Desirée Custers is a Middle East and North Africa analyst with a passion for conflict resolution. As a Research Assistant with Stimson Europe, she is active in Track-2 work and research on the Middle East and North Africa.
Before joining The Stimson Center, she worked as a Program Assistant at The EastWest Institute’s Middle East and North Africa Program in Brussels. She also interned at the Jordan office of EcoPeace Middle East, an environmental organization based in Jordan, Palestine, and Israel.
Desirée holds an MSc in Conflict Studies and Human Rights from Utrecht University and in Arabic and Islamic Studies from the KU Leuven University (Magna Cum Laude). During her studies she lived in among others Fez, Morocco, Amman, Jordan and Columbus, Ohio, in the United States.
Her main interests include the interplay between religion and politics, hybrid political orders, and environmental peacebuilding.
Desirée also has a passion for art and literature. Her Master thesis on Arabic Science Fiction was nominated for the Flemish thesis prize in 2019 and she translates Arabic literature to Dutch.
Desirée enjoys writing articles for her bilingual Arabic/English blog which she invites you to visit at www.issabramil.wordpress.com