Our team
CTDC is led by its co-founders, Dr Nour Abu-Assab and Dr Nof Nasser-Eddin, who remain directly involved in its research, design, learning and organisational work.
They are supported by a transnational network of consultants and associates with expertise across CTDC’s areas of work. Teams are formed around each engagement, bringing together the subject knowledge, methodological experience, languages and contextual understanding it requires.
Who leads the work.
Dr Nour Abu-Assab
Co-Founder and Co-Director
Dr Nour Abu-Assab is a sociologist, researcher, educator and institution-builder with more than twenty years of experience across social justice, organisational development and institutional change. She holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Warwick.
Her work focuses on how institutions are built, governed and transformed. She has led research and organisational assessments, developed strategies and governance structures, designed accountability and safeguarding systems, created professional learning programmes, and supported organisations through complex processes of change. Her approach combines structural analysis with practical design, translating complex ideas into systems, tools and decisions that can be applied in real settings.
Her academic and applied work draws on feminist, decolonial and intersectional approaches. Her areas of interest include power, identities, migration, sexualities, language, organisational culture, conflict and institutional trauma. She is also developing educational and AI-enabled approaches that place human judgement, ethics and accountability at their centre.
Dr Nof Nasser-Eddin
Co-Founder and Co-Director
Dr Nof Nasser-Eddin is a sociologist, researcher, educator and practitioner with more than twenty years of international experience across research, education, safeguarding, conflict and organisational change. She holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Warwick.
Her work focuses on how power, conflict, trauma and social conditions shape people, relationships and institutions. She has led research, learning and capacity development, safeguarding, facilitation and organisational change across humanitarian, development, academic and community settings.
Her academic and applied work draws on feminist, decolonial and intersectional approaches to refugees and migration, gender, sexualities and safeguarding. As a training psychotherapist, Nof’s particular interests include trauma-informed and psychotherapy-informed practice, attachment theory, individual and collective healing, internal power and agency, and the role of class in institutional life. She brings these perspectives into work on reflection, conflict navigation, organisational repair and more accountable institutional relationships.
The network around them.
Experienced researchers, facilitators, educators, organisational practitioners and subject specialists from different regions and disciplines. Each is reviewed by CTDC and works within shared standards for ethics, safeguarding, quality and responsible practice.
Ella Scheepers
Feminist Facilitator and Organisational Researcher
Ella Scheepers is a feminist facilitator and organisational researcher with more than a decade of experience across social justice, human rights and systems change in the Global South. Her work connects academic inquiry, participatory research, facilitation and organisational accompaniment, with a focus on building more caring and just institutions.
Her expertise includes organisational wellbeing, feminist governance and facilitation, social-purpose organising and reflective practice. She has worked with grassroots collectives, NGOs, foundations and academic institutions in national and international settings. Ella is completing a PhD at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business on building purposeful, caring organisations from within. Her writing has appeared in Gender & Development, Open Global Rights and the Journal of Regenerative Theory.
Hoda Barakat
Facilitator, Educator and Organisational Change Specialist
Hoda Barakat is a facilitator, educator and organisational change specialist with more than seventeen years of experience in rights-based programming, education and organisational development. She designs and facilitates strategic processes, international convenings and multi-stakeholder dialogues, using gender-sensitive and feminist approaches.
As an instructional designer, Hoda develops blended learning programmes and self-paced online courses across a range of subjects. She has worked with international and local civil-society organisations, supporting learning, strategy and institutional change. Hoda is fluent in Arabic, English and French. She holds a degree from Université Saint-Joseph and completed the Leadership, Organizing, and Action programme at Harvard Kennedy School.
Mais Belal Afaneh
Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Specialist
Mais Belal Afaneh is a feminist advocate and gender equality specialist with more than fifteen years of experience across the Middle East and North Africa. Her work covers women’s economic, political and social participation, the Women, Peace and Security agenda, violence against women and girls, gender mainstreaming and feminist programming in humanitarian and development settings.
As Regional Programmes Manager at EuroMed Feminist Initiative, Mais leads regional work advancing women’s rights, strengthening feminist civil-society organisations and supporting inclusive peacebuilding. Her experience includes programme design, fundraising, monitoring and evaluation, risk assessment, partnership development and engagement with donors and stakeholders. She has also contributed to research and policy publications and facilitated regional dialogues, conferences and training. Mais is pursuing a PhD in Feminist and Gender Studies at the University of Ottawa and holds a Master’s degree in Women’s Studies from the University of Jordan. She is fluent in Arabic and English.
Dr Sara Shroff
Transnational Scholar and Feminist Practitioner
Dr Sara Shroff is a transnational scholar and feminist practitioner based in Toronto, with twenty years of experience across academia and social-justice philanthropy. Her expertise spans gender, education, development economics and entrepreneurship in the Global South, with further specialisation in South Asian, migration and diaspora studies.
Sara holds a PhD in Urban and Public Policy from The New School and is currently a Research Fellow at the University of Waterloo. She has held academic appointments at York University’s Centre for Feminist Research, Lahore University of Management Sciences, the University of Toronto, Pace University and New York University. She serves on the editorial board of Gender, Place & Culture and has published widely in academic journals and edited volumes.
Sofian
Gender and Inclusion Practitioner, Trainer and Facilitator
Sofian is a gender and inclusion practitioner, anti-oppression trainer and facilitator with more than thirteen years of international experience advancing social and gender justice. An Argentinian intersectional feminist and decolonial thinker, they work across grassroots feminist organising, transnational advocacy and cross-movement network-building.
Sofian develops inclusive strategies that strengthen organisational culture, deepen community engagement and support resilient feminist networks. Their approach brings together facilitation, anti-oppression practice and cross-sector collaboration. Sofian is fluent in Spanish, English and Italian and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and a Master’s degree in Gender and Intersectionality.
Further consultant and associate profiles are published as the network grows.
We collaborate with specialists.
CTDC works with experienced researchers, facilitators, educators and subject specialists across our areas of work and the regions we work in.
If that is you, tell us what you do and where you have done it.
