Rayya El Zein is an independent writer, researcher, and facilitator whose work centers agency and accountability in innovation ecosystems. She holds a PhD in Theatre and Performance from the Graduate Center at the City University of New York. Her book Filling the Head: Listening to Rap in Arabic (Indiana University Press, 2025) draws on ethnographic research in Ramallah, Amman, and Beirut to explore youth, music, and political engagement in the Arab world. She is currently Director of Instructional Design at the Open Source Software Sustainability Lab and co-founder of SILT, a shared management commons for independent researchers.


