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Kinan Alajak

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Kinan Alajak is a Syrian social entrepreneur and researcher based in Utrecht, Netherlands since 2017. Currently, Kinan is working on developing and executing new programs to improve the integration process newcomers go through in rebuilding their lives within the Dutch society. 

Kinan is a co-founder of the English Academy for Newcomers (EAN) and its current executive director. EAN is a nonprofit foundation delivering tailored language education and mentorship programs to support highly-educated newcomers in proceeding with their academic and professional careers. Besides EAN, Kinan is a researcher for the Karakter project at Utrecht University and a member of its cultural advisory board. This project is a nation-level developmental psychology study investigating emotions and personality growth in Syrian young adult migrants who have recently resettled in the Netherlands. Also, he co-authored two scientific articles forthcoming in leading peer-reviewed journals (The Journal of Personality and European Journal of Personality) and one forthcoming book chapter. 

Kinan is currently a student at Utrecht University School of Economics, with a minor track in applied data sciences. His research interests are mainly in political-economic theory, wellbeing, sustainable labour market inclusion, and refugee integration. He was nominated in 2018 for the Societal Impact Award and now for the 2020 Exceptional Extracurricular Award.

 

Updated February 2021