Dounia Bourabain is a gifted Belgian researcher with a Moroccan background, working as an assistant professor at Hasselt University. Although she only recently defended her dissertation, Everyday Sexism and Racism in the Ivory Tower: The Struggles and Resistance of Women Early Career Researchers in Belgium, at the VUB in Brussels, she already has a very strong track record, with several awards to her name.

During her PhD research, she studied everyday racism and sexism in primary education, in clothing stores, and in higher education institutions. Her dissertation then constructed a typology of forms of everyday racism in the academic workplace. In addition, she paid special attention to the specific socialization process of women of color in the academic workplace and the strategies they use to navigate this space. She is also active and visible in European-level communities that fight sexism and racism in academia.

With her expertise in different fields of inequality, one of her passions is in strong sociological theory. She is also passionate about communicating her research to the wider public, giving guest lectures and conference presentations, and engaging in panel discussions on race and gender inequality, discrimination, and racism. She strives to be the professor she wishes she had when she was a student.