Her research interests include education, labor, development, and gender in the Arab world. Her primary research site has been Jordan and currently she is completing a book manuscript on the internal labor migration of Jordanian women. Since 2013, she has been an associate editor for Anthropology and Education Quarterly. Selected publications by Dr. Adely include: Gendered Paradoxes: Educating Jordanian Women in Nation, Faith & Progress (University of Chicago Press, 2012); “God Made Beautiful Things”, American Ethnologist (2012); “Educating Women for Development” International Journal for Middle East Studies (2009).