Zainah Alsamman is the Senior Program Manager and Portfolio Lead at Grand Challenges Canada, where she provides leadership and support to Creating Hope in Conflict: A Humanitarian Grand Challenge, Grand Challenges Canada’s flagship Humanitarian Innovation portfolio. Zainah brings expertise in portfolio and research management for the humanitarian sector, where she focuses on investments that improve the lives of people affected by conflict-induced humanitarian crises. 

Zainah brings a wealth of expertise and knowledge from her previous work in conflict and fragile refugee settings across the Middle East region, where she has designed and managed services for vulnerable populations affected by conflict. These experiences have included providing refugee protection services at UNHCR at the onset of the Syria and Iraq refugee crises, leading in-country research studies to inform humanitarian response initiatives in northwest Syria at Integrity Research and Adam Smith International, and managing a digital safety and security program in Syria at the Sec Dev Foundation.

Zainah completed her Masters of Arts in Media Research and Mass Communications at the University of Leicester (UK), where she focused her studies on the intersections of visual media and the politics of war reporting. She completed her Honour’s Bachelor of Arts in Visual Culture and Communication at the University of Toronto.