Meem Voices: Inspiring Change

In Episode 3 of Meem Voices: Inspiring Change Podcast, our host Alia Al Shamsi speaks with Maysa Jalbout, Director at Education Cannot Wait.Jalbout shares her journey from growing up as a Palestinian refugee to becoming a global leader in education, policy and philanthropy. Shaped by lived experience and decades of impact, her work focuses on expanding access to education and opportunity for the most underserved communities.The conversation explores the persistent gender gap between education and workforce participation in MENA, the critical role of the care economy in enabling women to remain in the labour market and the growing influence of women philanthropists in driving more inclusive, community led solutions.

In Episode 2 of Meem Voices: Inspiring Change Podcast, our host Alia Al Shamsi speaks with Dr Farah Shamout, Assistant Professor at Clinical AI Lab, NYU Abu Dhabi.   Dr Shamout shares her journey as an Arab woman in STEM, entering the male-dominated world of AI and healthcare. She forged her path through resilience, research and a vision to make medicine more preventative and accessible. Today, she leads projects tackling women’s health, clinician burnout and the future of personalised care.

In Episode 1 of Meem Voices: Inspiring Change, our host Alia Al Shamsi has a conversation with Luma Bashmi, PhD researcher at the University of Cambridge and lecturer at the Royal College of Surgeons in Bahrain, and a research grant recipient of Meem Foundation. Luma reflects on memory, identity and the urgent need to decolonize mental health systems acrossthe MENA region. Her PhD research aimed at developing a framework for Arabic-speaking refugees in Lebanon and Jordan to improve their mental health.“One specific thing in memory I remember is learning about cross-culture psychology… we are moving away from western models of thinking whether it's in history, or it isin architecture or psychology and we are trying to understand ourselves better and how we are thinking, how are our systems work for us.” — Luma Bashmi, MA, MA, FHEA PhD candidate, Department of Psychiatry and Cambridge Public Health, University of Cambridge ; Lecturer in Psychology, School of Medicine, RCSI-Bahrain