As assistant professor of media studies at the American University of Sharja (AUS), Al-Najjar specializes in international news, journalism in the Arab countries, media and political conflict, online media, research methods in mass communication, introduction to mass communication studies, conflict and crisis communication. Her research interests are gender studies, media and political conflict, and international news media.

Al-Najjar worked for 10 years as a journalist, in both print and broadcast media, and earned her PhD from Edinburgh University in 2004.