (2018-2022) and Onassis Foundation (2014-2015) for her MSc in International Political Economy at Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Athens (2015). She has also obtained a second MSc in Middle East Politics at SOAS, London (2014). Her research interests focus on foreign policy, security and armed non-state actors. She has also worked as an intercultural mediator and interpreter, given her language skills and expertise on cultural, religious, social, and political issues in the Middle East.