Reem Shawkat
Email: shawkatra@vcu.edu
Pronouns: She/her
Reem Shawkat is a Ph.D. candidate at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Social Work. Her research examines how transnational family networks support displaced people, focusing on the informal systems diaspora members build to help relatives navigate displacement. Using social network analysis and qualitative methods, she explores how caregiving is structured across borders and shaped by factors like gender, class and legal status. Reem is particularly interested in how displacement policies produce gaps that informal networks are forced to fill, and the emotional, material and political consequences of that burden.
Broadly, she studies collective survival strategies not as signs of resilience to be celebrated in isolation, but as responses to structural neglect. Her work calls for more grounded, network-aware policies that center displaced families’ lived realities and more justly redistribute the responsibility for care across institutions and systems.
Outside of academia, Reem has a strong commitment to community outreach and has worked with several organizations in the Sudanese diaspora. She hopes to one day found her own organization to further support displaced and diasporic communities.
Areas of interest
- Community-Based Participatory Research
- Family
- Immigrants and Refugees
- International Social Work and Global Issues
- Mental Health
- Race and Ethnicity
Education and credentials
M.A., psychology, George Mason University
B.S., psychology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Work
Selected publications
Baldwin-White, A., & Shawkat, R. (2025). Game Changing: Incorporating Technology into Social Work Research for Social Change. Education Sciences, 15(6), 729.
Shawkat, R., Eldyrani, W., Taha, N., & Elhassan, S. (2023). The Search for Freedom, Justice, and Peace in Sudan. Op-ed for Savoir Flair.
Professional highlights
Selected presentations
Shawkat, R. & Im, H. (2025). Navigating Social Determinants of Health Among Refugee Newcomers: A Qualitative Exploration of Meaning of Healthy Living Among Afghan, Bhutanese, and Congolese Refugees. Poster session presented at the Society for Social Work and Research 29th Annual Conference, Seattle, WA.
Corley, N., Shawkat, R., & Lee, J. (2024). Redefining Activism: A Qualitative Examination of Black Social Work Students Perceptions of Activism. Poster session presented at the Council on Social Work Education 70th Annual Program Meeting, Kansas City, MO.
Shawkat, R., Malluwa, A., & George N. (2024). Meaning of Healthy Living among Bhutanese Refugees attending Community Wellness Workshop: Photovoice embedded to Community-Based Participatory Research. Symposium session presented at the Society for Social Work and Research 28th Annual Conference, Washington, DC.
Baldwin-White, A., & Shawkat, R. (2024). Examining the Role of Racial Identity in the Prevalence and Impact of Sexual Violence Among College Students. Poster session presented at the Society for Social Work and Research 28th Annual Conference, Washington, DC.
Shawkat, R., Kornienko, O., & Adams, L.M. (2019). A systematic review of Muslim identification, ethnic-racial identity, and culture as buffers against discrimination among immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa in North America and Europe. Poster session presented at the Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood (SSEA) 9th Conference on Emerging Adulthood, Toronto, CA.
Shawkat, R., & Dunsmore, J. (2017). The effect of religion and culture on Muslim female college student’s decision to wear the hijab. Poster session presented at the University of Virginia’s L. Starling Reid Undergraduate Psychology Research Conference, Charlottesville, VA.
Shawkat, R., & Dunsmore, J. (2017). The effect of religion and culture on Muslim female college student’s decision to wear the hijab. Poster session presented at the 2017 Virginia State University Black Psychology Conference, Petersburg, VA.
Accomplishments
- 2025: Black History in the Making
- 2025: School of Social Work Social Justice Award
- 2025: School of Social Work Service and Leadership Award
- 2025: Dr. Marilyn A. Biggerstaff Fund for Doctoral Student Research Scholarship
- 2024: Fulbright Semi-Finalist, Egypt Open Study/Research Award
- 2024: Frank and Patricia Baskind Scholarship
- 2022-2025: Radical Alliance for Anti-Racism, Change and Equity (RAACE) – Ph.D. Fellow
Affiliations and Service
- December 2023- Present: Founder, Sudaniya Society
- October 2023-May 2025: Chair, Radical Alliance for Anti-Racism, Change and Equity (RAACE)
- June 2020-August 2021: President, Moving Forward Sudan
- September 2019-June 2020: Director of Program and Services, Moving Forward Sudan