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Maysa Ayoub

  • Position: Assistant Professor
  • Department: Department of Public Policy and Administration
  • Email: m_ayoub@aucegypt.edu
Brief Biography

Maysa Ayoub is an assistant professor of public policy and international migration in the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at The American University in Cairo. Ayoub has over 20 years of research and teaching experience in international migration. She has conducted research and taught courses on migration policies, public opinion and migration, migration and integration, statelessness and qualitative research methodologies. Ayoub received her doctorate in Euro-Mediterranean studies from the Faculty of Economics and Political Science at Cairo University, a master's in sociology and a post-graduate diploma in migration studies from The American University in Cairo. Her doctoral dissertation examined the relationship between migration policies, public opinion and media, comparatively analyzing the policy responses of European countries in the face of large influxes of refugees. Her current research focuses on refugee integration in the Global South, media and public opinion on migration, and the socio-legal barriers refugees face in obtaining identity documents. Ayoub has also served as a consultant to several international organizations, including the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit.

Research Interest

  • Migration policies

  • Migrant and refugee integration in host societies

  • The role of international organizations in migration and asylum 

  • Media, public opinion and migration 

  • Gender and migration 

  • Statelessness 

  • Qualitative research methodologies

Education
  • Doctor of Philosophy in Euro-Mediterranean Studies, Faculty of Economic and Political Science, Cairo University
  • Master's in sociology, The American University in Cairo
  • Graduate diploma in migration and refugee studies, The American University in Cairo
  • Bachelor's degree in economics, Cairo University
  • Ayoub, M. (2025). "Navigating Socio-legal Barriers: Syrian and African’s Refugees’ Approaches to Marriage Documentation in Egypt." Mashriq and Mahjar: Journal of Middle East and North African Migration Studies.
  • Ayoub, M., Abu El Kheir-Mataria, W., Tarnas, M., Simonek, T., Al-Jadba, G., Boatemaa Setrana, M., Ellis, K., Heck, G.,İçduygu, A., Zaman, M. and Parker, D. (2025). "Rethinking Health in Refugee Camps: Addressing Socioeconomic and Geopolitical Constraints." International Migration, 63 (4).
  • Ayoub, M. (2023). "Media, Public Opinion, and Migration Policies in Euro-Mediterranean Countries: The Case of France." In I. Awad and R. Zapata-Barrero, editors. Migration in the Mediterranean: IMISCOE Regional Reader, 123–135. Springer.
  • Ayoub, M. (2019). "Understanding Germany’s Response to 2015 Refugee Crisis." Review of Economics and Political Science. Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University.
  • Ayoub, M. (2019). "Interest Groups and Refugee Policy-Making: The Case of Germany." In I. Awad, editor. International Migration in the Euro-Mediterranean Region. Cairo Papers in Social Science, 35 (2), The American University in Cairo.
  • Ayoub, M. (2017). "Gender, Social Class and Exile: The Case of Syrian Women in Egypt." In J. Freedman, Z. Kivilcim and N. O. Baklacıoğlu, editors. A Gendered Approach to the Syrian Refugee Crisis: Routledge Studies in Development, Mobilities, and Migration. Taylor and Francis.
  • Ayoub, M. and Jacobsen, K. (2014). "Sudanese Refugees in Cairo: Remittances and Livelihoods." Journal of Refugee Studies, 27 (1), 145–159.
  • Ayoub, M. (Spring 2024). "Bridging Local and Global Assistance for Palestinian Refugees in Egypt: What Happens to Those Who Are Beyond UNHCR and UNRWA’s Scope of Operation?" The Cairo Review of Global Affairs. School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, The American University in Cairo.
  • Ayoub, M., Norman, K. and Martín Gil, A., editors. (April 2023). The Intersection of Gender and Displacement in the Middle East and North Africa. Edward P. Djerejian Center for the Middle East, Women’s Rights, Human Rights and Refugees, Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University.
  • Ayoub, M. (June 2021). "Preventing Statelessness Among Migrants and Refugee Children in North Africa." Cairo Studies on Migration and Refugees, Issue 15. Center for Migration and Refugee Studies, The American University in Cairo.
  • Ayoub, M. (Summer 2021). "Millions of People Continue to Be Forcibly Displaced in Africa, Africa’s Great Leap...?" The Cairo Review of Global Affairs. School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, The American University in Cairo.
  • Ayoub, M. (2016). Situation of Syrian Refugees in Egypt. German Orient-Foundation, Orient I.
  • Ayoub, M. and Khallaf, S. (2014). "Syrian Refugees in Egypt: Challenges of a Politically Changing Environment." Cairo Studies on Migration and Refugees, Issue 7. Center for Migration and Refugee Studies, The American University in Cairo.
  • Ayoub, M. (2014). "Migrants Sharing the Streets of Cairo: Can They Assert Their Right to the City? A Case Study of Sudanese Migrants." SSIIM Paper Series, 13.
  • Ayoub, M., Jacobsen, K. and Johnsen, A. (2012). "Remittances to Transit Countries: The Impact on Sudanese Refugee Livelihoods in Cairo." Cairo Studies on Migration and Refugees, Issue 3. Center for Migration and Refugee Studies, The American University in Cairo.