Maria Holt is a well-known academic and lobbyist with a long involvement with Middle Eastern issues. Her research interests include the effect of violent conflict on Middle Eastern women, the Arab-Israeli conflict, Muslim communities in the UK, Islamic political movements in the Middle East, and the final years of the British colonial period in southern Yemen.
Dr Holt was educated at universities of Toronto, Exeter and York. She is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Westminster where she lectures on the Democracy and Islam Programme. Since completing her PhD in 2004, she has been working on two research projects, the first focusing on Palestinian refugee women in Lebanon in terms of memory, identity and change, and the other on the impact of Islamic resistance movements on women in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.
Dr Holt is the author of a number of books, papers and articles on Arab Muslim women and violent conflict including Without Glory in Arabia (IB Tauris, 2006).
