Filareti Kotsi, Ph. D., a recipient of various recognition awards, is a Professor and the Graduate Programs Coordinator at the College of Communication and Media Sciences at the Dubai campus at Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates. Her love for cinema and her expertise in international event management led Dr. Filareti to chair the Zayed University Middle East Film Festival (ZUMEFF). She is a member of the Association Marocaine des Recherche Académique sur le Cinéma (AMRAC) and was honored as the President of the Jury at the International Film Festival of Tétouan (Morocco). Dr. Filareti has organized several international tourism conferences and is the Middle East Coordinator for the Association for Tourism and Leisure Education (ATLAS). Her leadership of multidisciplinary teams in tourism and research grants resulted in eighty published peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and conference proceedings. Dr. Filareti holds a doctorate in Communication from the Ecole Normale Supérieure (France), a master’s and a graduate diploma from the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium), and a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece). She was recently awarded an undergraduate diploma in Creative Writing and the Advanced Writing Lives Certificate at the University of Oxford (UK). An advocate of Continuing Education, she was also awarded the Executive Leadership Certificate at the University of Oxford (UK) and the Digital Marketing Certificate from Yale University (US). As a professional master swimmer, Dr. Filareti received the Bronze Medal in the 400m Individual Medley at the National Championships Swimming Masters (Greece).

Andrea Juhasz is Sr. Academic Administrative Officer within the College of Communication and Media Sciences (CCMS) at Zayed University and simply put, Andrea is the glue that keeps everything together within the college, and that includes ZUMEFF! 

Rochelle Williams is a digital media specialist teaching digital design & photography, media law & media management. She has taught at University level in the US, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates.  She is a freelance designer who has worked for various agencies & organizations in South Africa, Hong Kong and the UAE. Rochelle designed & implemented a pre-school curriculum that gives children a strong foundation for future linguistic, kinesthetic & mathematical development. She has published The Hungry Camel, her first children’s book.

Dr. Azza Ahmed worked at three governmental, federal, and private universities in the United Arab Emirates since 2003. She is currently a full professor of Communication at Zayed University, Dubai Campus. Before that, she worked as a professor and assistant dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Abu Dhabi University. She also worked as an associate professor at the United Arab Emirates University.

Azza got her Ph.D. from Cairo University in Egypt in Mass Communication specializing in Television Studies. Her M.A. was in Journalism and Communication at The American University in Cairo (AUC). She completed her Graduate Diploma in Television Journalism and received a Professional Certificate in Television Production from The Adham Center for TV Journalism at the AUC.  

Azza was the director and scriptwriter for two TV news programs at Abu Dhabi University. She trained and supervised the establishing crew of The Nile TV International channel at the Egyptian Radio and TV Union. She directed and edited several successful TV programs such as “Star of The Month” and “Memories” as well as TV news stories. She worked as a freelance producer, director, and editor in the TV Journalism Center at the AUC, Nile TV channel, and the BBC bureau in Egypt. Azza received a recognition and appreciation certificate from the Al-Habib Al Redah Media Creativity Award in UAE for serving as a judge and organizing committee member. She has served as a member of the Zayed University Middle East Film Festival organizing Committee from 2019 till now.

Azmat Rasul (PhD, Florida State University) is an Assistant Professor in Integrated Strategic Communication in the College of Communication and Media Sciences, Zayed University (ZU), UAE. Before joining ZU, he served as an Assistant Professor at the University of the Punjab, Exchange Professor/Lecturer in the Department of Communication Arts at Valdosta State University, and Postdoctoral Research Fellow and co-founder of the South Asian Media and Cultural Studies Program in the College of Communication at Florida State University. 

Prior to entering academia, Rasul had worked in advertising and government public relations. His research focuses on the effects of strategic communication campaigns on attitudes, uses and effects of entertainment and social media, political economy of global entertainment industries, media portrayal of gender, and media regulation and policy.

His work has appeared in journals such Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, Asian Journal of Communication, International Communication Gazette, Internet Research, The Communication Review, Communication, Culture and Critique, and Journal of Intercultural Communication Research. He was selected to receive several academic awards including Top Paper Awards (Mass Communication Division, ICA, 2015 and Mass Communication Division, NCA, 2016), the FSU Academic Leadership Award in 2015, the Mathew Grindy Prize for teaching excellence in 2014, and the College of Communication and Information Leadership Award in 2013.

William McCarthy is an Assistant Professor in Tourism and Media Production and Storytelling in the College of Communication and Media Sciences at Zayed University. For ZUMEFF, he coordinates and organizes the film submissions. His primary area of academic research explores the historical and contemporary intersection of media corporations and audiences/participants at places and non-places, and on online platforms, including Usenet, web discussion boards, and social media. His research also examines semiotics, branding, audience, experiential media, and leisure studies, and his work has been published in journals such as Quarterly Review of Film and Video, Social Semiotics, Semiotica, Tourism Geographies, and Journal of Leisure Research. He has presented at numerous international conferences including the International Communication Association. He was awarded a Zayed University Outstanding Faculty Award in 2011 and an Outstanding Service Award in 2016. He is a member of the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) and the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA).

Dr. Amna Bulhoon is Assistant Professor in Communication in the College of Communication and Media Sciences, Zayed University, UAE. Previously, she was a Lecturer at the Department of Media and Creative Industries at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences in the United Arab Emirates University in Al Ain. She obtained her PhD from University of Pretoria, South Africa in Communication Management, and her MA in Communication (General Studies) from Indiana State University, USA. Before entering academia, Amna had experience in UAE Government organizations in both Abu Dhabi and Dubai. She’s served as a diplomat abroad in three different countries (Sweden, China and South Africa), and had worked in different industries such as Sports and Women, locally and internationally. She’s represented the country in so many international events. Her area of research explores Arabic media, politics, social media, intercultural, verbal and non-verbal communication. She has published academic articles in Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture and Canadian Research and Development Centre of Sciences and Cultures: Media Effects on Contemporary Politics, Power of Media and its influences on Politics and International Relationships of UAE and The Effects of Communication Technology on Education, Society for Research and Knowledge Management: Advertising International Students in the United States: Strategies to Face Intercultural Communication in NUC’s Tourism Undergraduate Program, Cultural Representations of Emiratis in British Media: Stereotypes, Discourses, and Dominance – The Paris Conference on Education (PCE) (iafor.org).

Danica Cigoja Piper is an Assistant Professor at Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, UAE and Content editor for #ZUMEFF2023 website and social media channels. Previously, she served as an Assistant to the Dean from 2016 to 2018 (FMK, Belgrade) and as a coordinator of the Accreditation team (FMK, Belgrade) from 2017 to 2021. She worked as a journalist at the Student Cultural Center in Belgrade, FMK radio, and MONDO portal. She is the winner of the award given by the Delegation of the EU in Serbia, for the best student contribution on European integration (2011). From 2019 Danica has been a member of the Culture forum of the European movement in Serbia. Since 2022, she is a reviewer for the Serbian National Entity for Accreditation and Quality Assurance in Higher Education (NEAQA). Her research interests are related to empirical insights into relation of media towards health minority groups, food, new technologies, political processes, etc.