Dr Omar Kaissi, FHEA

Teaching Fellow in Education

Biography

Background

I am a Teaching Fellow (MSc Education) at Moray House School of Education and Sport, The University of Edinburgh. My two specialisms are sociology of education, with a focus on critical masculinities studies, and politics of education, with a focus on education policy and the politics of education in Lebanon, my home country, and the wider Arab region. 

Qualifications

PhD Education (The University of Manchester, 2019) - Awarded with no corrections  

MA Educational Leadership (The University of Manchester, 2014) - Awarded with distinction  

BA English Literature (American University of Beirut, 2012) - Awarded with distinction 

Awards:

2014: Platt Prize for Outstanding Achievement in a Master’s Degree (School of Education, Environment and Development, The University of Manchester)

2016-2019: Faculty of Humanities Studentship Award (School of Education, Environment and Development, The University of Manchester)

 

Responsibilities & affiliations

I am Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), UK.

I am co-convenor of the Higher Education Research Group (HERG), UoE - On 18 September 2023, I resigned from the Organising Committee of the HERG. 

I am a member of the British Educational Research Association.

I am a member of the Lebanese Association for Educational Studies.

I am a Research Affiliate of The Nordic Center for Conflict Transformation.

Undergraduate teaching

  • Leadership I (BA Management, Leadership and Leisure - The University of Manchester)
  • Sociology of Leisure (BA Management, Leadership and Leisure - The University of Manchester)
  • Keys Issues in Education (BSc Education - The University of Manchester) 

Postgraduate teaching

  • Dissertation (MSc Education - The University of Edinburgh) 
  • The Philosophy of Education (MSc Education - The University of Edinburgh) 
  • Education Policy and the Politics of Education (MSc Education - The University of Edinburgh) - Course Organiser (2023-2024)
  • The Sources of Knowledge: Understanding and Analysing Research Literature (MSc Education - The University of Edinburgh) 
  • Conceptualising Research: Foundations, Assumptions and Praxis (MSc Education - The University of Edinburgh) - Course Organiser (2020-2021) 
  • The Nature of Inquiry (MSc Education - The University of Edinburgh) 
  • Higher Education in the Global Context (MSc Comparative Education and International Development - The University of Edinburgh) 
  • Leading Educational Change and Development (MA Educational Leadership - The University of Manchester) 
  • Educational Leadership (MA Educational Leadership - The University of Manchester)

Research summary

Publications: 

Conference details

  • Kaissi, O. (2020, April). Critical Realism (CR): An ontological de-centring of the social sciences. Moray House PGT Conference, Edinburgh, UK.
  • Kaissi, O. (2019, June). The future of sociological knowing in the field of education. 11th International Critical Management Studies Conference, Milton Keynes, UK.
  • Kaissi, O. (2019, May). Professional intellectual work and body alienation in the neoliberal university. Bodies and Embodiment: The Fifth Annual Conference of the Centre for the Study of Global Ethics, Birmingham, UK.
  • Kaissi, O. (2018, September). The male body in research on boys and masculinities in the school: An exploration of presences and silences, and issues and challenges. Paper presented at the British Educational Research Association (BERA) conference, Newcastle, UK.
  • Kaissi, O. (2018, June). Boys, masculinities and corporeality: A Bourdieuian investigation of knowledge claims and limitations to knowing in gender and education research. Paper presented at the Gender Summit 15, London, UK. (Invited speaker)
  • Kaissi, O. (2017, July). Flesh-and-blood corporeality: Investigating contemporary male body image and its power to exclude in education. Paper presented at the Standing Conference on Organizational Symbolism, Rome, Italy.

Invited speaker

The University of Toronto, Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilisations

Guest lecturer on the Arab Spring (2011-onward) for The Arab Spring and Cultural Production (Course NMC244H1) – March 2023 

The University of Manchester, Manchester Institute of Education

Guest lecturer on gender for Key Issues in Education (Course EDUC11100, BSc Education) – February 2021 and February 2022   

The University of Edinburgh, Moray House School of Education and Sport, Comparative Education and International Development (CEID) Research Group

Discussant in a webinar entitled, ‘Focus on Lebanon: Challenges of education in a nation in crisis’ – October 2020. 

UCL Doctoral College, University College London, South West Asia and North Africa (SWANA) Forum for Social Justice

Speaker in a webinar entitled, ‘Lebanon education crisis’ – April 2022. For more details: https://www.grad.ucl.ac.uk/societies/swana-forum-for-social-justice.html

Organiser

  • September 2023: Webinar: 'Education, Education Reform and the (Post-)Arab Uprisings' (organised jointly with The Nordic Center for Conflict Transformation). 
  • May 2023: Webinar: 'On the UNESCO 2019 Global Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education.'
  • April 2023: In-person Panel: 'Critical insights into Chinese engagement in UK higher education.'
  • January 2023: Webinar: 'Higher education in Lebanon: Past, Present, Future.' 
  • November 2022: In-person Guest Lecture: 'Impact of Brexit on European higher education and student mobility' (Dr Hugo Garcia, visiting scholar from Texas Tech University, Texas, USA). 
  • January 2022: Webinar: ‘Is academic freedom under threat? If so, from where?’ 
  • June 2021: Webinar: ‘The Imaginary Museum of Higher Education.' 
  • February 2021: Webinar: ‘”Gone too far”: Lived realities, ethical relations and confrontations in the neoliberal university.' 
  • November 2020: Webinar: ‘International education in post-pandemic times: Reflections on the persistent appeal of Western universities.’ 
  • October 2020: Webinar: 'Focus on Lebanon: Challenges of education in a nation in crisis.' 
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