Noura Aljizawi is a senior researcher at the Citizen Lab. She researches targeted digital threats against civil society, digital authoritarianism, and transnational repression online. Noura brings a distinctive perspective to this work, shaped by her role as a prominent figure in the Syrian uprising, her survival of abduction, detention, and torture, and her leadership in civil society organizations.
Her contributions to digital security and human rights have been recognized with the University of Toronto’s Excellence Through Innovation Award for her work on Security Planner, a platform that provides peer-reviewed recommendations for staying safe online.
In addition to her research, she serves as a board member of the Center for Victims of Torture, is a member of the expert group Humanitarian Dialogue, and participates on the steering committee of the Just Tech and Migration Community.
Publications
Avoiding the Kitchen Sink
A Guide to Mixed Methods Approaches Within Digital Rights Governance
Citizen Lab’s Gabrielle Lim, Noura Aljizawi, Shaila Baran, and Nicola Lawford recently published an article in Internet Policy Review on the methodology of digital rights governance research. Through a scoping review of 141 articles, the authors assess the relationship between interdisciplinary scholarship and single-, multi-, and mixed methods research. They find that interdisciplinary work is […]
Truth in Transition
Disinformation in Post-Assad Syria
In an opinion piece in the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, Noura Aljizawi, senior researcher at The Citizen Lab, sheds light on the growing threat of disinformation in Syria, even after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. While the end of Assad’s authoritarian rule was celebrated as a victory, Aljizawi warns that disinformation—once the […]
No Escape
The Weaponization of Gender for the Purposes of Digital Transnational Repression
Drawing on the lived experiences of 85 women human rights defenders originating from 24 countries of origin and residing in 23 host countries, we examine how gender and sexuality play a central role in digital transnational repression.
