Other

External Funding and Grants

2020-2023: Stevens Initiative at the Aspen Institute ($117,000 USD)
• Project: Secured $117,000 to design and deliver Acknowledge. Challenge. Transform. (ACT): Toward Developing Empathetic Leadership, a virtual exchange program for undergraduates to develop skills in empathy-driven leadership across the UAE, the USA, and Lebanon.
• Outcome: Highly successful virtual exchange program, impacting 300+ students globally.

2020-2022: Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi Foundation for Policy Research (40,000 AED)
• Project: Women and Public Space: a collaborative research project exploring women’s engagement with public spaces in Ras Al Khaimah.
• Outcome: Published policy paper influencing local policy and community planning, contributing to public space equity research.

Other

Dr. Proff’s leadership has been recognized both locally and globally, including her designation as a Senior Fellow of AdvanceHE (SFHEA) and as a recipient of the President’s Leadership in Service Award (2024). Her work extends beyond the university through multiple invited keynotes, practitioner-focused workshops, and community-centred initiatives focused on educational governance and policy, human-centred and empathy-driven leadership. She serves as an Editorial Board Member and Reviewer for the Gulf Education and Social Policy Review (GESPR), the Journal of the Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi Foundation for Policy Research, and regularly contributes to the field through peer review for journals including SAGE Open, the European Journal of Education, the Journal of International Students, and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal.