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Faculty Profile

Patty Zakaria

PhD, MA, BA

Associate Professor, Master of Data Analytics

Picture of Patty

Email: patty.zakaria@unfc.ca

Patty Zakaria has more than two decades in international relations, research design, and policy analysis experience. She is committed to excellence in research and data-driven decision-making, and aims to optimize research and data collection processes, nurture team growth, and drive strategic initiatives. 

She completed her graduate studies at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, earning her PhD in International Relations and Comparative Politics and a Master of Arts in Labour and Industrial Relations. Patty has proficiency in advanced research methodologies used to uncover valuable insights and mastery of statistical software such as SPSS, R, and STATA. 

Through research projects focused on corruption and civil society, Patty has been involved with fieldwork in Macedonia, Lebanon, and Croatia. She also serves as a subject matter expert and anti-corruption helpdesk research consultant with Transparency International, the global coalition against corruption.

She is currently working on a project that explores how generational differences influence the adoption and use of AI technologies for environmental sustainability among millennials and generation Z in the global South and North.

Courses taught

Principles of Analytics

Areas of academic interest

Anti-corruption strategies and the utilization of higher education innovations to promote sustainable development and governance integrity

Areas of specialization

Anti-corruption measures, specifically focusing on using statistical methods and research designs to analyze and mitigate corruption

Awards

  • Nominated for Minister’s Award of Excellence (2024) 
  • Nominated for Rising Star at Global University Systems (2022) 
  • OECD Research Edge winner for anti-corruption research (2018) 
  • Daimler Chrysler MAIR Grant (2006) 

Publications

Peer-reviewed publications

  1. Zakaria, P. (2016). “The Influence of Socioeconomic Trends on Individual Perception of Corruption: The Case of Croatia.” Public Integrity Journal, 18(4): 419 – 440. 
  2. Zakaria, P. (2015). “Visegrad at a crossroad in Europe: nuclear energy.” European Perspective Special Issue from the Visegrad Fund, 7(2/13): 87 – 118. 
  3. Zakaria, P. (2013). “Corruption an Enemy of Civil Society: the case of East and Central Europe” International Political Science Review 34(4): 351 – 371. 
  4. Zakaria, P. (2013). “In the name of corruption: charting perception and experience with corruption in Croatia” European Perspectives – Journal of European Perspectives of the Western Balkans, 5(2/9)” 43 – 62.

Book

  1. Zakaria, P. (2019). Understanding the behavior of states as nuclear status changes. Scholars’ Press: Latvia.

Book chapters

  1. Zakaria, P. (2024). Youth Engagement in SDG-16 corruption targets and its Importance 
    Filho, A. W., (eds) Implementing the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals- Regional Perspectives as part of the World Sustainability Series. Springer Publishers (Forthcoming). 
  2. Zakaria, P. (2023). Financial Inclusion to Digital Finance Risks – A commentary on financial crimes, Money-Laundering, and Fraud (Chapter 9). In Turi, A. N., (ed) Financial Technologies and Defi: A revisit to the digital financial revolution. Springer Publishers. 
  3. Zakaria, P. (2022). Education under attack: examining education in emergencies and strategies for strengthening education. In Cummings, J & Fayed, I (eds) Teaching in the Post COVID-19 Era. Springer Publishers. 
  4. Zakaria, P. (2019). Assessing the impact of sectarian patronage in Lebanon. In Corruption and Informal Practices in the Middle East and North Africa (pp. 65-76). Routledge. 
  5. Zakaria P. (2018). Religiosity and Corruption. In Kubbe I., & Engelbert A. (eds) Corruption and Norms. (pp. 69- 90) Political Corruption and Governance. Palgrave Macmillan.

Policy, technical, and other reports

  1. Contributing Author. (2023). Evaluation of the Business Resilience Assistance for Value-adding Enterprises (BRAVE). End-line evaluation Yemen Project. 
  2. Zakaria, P. (2023). Country Narrative: North America– Western Hemisphere Anti-Corruption Index 
  3. Contributing Author. (2022). Western Hemisphere Anti-Corruption Index Report 2022. Completed for John Jay College of Criminal Justice & the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement. 
  4. Contributing Author. (2022). Western Hemisphere Anti-Corruption Index: Methodology 2022. Completed for John Jay College of Criminal Justice & the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement. 
  5. Zakaria, P. (2022). Country Narrative: The Caribbean – Western Hemisphere Anti-Corruption Index 
  6. Zakaria, P. (2022). Country Narrative: South and Central America – Western Hemisphere Anti-Corruption Index 
  7. Zakaria, P. (2021). Customer Insight Report for GOTOX Inc., Patty Zakaria Research Group Limited. 
  8. Contributing Author*. (2019). Annual Development Effectiveness Report 2018: focusing on ICD’s innovation in supporting SMEs in fragile settings. Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector, Jedda, Saudi Arabia. *Exclusively contributed chapter 3 on state fragility 
  9. Zakaria, P. (2018). To Tolerate or Not Tolerate Bribery: Can a Lack of Control over Corruption Determine Tolerance Levels? OECD Anti-Corruption and Integrity Forum. 
  10. Zakaria, P. (2017). Quantitative and Qualitative: which approach is superior in the program 
    Evaluation? [White Paper] Ghubril Ltd. 
  11. Corruption Research Centre Budapest. (2016). Refugee Crisis in Hungary: Content analysis of articles from the online version of eight news outlets. Corruption Research Center Budapest Report. 

Book reviews

  1. Zakaria, P. (2016). Review of “A time to attack: the looming Iranian nuclear threat” by Matthew Kroenig, in International Journal, Volume 71(4).