Nada Mustafa Ali teaches Global Studies at the New School University in New York.  She is also an independent researcher, activist and consultant; and is the author of United States Institute for Peace’s upcoming report on Gender and State-Building in South Sudan. Formerly Nada was HIV, Human Rights and Gender consultant for UNDP in New York; Africa Women’s Rights Researcher at Human Rights Watch in New York; and the Women’s Program Coordinator at the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies in Cairo, Egypt.  She has held research fellowships or associate positions at Fordham University (New York), the Five College Women’s Studies Research Centre (Mount Holyoke), and the International Centre for Research on Women (Washington, DC). She has written extensively on gender and women’s rights in Sudan, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa.  Her areas of interest include refugees and forced migration, HIV/AIDS, human rights, women in the informal economy, conflict, peace-building and post-conflict reconstruction.  Nada received her PhD from Manchester University in the United Kingdom, and holds an MA from the American University in Cairo and a BSc (hon.) from the University of Khartoum, both in political science.