Sara Bazoobandi
Iran
Iran
Sara Bazoobandi is a non-resident research fellow at the Institute for Security Policy of Kiel University in Germany. She was previously a Marie Curie fellow at the German Institute of Global and Area Studies working on Iran’s economic diversification and economic resilience strategies. Additionally, she is a non-resident fellow at Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, and ISPI in Milan. Over the past decade, she has worked as a consultant for various global clients in both public and private sector. Between 2013 and 2018, she was a senior lecturer in international political economy at Regent’s University London. Prior to that, she was a scholar at the Middle East Institute of the National University of Singapore.
She was an associate fellow at the MENA program of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House, from 2013-16, and was appointed a member of the Global Agenda Council of the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa for 2014-2016. Sara has been a fellow at Higher Education Academy in the United Kingdom since 2015.
She holds a PhD in Arab and Islamic studies from Exeter University, an MSc in economic development in emerging markets from the University of Reading, and speaks Persian, English, German, and Arabic. Her current research interests are political economy, security and foreign policy of MENA, Iran, Information Wars, critical discourse analysis, and China-MENA relations.
Eli Bar-On
Executive Director
Israel
The Executive Director of MENA2050. He served in various senior legal positions in the Israeli
government.
Dr. Hosni Ghedira
Dr. Hosni Ghedira is presently the Director of Research Engagement at Mohamed Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), the world’s first graduate-level research-based AI university. He received his MSc degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Sherbrooke (Canada) and his PhD in Water Sciences from the University of Quebec (Canada) in 1997 and 2001, respectively. Before joining MBZUAI, Dr. Ghedira served as a Director of the Research Centre for Renewable Energy Mapping and Assessment at Masdar Institute from 2010 to 2020. Before moving to the UAE, he spent six years at the City University of New York as Assistant Professor and Research Associate Professor. He was the founding Director (in 2003) of the Environmental Remote Sensing and Image Processing Laboratory at the NOAA Cooperative Remote Sensing Science & Technology Center (NOAA-CREST) in New York.
Dr. Ghedira has 20 years of rich and progressively responsible experience in diverse sectors of Energy, Environment, Water, Innovation and Climate with a total of 10 years at managerial level in national and regional institutions. Dr. Ghedira is an active member in several regional and international working groups in the field of clean energy, space technologies, water security and environmental monitoring. Dr. Ghedira has participated in several studies with international organizations (UN-ESCWA, World Bank, IRENA, AfDB) on clean energy, water security and water-energy nexus. Dr. Ghedira was nominated in January 2019 by Solar Quarter Magazine in the list of Most Influential Solar Business Leaders in The MENA PV Market. He was nominated in January 2018 as a member of Mohammed bin Rashid Academy of Scientists (MBRAS).
Ahdeya Ahmed Al-Sayed
Bahrain
Bahrain
Ahdeya Al Sayed, former President of the Bahrain Journalists Association. The first female to be elected to chair the association since its establishment in the year 2000. She won the 2019 Female Arab Journalist of the year award by the London Arabia Organisation. Ahdeya also worked as media advisor at Bahrain’s Ministry of Cabinet Affairs and Ministry of Information and spokesperson for Bahrain’s parliamentary and municipal elections in the year 2006.She joined print and digital media as a journalist in 1991. Ahdeya was also appointed to the board of trustees of the Dubai-based Arab Women Federation and is a board member of the Arab Family Council.
Al Sayed is a founding member of Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society and was its spokesperson..
Ashraf Naguib
Egypt
Egypt
He is Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Global Trade Matters, Egypt’s leading Private Sector Think Tank dedicated to the exploration and formulation of economic and
political reform policies in Egypt and the MENA Region. With more than 22 years of experience in the fields of executive management, business development and entrepreneurship, Naguib has become one of Egypt’s preeminent conveners, bridging between local and international stakeholders on issues of international trade and regional economic integration.Naguib has been the Secretary General and one of the founders of the ASIA Egypt Business Association (AEBA) since 2012. AEBA is at the forefront of economic policy formulation between Egypt and the Asian countries. AEBA has an extensive and impressive network in over 27 countries representing a market of over 4 billion consumers. Naguib is also the Chairman of the Qualified Industrial Zones Conferences Series, a private initiative platform leading the transformation of the QIZ and enhancing bilateral relations between Egypt and Israel.
Dr. Yaroup Ajlouni
Jordan
Jordan
A humanitarian entrepreneur and a physician. Yaroup has more than two decades of regional and international humanitarian response efforts to aid people in war zones and areas affected by natural disasters. Yaroup has a Master’s degree in Politics from Middle East University and a Master’s in Business Management from Bedfordshire University in the UK. Yaroup believes that people should consolidate peace building efforts throughout the period of any man-made or natural disaster. Yaroup is an expert in managing refugee’s crisis in the Middle East and is a member of several regional and international initiatives and alliances for business development and humanitarian actions in addition to being an expert on the impacts of climate change on health.
Ghaith Al Omari
Jordan
Jordan
, USA
A senior fellow in The Washington Institute’s Program on the U.S.-Israel Strategic Relationship. The former executive director of the American Task Force on Palestine. Between 1999-2006, served as an advisor to the Palestinian negotiating team where he participated in numerous negotiation rounds including the Camp David summit. Additionally, he held various other positions within the Palestinian Authority including an advisor to the president and prime minister. A lawyer by training, Ghaith was born and raised in Jordan and studied at Georgetown and Oxford universities.
Aviram Bellaishe
Israel
Israel
For 25 years, Aviram served in a senior government positions as a Middle East
specialist, Negotiations Expert, and International Cooperation Manager.
Aviram was also an Israeli director in a regional initiative for business and
economic cooperation dialogue in the MENA region.
In the private sector, Aviram was the Head of Mena Business Cooperation
and partner in DTKGG law firm in Israel and the CEO of its commercial
company. He owns his consultancy company for applied business diplomacy.
Aviram possess a Master of Law degree and completed a research paper in the
field of Islamic conflict resolution models. And he is the head of the Gulf-
Africa initiative is the Jerusalem center for public affairs.
Dr. Anissa Naqrachi
Morocco
Morocco
Activist, former CEO of a coaching company
President of Amal Network and Nour Foundation for solidarity with rural women.
Academic, leading activist and international expert in collaborating with ISESCO and Islamic Development Bank in Morocco.
Leading member of the Council of Human Rights in morocco, responsible for international relations.
Abdalaziz Alkhamis
A Saudi journalist and researcher, he is the editor-in-chief of many newspapers and magazines and has researched the Middle East, the Arabian Gulf, and Islamic movements.
Graduated from the University of Milton Keynes, UK, Sociology.
Postgraduate studies at the University of St Andrews. Political Science.
Economic editor at Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper.
Editor-in-Chief of Al Jadeeda Magazine from 1996 to 1998.
Editor-in-Chief of Al Majalla magazine from 1998 to 2000.
Editor-in-chief of the Arab Observer magazine from 2000 to 2006.
Executive Editor-in-Chief of the London-based Al-Arab newspaper until 2015
Producer and presenter of the Gulf Talk program at the Arab News Network.
Presenter of the “Friendly Fire” program on Sky News Arabia.
Research member at the Royal Institute of International Relations “Chatham House”.
Member of the American Association for Political Studies.
Member of the British Jackson Society.