She is director of the Carnegie Middle East Center, where her work focuses broadly on political violence, identity politics, inequality, citizenship, and the refugee crisis.  She has two PhDs in the social sciences and humanities from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Architectural Association (AA) in London. She has consulted with international organizations including the United Nations organizations and the World Bank as well the private sector on a broad range of issues in among other countries Lebanon, Pakistan, Oman, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. She serves on a number of advisory boards including the UNESCO international commission on the Futures of Education; a global member of the Trilateral Commission; co-chair of the International Advisory Board for the Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship at the American University of Beirut; and member of the Board of Directors of the Ana Aqra Association.  Yahya  is the author of numerous publications, including most recently Unheard Voices: What Syrian refugees need to return home (April 2018); editor of Contentious Politics in the Syrian Conflict: Opposition, Representation, and Resistance, co editor of Visualizing Secularism and Religion, Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, India and was the director and principal author of The National Human Development Report 2008–2009: Toward a Citizen’s State in Lebanon.