Ola Hassanain trained her focus on subtle politics of space—namely, how the built environment reacts to and reinforces violence from the State and regulates the lives of those who inhabit it. Her development of critical spatial practice is partly informed by her post-academic training which includes an ongoing Rijksakademie Residency, BAK fellowship 2017-2018, and teaching at HKU University of the Arts Utrecht, and Sandberg Institute amongst others.