UCW faculty Hawwa Shiuna Musthafa

Dr. Hawwa Shiuna Musthafa

Sessional FacultyFaculty

Biography:

Dr. Hawwa Shiuna Musthafa holds a PhD in Curriculum Studies, Teaching and Comparative Education from the University of Cyprus, a Master’s in Education, a double Bachelor of Arts specializing in Sociology, Psychology and English and a Bachelor of Education specializing in English and Social Sciences.  

Throughout her career, Dr. Shiuna has contributed to various humanitarian projects such as the Strategic Support for Accreditation of Programs and Internationalization of South Asian Higher Education Institutes (HEIs)SSAPI, a project funded by ERASMUS; Social grievances, social tension and conflict in the Maldives, a project funded by UNDP; an inquiry into elimination of all forms of violence against women – an assessment carried out by the Maldives National University for People’s parliament of the Maldives; and Identifying the root causes and prevalence of youth in crimes and delinquency in the Maldives – a project by Maldives National University in collaboration with the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment, Maldives. Her latest project, which she is actively involved in, studies the impact of COVID-19 on Maldives children. 

Additionally, Dr. Shiuna has a prolific publication record, having written multiple papers, reports and books in both the education and social sciences fields. 

Dr. Shiuna currently teaches Talent Management at UCW. 

Expertise and Experience 

Dr. Hawwa Shiuna Musthafa began her career at Villa College, a local institution in the Maldives where she worked in various capacities including, senior lecturer, course coordinator and curriculum developer. Following this, Dr. Shiuna worked for Islander’s Education Pvt. Ltd., where she served as Senior Manager and Team Lead for the Iqra School of Projects, establishing six preschools in the outer Maldives islands. In addition, she has held the title of Principal at the Maldives Billabong High International School and worked as a Research Associate and Assistant Professor at the Maldives National University. 

Publications and Scholarly Activity 

Journal Articles 

  • Moosa, S., Abdul Raheem, R., Riyaz, A., Musthafa, H. S., & Naeem, A. Z. (2022). The role of social value orientation in modulating vaccine uptake in the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 9(1), 1-7.
  • Musthafa, H. S. (2022) Using the dynamic model of educational effectiveness to detect effective teaching characteristics in the Maldives. The Maldives National Journal of Research. 9(2), 7-24.
  • Musthafa, H. S., Riyazs, A., Moosa, S., Abdul-Raheem, R., & Naeem, A. Z. (2020). Determinants of socioeconomic experiences during COVID-19 pandemic in the Maldives. The Maldives National Journal of Research, 8(2), 84-99.
  • Moosa, S., Riyaz, A., Raheem, R. A., Musthafa, H. S., and Naeem, A. Z. (2021). Social Value Orientations and Public Confidence in Institutions: A Young Democracy Under the Imprint of COVID-19. Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 13(2), 28-43. http://dx.doi.org/10.5130/ccs.v13.i2.7548.
  • Saleem, A., Musthafa, H. S (2021) The role of length of parental leave in strengthening mother-child bond and the husband-wife relationship in the Maldives. The Maldives National Journal of Research, 9(1), 77-89.
  • Riyaz, A. Musthafa, H. S., Abdul-Raheem, R., & Moosa, S. (2020). Survey sampling in the time of social distancing: Experiences from quantitative research in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. The Maldives National Journal of Research, 8(1), 169-192.
  • Musthafa, H. S., Kyriakides, L (2023) Using student ratings and teacher observation data to detect effects of teacher factors on student learning outcomes – A longitudinal study in the Maldives. Asia Pacific Journal of Education [Accepted to be published]

Book Chapters 

  • Adam, A. S., Ismail, A. S., Haleem, H., Raheem, R. A., Riyaz, A., Nishan, F., … & Shareef, M. (2022). Higher Education Challenges under COVID-19 Pandemic in the Maldives. In Higher Education and the COVID-19 Pandemic (pp. 62-80). Brill.

Conference papers and poster presentations 

  • Investigating the Impact of Quality of Teaching on Student Learning Outcomes in Maldives. (2022, September). Paper presented at The European Conference on Educational Research of EERA, Yerevan State University, Armenia.
  • Effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Adult Relationships: Perceptions Through the Lens of Married People. (2022, March). Presented at Theveli International Conference 2022, The Maldives National University, Maldives.
  • Effects of the longer parental leave policy on the well-being of mother and child in the Maldives. (2021, March). Presented at Theveli International Conference 2021, The Maldives National University, Maldives.

Other publications 

  • Ismail, A. S., Haleem, H., Raheem, R. A., Riyaz, A., Nishan, F., Shakeeb, S., Ali, S., Naila, A., Rasheed, M. F., Ahmed, N., Musthafa, H. S., Sattar, A. A., & Najeeb, F. (2021). The impact of Covid 19 pandemic on the higher education sector of the Maldives: Responses and challenges (Report No. MNU/2021/001). Retrieved from http://saruna.mnu.edu.mv/xmlui/handle/123456789/11636
  • Riyaz, A., Moosa, S., Abdul Raheem, R., & Musthafa, H. S. (2021). Values in Crisis. Values under the imprint of Covid19 pandemic in the Maldives. Wave 1 Summary Report. United Nations Development Programme. https://www.undp.org/publications/values-crisis
  • Naseem, N. A., Shanoora, A., Shakir, Z., Qazzi, B. Z., Naila, A., Musthafa, H. S., Mohamed, N., Adam. A. S., & Raheem, R. A. (2022). Disengagement of Maldivian youth: Analysis of the current situation, challenges and recommendations. Maldives National University. (Report No. MNU/2022/022) https://mnu.edu.mv/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Disengagement-of-Maldivian-Youth.pdf
  • Adam, A. S., Ismail, A. S., Raheem, R. A., Riyaz, A., Waheed, F., Adam, A. S., Waheeda., Naila, A. S., Rashid, M. A., Musthafa, H. S., Abdul Muhaimin, N., Naseem, N. A., Shakir, Z., Hassan, R., Vasila, M., Shahla, A., & Fahmy, I. (2022). Inquiry on elimination of all forms of discrimination against women in the Maldives (Report No, MNU/2022/003). Retrieved from https://mnu.edu.mv/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/WomensRightsStudyFinalReport.pdf

Ongoing research projects 

  • Title: “Social Grievances, Tension and Conflict in the Maldives.”

    Institution: The Maldives National University

    Contractor: UNDP Maldives

    Expected End Date: June/July 2023

    Description: Investigating the underlying social grievances, tensions and conflicts in the Maldives            through a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods.  
  • Title: “Rapid Assessment of the Impact Study of COVID-19 on Children of the Maldives.”

    Institution: The Maldives National University

    Contractor: UNICEF Maldives

    Expected End Date: June/July 2023

    Description: Investigating the rapid assessment study and understand the impact of COVID-19 on children in the Maldives, with a focus on the socio-economic, health and education-related effects of the pandemic in the Maldives through a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods. 

Awards 

  • Awarded a merit-based scholarship for a fully funded Doctorate in Philosophy program at the University of Cyprus, Cyprus (September 2011).
  • Awarded the President (of Maldives) Award for exemplary academic achievement in completing the highest level of qualification of PhD by completing a doctoral thesis (with publications) (September 2022).
  • Gold medalist and has achieved the university first rank, securing the highest marks across all colleges and universities affiliated with Bangalore University in the Master of Education program for the year 2008-2009.

Committee memberships 

  • ISBN Distribution Oversight, Bureau of Classification, Maldives (2019–present)
  • Approval to Conduct Research Committee, The Maldives National University (2019–2023)
  • Research Registration Committee, The Maldives National University (2019–2023)
  • Research Ethics Approval Committee, The Maldives National University (2020–2023)

Volunteer experience 

  • Technical working member

    Family Protection Authority, Maldives


    October 2019–December 2019 

    Technical working volunteer member on the “National Baseline Study on Prevalence of Domestic Violence” in Maldives. 
  • Researcher

    Parliament of the Maldives, Maldives


    January 2020–May 2021 

    Assisted with the collection, analysis and reporting of data for a research project titled “An inquiry into elimination of all forms of violence against women.” 
  • Technical steering committee and working member

    UNICEF, Maldives

    October 2021–May 2022
     

    Technical steering committee and working member of the “UPSHIFT WASH programme-UNICEF” – Focused on empowering young people to become agents of change in the water, sanitationand hygiene (WASH) sector. 
  • Mentor for student research

    The Maldives National University, Maldives 

    July 2022–March 2023 

    Served as a mentor to one PhD student conducting research in the field of Education. Provided guidance during several stages, including proposal writing, research design, data collection and  
  • Reviewer for Maldives National Journal of Research

    The Maldives National University, Maldives 

    July 2019–March 2023 

    Served as the reviewer for the Maldives National Journal of Research at the Maldives National University, with a total of 10 research articles reviewed. 

Contact her through LinkedIn.