Noura Al-Jizawi was in the thick of the Syrian uprising against Bashar al-Assad when it began six years ago. She was one of the young leaders who kickstarted the movement, which has gone from being a peaceful revolt to a full-scale civil war with more than 465,000 Syrians killed and over 12 million displaced in a conflict that now includes Islamic State and Russia in the mix. Al-Jizawi came to the University of Toronto through a Scholars-at-Risk scholarship. During the early years of the revolt, Al-Jizawi organized pro-democracy protests, ran a blog, posted photos of victims – many of whom were close friends killed by the regime – and traveled around Syria, mobilizing others.

Read the more of Noura's amazing story and her involvement with the University of Toronto's Scholars-at-Risk program here!