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Mervat Abou Oaf

  • Position: Professor of Practice
  • Department: Department of Journalism and Mass Communication
  • Email: tito_ao@aucegypt.edu
Brief Biography

Mervat Abou Oaf is a pracademic; academic and professional media expert and educator with 29 years of solid practice and teaching experience. She is a professor of practice and prior chair of the Journalism and Mass Communication (JRMC) Department at the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy (GAPP) at The American University in Cairo (AUC). Abou Oaf received her PhD from the University Autonoma of Barcelona, Spain, with excellent qualifications. Her teaching domain covers a wide range of practical and theoretical media disciplines as a recipient of a practical master's degree, besides fulfilling the academic components of the journalism and mass communication program at AUC.

She has created a niche in media literacy and media law, policy, regulations, and ethics, particularly emphasizing the legislative constituents of the cinema and entertainment industries. She has designed and taught courses for the JRMC department’s undergraduate and graduate programs, the CORE Program at AUC, and the College Bound Summer Program that AUC provides. She authored and published her first resource book, Art of Fantasy - Evolution of Egyptian Cinema into the Digital Age, narrating the broad progression of the constituents of this artistic industry.

Abou Oaf relishes sharing her extensive academic and professional expertise with young students to motivate them to pursue a lifelong learning experience while maintaining their mental and emotional well-being and enjoying the process. She has, therefore, acquired vast educational and administrative knowledge and has been extensively involved in student affairs, policies, and co-curricular activities since 1995. She is a trainer, content designer, and accreditation associate at the National Training Academy of the Presidential Leadership Programs. She has joined the External Reviewers for the Media Graduate and Undergraduate Programs at Chandigarh University in Punjab, India (CU) since 2021, besides being involved with their exchange undergraduate and faculty exchange programs. In addiiton, she participated as an External Review Team (ERT) in renewing the Accreditation of the Mass Communication Graduate and Undergraduate Programs at the University of Sharjah (UoS), UAE.

Abou Oaf has served in the National Council for Women (NCW) since 2006 and is currently on its Foreign Affairs and Media Committees. She is a member of the Foreign Press Association (FPA) as a media expert and an Editor-in-Chief of AdLife Magazine, presently frozen. Since 2006, she has developed proficiency in the arts and film practices. She has been assigned the Directory Board Consultant to the Chamber of Cinema Industry Federation (CCI) in Egypt since 2016. She has been selected as the CCI representative at the Businesswomen Committee of the Federation of Egyptian Industries. She has been invited to participate in the Egyptian National Dialogue in its Community Segment,
contributing to discussions about Culture, Youth, and Cinema. Besides, she joined the Minister of Culture’s Supreme Scientific Committee for Cultural Observatory Studies in Egypt and was appointed to the Cinema Committee of the Supreme Council for Culture at the ministry in 2023. 

Abou Oaf has become the academic consultant for the Cairo International Film Festival since 2021 and a member of the Ministry of Culture’s Supreme Festivals Association of the Film Syndicate, owing to the proficiencies she has acquired in the field of festivals since 2006. She is a trustee board member and media consultant of The AWLADNA Foundation for the Arts of the Disabled. Trustee on the Board of ‘Womenovation’ Foundation under the Ministry of Solidarity, consultant, and trainer for the TV Broadcaster Segment at the United Media Services and Media Hub Al-Dome.

Abou Oaf joined the Peace Educator Training Education Program through the international organization Heavenly Culture, World Peach, Restoration of Light (HWPL) and has become a peace content designer and educator. She is a recipient of Peace Ambassador for Arts and Culture from the Egyptian Center for World Peace and Human Rights. She trusts the soft power's significant and distinctive role in generating productive transformation within global communities.

"I touch the future. I teach;" this quote by Christa McAuliffe, in the current age of Open Artificial Intelligence, is an approach toward enlightening our young learners that has never been more defined.