Hameed Hakimi's PhD at the Department of Sociology is an interdisciplinary and critical study of the conceptions of security with a focus on the lived experiences of people of Muslim and non-Western backgrounds in Europe. The PhD is centred on how Dutch Muslims of Afghan background are confronted with the challenges of securitisation of migration, Islamophobia and demands for assimilatory integration - and how they respond to these challenges by building their subjective security in the Netherlands.
Hameed embarked on doctoral studies at Cambridge to build on an extensive background of over a decade of work at the intersection of policy research, impact and fieldwork across different contexts and several countries.
Outside doctoral studies, his skills and expertise are rooted in extensive experience working with globally recognised institutions. His experience and professional background span various organisations and sectors such as: Chatham House, UK Parliament, UK Humanitarian Innovation Hub (UKHIH), Atlantic Council, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), USAID, International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), National Youth Agency (NYA) in England, and the Danish Refugee Council. In these roles as a practitioner-scholar, Hameed's work has been at the intersection of research, academia, policy, and capacity building. His work translates evidence and analysis into learning frameworks and actionable outcomes by drawing on innovative methodologies – including strategic stakeholder dialogues – that incorporate top-down and bottom-up trajectories of milestones and growth.
Hameed has undertaken specialist advisory roles for British parliamentary committees (e.g., the Foreign Affairs Committee) in the United Kingdom. He has also presented at high-level conferences and events, briefed governments and senior officials, and published policy, academic and opinion pieces in major outlets (e.g., The Guardian, The Diplomat). His policy paper on the drivers of migration to Europe contributed to the findings that were presented to the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, at the Vision Europe Summit 2016 in Lisbon.
As an experienced media commentator and public speaker, Hameed has provided commentary on CNN, BBC, Al-Jazeera English, Al Arabiya, France 24, TRT World, Bloomberg TV, and the VOA – among others. He was a speaker at the TEDx Oxford conference in March 2018; his talk highlighted the strains youth face as technology and socioeconomic pressures transform our societies, exacerbating the need to foster role models and ‘positive influencers’.
