UMRANConsultancy & ResearchUMRAN works through a growing network of associates: researchers, educators, trainers and translators with long experience in their fields. For each assignment we bring together the people best suited to it.
Our senior associates work in research, evaluation, education, training and translation. For each assignment we bring together the people whose expertise fits it: subject and context knowledge, research methods, safeguarding, and the languages the work needs.
Children’s rights, international development, and policy research
Dr Mohammed Alruzzi is a Lecturer in Childhood Studies at the University of Bristol with a PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Fribourg. He has worked as a consultant for UN agencies and international NGOs, including UNICEF, Mercy Corps and the Norwegian Refugee Council. His research covers child labour, child detention, education policy and child protection.
Inclusive education, and humanitarian and development research
Ayman Qwaider is an education specialist and qualified teacher with over 15 years of experience in inclusive education, Education in Emergencies, and teacher training. He works on education systems for communities affected by conflict and displacement across the Middle East and North Africa. He has designed inclusive education training, supported regional capacity building and adapted international education standards to local contexts, and advocates for rights-based education for marginalised learners.
Forced migration and displacement specialist
Valentina Marconi works on forced migration, displacement and children’s rights under political constraint, using qualitative research. She co-authored Childhood behind Bars, on Palestinian children in Israeli detention, in Lived Resistance against the War on Palestinian Children (University of Georgia Press, 2024), contributing analysis of childhood, justice systems and lived resistance.
Training and knowledge dissemination
Maree Bashir is the Founder and Director of Mujawarah for Life and Development CIC, with nearly 25 years of experience in community learning, capacity building, and organisational development. Holding degrees in Law and Local Community Development alongside a Diploma in Drama in Education, he specialises in participatory methods, practical guides and dialogue-based training that connect learning with practice and community action.
We do not work with a fixed team. For each project, we put together a team around the needs of the organisation or partner we are working with, matching the thematic expertise and skills the work calls for. The team’s structure and ways of working are agreed for that project, so the work runs efficiently and achieves what it set out to do.
The senior associates above are our core team. Beyond them, we work with a wider network of academics and specialists in the fields we cover, and bring them in when a project needs their expertise.
We start from what the organisation or partner needs, and choose people for the subject, the methods, the setting and the languages involved.
Roles, size and ways of working are agreed for each project, with a lead associate who coordinates the team and keeps the client informed.
Our core team draws on academics and experts across our thematic fields, so each project has the specialist knowledge it needs.
We are looking for researchers, evaluators, educators, trainers and translators who share our approach: careful methods, respect for the people we work with, and research that starts from local knowledge.
Send us a short introduction and a CV or profile link. Tell us your areas of expertise, the countries and languages you work in, and the kind of assignments you are interested in. We keep every profile on file and get in touch when an assignment fits.