Dalia Ismail is an Egyptian PhD candidate at the Anthropology Department at the University of Leipzig. She holds a Master’s Degree in Comparative Middle East Politics and Society (CMEPS) from the American University in Cairo and a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Cairo University. Her MA dissertation won the 25th of January Award for Scholarly Excellence for the Academic Year 2023-2024. She’s interested in researching topics at the intersection of political economy and anthropology, such as stately affects, neoliberal policies and their socioeconomic impacts, and the capitalist politics of resource extraction and land valorization, with a focus on the MENA region.