Rana Jawad is a lecturer in social policy at the University of Bath specialising in the social welfare systems of the Middle East & North Africa. She has particular interest in Islamic welfare practices & extensive experience of researching social welfare issues & religious welfare provision. She is the author of Social Welfare & Religion in the Middle East: A Lebanese Perspective (2009) & Religion & Faith-based Welfare: From Well-being to Ways of Being (2012), both published by the Policy Press. She is coordinator of the MENA Social Policy Network & has acted as a consultant on social policy issues in MENA to various international agencies.