Wadah Khanfar

President of The Al Sharq Forum

Wadah Khanfar is the President of the Al Sharq Forum and former Director General of the Al Jazeera Network. He is a board member of the International Crisis Group and Global Editors Network (GEN). Khanfar has been named as one of Foreign Policy’s Top 100 global thinkers of 2011 as well as one of Fast Company’s ‘Most Creative People in Business’ of the year.

Mohammad Affan

Training Director at Al-Sharq Forum

Mohammad Affan is the Training Director at Al-Sharq Forum. A medical doctor by training, Affan obtained his MA degree in Political Science from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at the American University of Cairo (2015). He also holds three post-graduate diplomas: One in “Civil Society and Human Rights”, from the Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences at Cairo University (2010), another one in Political Research and Studies from the Institute of Arab Research and Studies at the Arab League (2012), and the third diploma in Islamic Studies from the Higher Institute for Islamic Studies in Cairo (2012). Among his publications is his book titled: “Wahhabism and the Brotherhood: the conflict on the concept of the state and the legitimacy of power.” Affan is currently pursuing his PhD in the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the Exeter Univesity in the UK. His research interests include, Islamism, State-Theory, and Comparative MENA Studies.

Tarik Yousef

Senior Fellow at Brookings Institution

Carole Nakhle

CEO of Crystol Energy

Tarik Yousef

Senior Fellow at Brookings Institution

Carole Nakhle

CEO of Crystol Energy

Mohanad Hage Ali

Academician and political journalist and journalism trainer

Mohanad Hage Ali is an academic and a political journalist. He has a PhD in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). As an academic and journalist, Mohanad specializes in the study of Islamic Movements. He has published a book on Hizbullah’s identity project, while his publications include a much-quoted article on the Abu Musab al-Suri and the new al-Qaeda. Mohanad has written extensively on militant groups in the Syrian conflict.

Khaldoun Charif

Political commentator

Obeida Tekriti

Activist, candidate on MMFD lists

Joseph Bahout

Director at Issam Fares Institute AUB, Beirut

Mitat Celikpala

Professor at Kadir Has University

Dr. Mitat Çelikpala is Professor of International Relations and the Dean of Faculty of Economics, Administrative and Social Sciences at Kadir Has University, Istanbul. He has also been the board member of the International Relations Council of Turkey since 2004 and the Managing Editor of the Journal of International Relations: Academic Journal. He previously served as an academic advisor to NATO’s Center of Excellence Defense against Terrorism in Ankara (2009-2012) and was Academic Adviser to the Center for Strategic Research (SAM), Turkish Foreign Ministry (2002-2010), and Caspian Strategy Institute, Istanbul Turkey (2012–2013).

Abdolrasool Divsallar

Regional Security Initiative, European University

Rawan Hammoud

Senior research fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

Sinan Hatahet

Senior Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

Sinan Hatahet is currently a consultant working with a number of think tanks on Syria. His research is concentrated on governance and local councils, anti-radicalization, Islamism, the Kurdish National Movement, and the new regional order in the Middle East. He previously worked as the executive director of the Syrian National Coalition (SC) media office from its creation in late 2012 until September 2014.

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen

Rice University\'s Baker Institute for Public Policy & Associate Fellow, Chatham House.

Betul Dogan Akkas

Al Sharq Strategic Associate fellow

Simon Mabon

Senior Lecturer in International Relations at Lancaster University

Dr. Simon Mabon is Senior Lecturer in International Relations at Lancaster University where he directs the Richardson Institute. He holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of Leeds and is the director of the SEPAD Project, funded by Carnegie Corporation which looks at the impact of the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran on the contemporary Middle East.

Khalid Al Mezaini

Associate Professor at Zayed University

Khalid Al Mezaini is an Assistant Professor, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi. He was working before at Qatar University, where he teaches in the Gulf Studies Program, and a visiting research fellow at LSE. Prior to joining Qatar University, he was a research fellow at London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Abdulla Baabood

Chair of the State of Qatar in Islamic Area Studies, Waseda University, Japan

Abdullah Baabood is an academic from Oman with wide regional and international experience. He was previously the director of the Gulf Studies Program at the Gulf Studies Center at Qatar University and director of the Gulf Research Centre at the University of Cambridge. Currently, he is the Chair of the State of Qatar for Islamic Area Studies and Visiting Professor, Faculty of International Research and Education, Waseda University, Japan.

Betul Dogan Akkas

Al Sharq Strategic Associate fellow

Meliha Altunisik

Professor at the Department of International Relations at METU

Meliha Benli Altunışık is a professor at the Department of International Relations at Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara. She was a Fulbright Scholar at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University in 1988-89 and was a resident Fulbright Scholar in the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC from January to June 2003. She is the author of Turkey: Challenges of Continuity and Change with Ö. Tür (Routledge/Curzon, 2005) and The South Caucasus: Security, Energy and Europeanization, co-edited with O. Tanrısever (Routledge, 2018). She also published a number of academic articles in journals such as Arab Studies Quarterly; Insight Turkey; Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies; Journal of Historical Sociology; Mediterranean Politics; Middle Eastern Studies; New Perspectives on Turkey; Security Dialogue; Uluslararası İlişkiler.

Anoush Ehteshami

Professor of International Relations at Durham University

Anoush Ehteshami is a Professor of International Relations at Durham University. He is the Nasser al-Sabah Chair and Director, and the Director of the Institute for Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies at School of Government and International Affairs at Durham University.

Cinzia Bianco

Visiting Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations

Cinzia Bianco is a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, based in Berlin, where she is working on political, security and economic developments in the Arabian Peninsula and Gulf region and relations with Europe. Additionally, she is a senior analyst at Gulf State Analytics. Previously, Bianco was a research fellow for the European Commission’s project on EU-GCC relations ‘Sharaka’ between 2013 and 2014. She holds an MA degree in Middle East and Mediterranean Studies from King’s College London and a PhD in Middle East Politics from the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, where she worked on threat perceptions in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) after the 2011 Arab uprisings.

Madawi Al Rasheed

Visiting Professor at the LSE Middle East Center

Madawi is Visiting Professor at the LSE Middle East Centre. In January 2017, she returned to the MEC from a sabbatical year at the Middle East Institute, the National University of Singapore. Previously, she was Research Fellow at the Open Society Foundation. Between 1994–2013, she was Professor of Anthropology of Religion at King’s College London. She was also a Prize Research Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford. She has taught at Goldsmith College, University of London and the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford.

Harun Karčić

Harun Karčić is the editor and host of a foreign affairs show on Al Jazeera's Balkan channel. Over the past decade, he has authored numerous articles on Islam in post-communist Bosnia and Herzegovina and the role played by foreign powers in the region. He also regularly reports on Muslim minorities in Europe and rising right-wing nationalism.

Maja Savic-Bojanic

Maja Savic-Bojanic is an Assistant Professor and currently also the Head of the Department of Political Science & International Relations at the Sarajevo School of Science and Technology. She also holds the position of an honorary associate professor at the University of Exeter (UK) where she teaches within the Applied Security Strategy Programme.

Ismail Cidic

Ismail Cidic: President of the Bosnian Advocacy Center. Ismail is an alumnus of Duke University and a Fellow at George Mason University whose research focuses on international relations and foreign policy.

Galip Dalay

Senior Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

Research director at Al Sharq Forum and senior associate fellow on Turkey and Kurdish Affairs at Al Jazeera Center for Studies. He previously worked as a visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin and as a political researcher at SETA Foundation in Ankara. He is a regular contributor to German Marshall Fund of the United States’ on Turkey policy brief series, and a columnist for Middle East Eye.

Kamaran Palani

Research Fellow at the Middle Eastern Research Institute (MERI)

Kamaran Mohammad Palani is a Research Fellow at the Middle Eastern Research Institute (MERI). He has an MA in Global Security from Keele University in the UK. He has worked for various local and international NGOs and research centers, including Al Mesalla, Peace and Freedom Organization in Kurdistan, PAX, and the at Salahaddin University-Erbil. His research interests include de facto statehood in the international system, post-war security issues, state-building and democratization in Iraq and the Kurdistan region.

Lahib Higel

Senior Iraq Analyst at Crisis Group

Ranj Alaaldin

Visiting Fellow, Brookings Institute, Doha

Maria Fantappie

Senior Analyst at International Crisis Group

Maria Fantappie is Crisis Group’s Senior Analyst for Iraq. Maria has conducted fieldwork in Iraq and Syria since 2009, and works with other members of the Middle East & North Africa team to research and produce reports on security, conflict, politics, governance, and social issues on Iraq, Syria and the Kurdish regions. She has engaged policymakers on her research at some of the highest levels of government in the US, Europe and the Middle East.

Hassan Ahmadian

Assistant Professor at the University of Tehran

Dr. Hassan Ahmadian is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Iran Project, Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Dr. Ahmadian is an Assistant Professor of Middle East and North Africa studies at the University of Tehran, and is also a Middle East security and politics fellow at the Center for Strategic Research, Tehran. He received his PhD in Area Studies from the University of Tehran. His research and teaching work is mainly focused on Iran’s foreign policy and relations, political change, civil-military relations and Islamist movements in the Middle East. His research and analyses have appeared in peer-reviewed journals as well as prestigious Persian, English and Arabic outlets.

Zaid Al Hamdan

Politician Advisor

Luciano Zaccara

Research Assistant Professor in Gulf Politics, Qatar University

Marc Owen Jones

Assistant Professor at HAmad Bin Khalifa University

Betul Dogan Akkas

Al Sharq Strategic Associate fellow

Galip Dalay

Senior Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

Research director at Al Sharq Forum and senior associate fellow on Turkey and Kurdish Affairs at Al Jazeera Center for Studies. He previously worked as a visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin and as a political researcher at SETA Foundation in Ankara. He is a regular contributor to German Marshall Fund of the United States’ on Turkey policy brief series, and a columnist for Middle East Eye.

Kadir Temiz

Assistant professor of Political Science at Istanbul Medeniyet University

Kadir Temiz graduated from Beykent University, department of International Relations in 2006. He holds an MA from Istanbul Technical University, department of humanities and social sciences Political Science Studies with a thesis titled “Confucianism and Alternative Theory of Rights” in 2010. He has also got doctor of philosophy degree from Boğaziçi University, Atatürk Institute for the Modern Turkish History with a dissertation titled “The Rise of China and the Middle East: Chinese Foreign Policy Towards Iran, Israel and Turkey, 2001- 2011.” In 2017. Temiz has studied at Peking University Institute of International Studies and Foreign Language School in the years between 2007 and 2010. He also studied at Shanghai International Studies University, the department of International Relations and Middle East Studies Centre. He also worked at İstanbul Şehir University, department of international relations in the years between 2018 and 2020. Temiz is also affiliated with Boğaziçi University’s Asian Studies Centre. He still continues to study on History of Modern China, Chinese Foreign Policy and International Relations, Politics of East Asia and China’s relations with Middle Eastern countries. He teaches Politics of East Asia, China in World Politics, Chinese Foreign Policy and Current Issues in Chinese Foreign Policy courses at İstanbul Medeniyet University, department of International Relations.

James M. Dorsey

Senior research fellow at the Middle East Institute-NUS

James M Dorsey is a senior research fellow focused on the Middle East and North Africa who publishes widely in peer-reviewed journals as well as non-academic publications. A veteran award-winning foreign correspondent for four decades in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, Europe and the United States writing for publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and the Financial Times, James has met a multitude of the region’s leaders. As a journalist, James covered primarily ethnic and religious conflicts, including some of recent history’s most dramatic events such as the 1973 Middle East war; the Lebanese civil war; the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the US-backed insurgency that ultimately led to the withdrawal of Soviet troops; the Palestinian intifadas; the Iranian revolution; the US embassy hostage crisis and the Iran-Iraq war; the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the toppling of Saddam Hussein; the Israeli-Palestinian peace process; the wars in Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo and Serbia; the armed struggles in the Western Sahara, Algeria, the Philippines, Kashmir, Eritrea, Tigre, the Ogaden, Chad, Niger, Chechnya, the Caucasus and Georgia; the Columbian drug cartels; the fall of Noriega in Panama; the wars in Nicaragua and El Salvador; the Kurdish insurgency in south-eastern Turkey, post-revolution Iran and Saddam’s Iraq; and the war on terror. James writes a widely acclaimed blog, The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer, has published a book with the same title and authors a syndicated column.

Alessandro Arduino

Principal research fellow at the Middle East Institute-NUS

Dr Alessandro Arduino is the principal research fellow at the Middle East Institute (MEI), National University of Singapore. He is the co-director of the Security & Crisis Management International Centre at the Shanghai Academy of Social Science (SASS) and an associate at Lau China Institute, King’s College London. His two decades of experience in China encompasses security analysis and crisis management. His main research interests include China, Central Asia and Middle East and North Africa relations, sovereign wealth funds, private military/security companies, and China’s security and foreign policy. Alessandro is the author of several books and he has published papers and commentaries in various journals in Italian, English and Chinese. His most recent book is China’s Private Army: Protecting the New Silk Road (Palgrave, 2018). He has been appointed Knight of Order of the Star of Italy by the president of the Italian Republic.

Omer Aslan

Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

Omer Aslan is an Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Forum, and a researcher at the Institute for Security Sciences at the Turkish National Police Academy (TNPA). He previously worked at the political research department of the Ankara-based SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research. He received his B.A. degree in political science from Bilkent University. After finishing MSc in International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science, he entered the Ph.D. program in political science at Bilkent University in 2010. Ömer is now a Ph.D. candidate at the same university, currently working on his dissertation in the field of civil-military relations. Among his publications are “A Turkish Muslim Between Islamism and Turkish Nationalism: Seyyid Ahmet Arvasi (1932–88)”, and “‘Unarmed’ we Intervene, Unnoticed we Remain: The Deviant Case of ‘February 28th Coup’ in Turkey “. Research Interests: Military and Politics in the Muslim World, External Actors and Military Coup d’états, Police and Politics.

Joseph Bahout

Director at Issam Fares Institute AUB, Beirut

Ranj Alaaldin

Visiting Fellow, Brookings Institute, Doha

Özgür Ünlühisarcıklı

Director of GMF’s office in Ankara

Özgür Ünlühisarcıklı is the director of GMF’s office in Ankara, Turkey. Prior to joining GMF, he was the manager of the Resource Development Department of the Educational Volunteers Foundation of Turkey. Previously, Ünlühisarcıklı worked as the director of the ARI Movement, a Turkish NGO promoting participatory democracy, and as a consultant at AB Consulting and Investment Services

Nikolay Kozhanov

Visiting lecturer at the European University at St. Petersburg

Nikolay Kozhanov is an academy associate at the Russia and Eurasia Program of Chatham House and a visiting lecturer at the European University at St. Petersburg. From 2006 to 2009, he served as an attaché at the political section of the Russian embassy in Tehran. He got his PhD from the St. Petersburg State University. His area of expertise involves Iran's foreign and domestic policies as well the issue of Russian presence in the Middle East.

Nader Kabbani

Director of Research, Brookings Doha Center; Senior Fellow, Brookings Global Economy and Development Program

Director of Research, Brookings Doha Center; Senior Fellow, Brookings Global Economy and Development Program

Yu Jie

Senior Research Fellow on China, Asia-Pacific Programme, Chatham House

Senior Research Fellow on China, Asia-Pacific Programme, Chatham House

Hürcan Aslı Aksoy

Deputy Head of Centre for Applied Turkey Studies (CATS), German Institute of International and Security Affairs

Tarik M. Yousef

Director of Brooking Doha Center and Senior fellow

Tarik M. Yousef is a Senior Fellow in the Global Economy and Development program and the Director of the Brookings Doha Center. His career has spanned the academic world at Georgetown University and the Harvard Kennedy School; the public policy arena at the IMF, the World Bank and more recently the NGO space at Silatech. He has a PhD in economics from Harvard University

Maria Fantappie

Senior Analyst at International Crisis Group

Maria Fantappie is Crisis Group’s Senior Analyst for Iraq. Maria has conducted fieldwork in Iraq and Syria since 2009, and works with other members of the Middle East & North Africa team to research and produce reports on security, conflict, politics, governance, and social issues on Iraq, Syria and the Kurdish regions. She has engaged policymakers on her research at some of the highest levels of government in the US, Europe and the Middle East.

Christian Hanelt

Senior Expert for Middle East, Gulf Region, North Africa, EU Southern Neighbourhood, Bertelsmann Stiftung

Daniela Huber

Head, Mediterranean and Middle East Programme, Istituto Affari Internazionali

Michelle Pace

Associate Fellow, Europe Programme, Chatham House

Wadah Khanfar

President of The Al Sharq Forum

Wadah Khanfar is the President of the Al Sharq Forum and former Director General of the Al Jazeera Network. He is a board member of the International Crisis Group and Global Editors Network (GEN). Khanfar has been named as one of Foreign Policy’s Top 100 global thinkers of 2011 as well as one of Fast Company’s ‘Most Creative People in Business’ of the year.

Dr. Larbi Sidiki

Professor of Arab Democratization at Qatar University

Dr. John Keane

Professor of Politics at the University of Sydney

Wadah Khanfar

President of The Al Sharq Forum

Wadah Khanfar is the President of the Al Sharq Forum and former Director General of the Al Jazeera Network. He is a board member of the International Crisis Group and Global Editors Network (GEN). Khanfar has been named as one of Foreign Policy’s Top 100 global thinkers of 2011 as well as one of Fast Company’s ‘Most Creative People in Business’ of the year.

Lurdes Vidal Bertran

Director of the Arab and Mediterranean World Department, IEMed

Kristina Kausch

Senior Resident Fellow at The German Marshall Fund of the United States\' (GMF) Brussels office

Kristina Kausch is a Senior Resident Fellow at The German Marshall Fund of the United States' (GMF) Brussels office. Her research focuses on Europe’s relations with the Middle East and North Africa, and political transformations in the Arab world. Prior to joining GMF, she was a non-resident associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the head of its Middle East program, and research coordinator at FRIDE. She has edited three books and published articles in academic journals.

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen

Rice University\'s Baker Institute for Public Policy & Associate Fellow, Chatham House.

Tarek Megerisi

Policy Fellow, European Council on Foreign Relations

Can Kasapoglu

Director of EDAM

Director of the Security & Defense Research Program at the Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM).

Mitat Celikpala

Professor at Kadir Has University

Dr. Mitat Çelikpala is Professor of International Relations and the Dean of Faculty of Economics, Administrative and Social Sciences at Kadir Has University, Istanbul. He has also been the board member of the International Relations Council of Turkey since 2004 and the Managing Editor of the Journal of International Relations: Academic Journal. He previously served as an academic advisor to NATO’s Center of Excellence Defense against Terrorism in Ankara (2009-2012) and was Academic Adviser to the Center for Strategic Research (SAM), Turkish Foreign Ministry (2002-2010), and Caspian Strategy Institute, Istanbul Turkey (2012–2013).

Ioannis N. Grigoriadis

Associate Professor and Jean Monnet Chair

Associate Professor at Bilkent University/ The Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP)

Dimitrios Triantaphyllou

Head of Department at Kadir Has University

Head of Department of International Relations at Kadir Has University

Omer Aslan

Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

Omer Aslan is an Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Forum, and a researcher at the Institute for Security Sciences at the Turkish National Police Academy (TNPA). He previously worked at the political research department of the Ankara-based SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research. He received his B.A. degree in political science from Bilkent University. After finishing MSc in International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science, he entered the Ph.D. program in political science at Bilkent University in 2010. Ömer is now a Ph.D. candidate at the same university, currently working on his dissertation in the field of civil-military relations. Among his publications are “A Turkish Muslim Between Islamism and Turkish Nationalism: Seyyid Ahmet Arvasi (1932–88)”, and “‘Unarmed’ we Intervene, Unnoticed we Remain: The Deviant Case of ‘February 28th Coup’ in Turkey “. Research Interests: Military and Politics in the Muslim World, External Actors and Military Coup d’états, Police and Politics.

Emad Shahin

Senior Fellow at Georgetown University

Emad Shahin is the Dean of the College of Islamic Studies (CIS), Hamad bin Khalifa University, Qatar Foundation and a Senior Fellow at Georgetown University. Before joining CIS, he was the Hasib Sabbagh Distinguished Visiting Chair of Arabic and Islamic Studies, visiting professor of Political Science at Georgetown University and the editor-in-chief of The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Politics. He is tenured professor of public policy, The American University in Cairo (on leave). Shahin holds a Ph.D. (1989) from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, M.A. (1983) and BA (1980) from the American University in Cairo. He has taught in leading universities in the United States including Harvard, Notre Dame, Georgetown, George Washington, and Boston University. His research and teaching interests focus on Islam and Politics Comparative Politics, Democracy and Political Reform in Muslim societies, and Political Economy of the Middle East.

Mohammad Affan

Training Director at Al-Sharq Forum

Mohammad Affan is the Training Director at Al-Sharq Forum. A medical doctor by training, Affan obtained his MA degree in Political Science from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at the American University of Cairo (2015). He also holds three post-graduate diplomas: One in “Civil Society and Human Rights”, from the Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences at Cairo University (2010), another one in Political Research and Studies from the Institute of Arab Research and Studies at the Arab League (2012), and the third diploma in Islamic Studies from the Higher Institute for Islamic Studies in Cairo (2012). Among his publications is his book titled: “Wahhabism and the Brotherhood: the conflict on the concept of the state and the legitimacy of power.” Affan is currently pursuing his PhD in the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the Exeter Univesity in the UK. His research interests include, Islamism, State-Theory, and Comparative MENA Studies.

Ismail Yaylaci

Assistant professor at Istanbul Sehir University

Ismail Yaylaci is an assistant professor at Istanbul Sehir University in the department of political science and international relations. He received his PhD from University of Minnesota Social Sciences Institute Political Science in 2014. His research interests are: international relations theory, critical social and political theory, Islamism, and Middle Eastern politics.

Chafic Choucair

Researcher at Al Jazeera Centre for Studies

Chafic Choucair is a researcher at the Al Jazeera Center for Studies specializing in the affairs of the Mashreq (Levant region) and Islamist movements. He holds a PhD in Islamic studies. His research interests include crises in the Levant region, especially the Syrian issue; the Arab-Israeli struggle; Sunni and Shiite trends; and jihadist groups and their intellectual and jurisprudential rhetoric and political orientations.

Tamer Badawi

Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

Tamer Badawi is a Research Fellow at Al Sharq Forum. He received an M.A. in International Relations (with a major in International Political Economy) from Central European University in 2016 and a B.A. in Oriental Studies from Alexandria University in 2013. He is a regular contributor to Sada, an online publication managed by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He also contributes reports to the Doha-based Aljazeera Center for Studies. Research interests: The political economy of the Middle East, economic development in post-JCPOA Iran, and global energy market trends.

Milica Delevic

Director, Governance and Political Affairs, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Wadah Khanfar

President of The Al Sharq Forum

Wadah Khanfar is the President of the Al Sharq Forum and former Director General of the Al Jazeera Network. He is a board member of the International Crisis Group and Global Editors Network (GEN). Khanfar has been named as one of Foreign Policy’s Top 100 global thinkers of 2011 as well as one of Fast Company’s ‘Most Creative People in Business’ of the year.

Marcin Kaczmarski

Lecturer in Security Studies, University of Glasgow

Nora Muller

Executive Director, Körber-Stiftung International Affairs

Arturo Varvelli

Co-Head, MENA Centre, Italian Institute for International Political Studies

Robert Malley

Vice President for Policy, International Crisis Group

Yu Jie

Senior Research Fellow on China, Asia-Pacific Programme, Chatham House

Senior Research Fellow on China, Asia-Pacific Programme, Chatham House

Brad Staples

Chief Executive Officer, APCO Worldwide

Sanam Vakil

Associate Fellow, Middle East and North Africa Programme, Chatham House

Lord Mark Malloch-Brown

Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations (2006) anc Co-Chair, International Crisis Group

Galip Dalay

Senior Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

Research director at Al Sharq Forum and senior associate fellow on Turkey and Kurdish Affairs at Al Jazeera Center for Studies. He previously worked as a visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin and as a political researcher at SETA Foundation in Ankara. He is a regular contributor to German Marshall Fund of the United States’ on Turkey policy brief series, and a columnist for Middle East Eye.

DLAWER ALA - ALDEEN

President of Middle East Research Institute (MERI)

Dlawer Ala’Aldeen is the Founding President of the Middle East Research Institute, a policy research institute and think tank based in Erbil, Kurdistan Region (KR) of Iraq (meri-k.org). Between 2009-2012, he was the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Kurdistan Regional Government, where he lead an ambitious reform program to modernise the higher education system in KR. Prior to this, he was the Professor of Medicine in Nottingham University, UK. He worked in capacity building and nation-building projects in Iraq since 1992 and published extensively on the political dynamics, governance system and democratisation in the Middle East, Iraq and KR.

Dorothee Schmid

Expert on Mediterranean and Middle East issues

Dorothee Schmid is an expert on Mediterranean and Middle East issues. Schmid joined IFRI (The French Institute for International Relations) in 2002 in Paris. She has produced extensive analysis on EU and French policies in the region, induced democratization, the political economy and regional balance of powers. She established the Contemporary Turkey Program in 2008 in order to follow in real time the rise of Turkish foreign policy and the transformations of the Turkish regime. The present agenda of IFRI’s Middle East and Turkey department includes the dynamics of political transitions in the post-Arab spring period, the future of the rentier-state culture, rising conflicts, territorial reorganizations and the new competition for influence among powers. Before focusing on academic research, Dorothée Schmid worked as a country-risk analyst for Bank Crédit agricole-Indosuez and as a Euromed attaché for Cités Unies France, a federation of French local authorities. She has carried out various consulting missions for public institutions (the European Commission, French Ministry of Economy, French Ministry of Foreign Affairs), NGOs and private companies. She authored many articles and reports about Turkey and the Middle East and regularly appears in the French and international media.

Fuat Keyman

Director of Istanbul Policy Center and a Professor of International Relations at Sabancı University

Fuat Keyman is the Director of Istanbul Policy Center and a Professor of International Relations at Sabancı University. Keyman is a leading Turkish political scientist and an expert on democratization, globalization, international relations, Turkey – EU relations, Turkish foreign policy, and civil society development. He is a member of the Science Academy. He has worked as a member on the Council of Wise People as part of the Peace Process to the Kurdish issue. He also serves on advisory and editorial boards for a number of respected international and national organizations as well as for academic journals.

Ibrahim Turhan

Member of Turkish Parliament

Ibrahim Turhan is a member of Turkish Parliament. He previously served as the Chairman and CEO of the İstanbul Stock Exchange, 2012 - 2015. Mr. Turhan was also a member of the Leaders' Circle as well as the Advisory Board of the Global Economic Symposium organized by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. Prior to these roles, Mr. Turhan served in a number of capacities with the Central Bank of Turkey, including Deputy Governor post

Tarik M. Yousef

Director of Brooking Doha Center and Senior fellow

Tarik M. Yousef is a Senior Fellow in the Global Economy and Development program and the Director of the Brookings Doha Center. His career has spanned the academic world at Georgetown University and the Harvard Kennedy School; the public policy arena at the IMF, the World Bank and more recently the NGO space at Silatech. He has a PhD in economics from Harvard University

Kristina Kausch

Senior Resident Fellow at The German Marshall Fund of the United States\' (GMF) Brussels office

Kristina Kausch is a Senior Resident Fellow at The German Marshall Fund of the United States' (GMF) Brussels office. Her research focuses on Europe’s relations with the Middle East and North Africa, and political transformations in the Arab world. Prior to joining GMF, she was a non-resident associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the head of its Middle East program, and research coordinator at FRIDE. She has edited three books and published articles in academic journals.

Richard Gowan

Senior Policy Fellow, European Council on Foreign Relations

Baroness Ashton of Upholland

High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, First Vice President of the European Commission (2009-14)

Mohammad Affan

Training Director at Al-Sharq Forum

Mohammad Affan is the Training Director at Al-Sharq Forum. A medical doctor by training, Affan obtained his MA degree in Political Science from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at the American University of Cairo (2015). He also holds three post-graduate diplomas: One in “Civil Society and Human Rights”, from the Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences at Cairo University (2010), another one in Political Research and Studies from the Institute of Arab Research and Studies at the Arab League (2012), and the third diploma in Islamic Studies from the Higher Institute for Islamic Studies in Cairo (2012). Among his publications is his book titled: “Wahhabism and the Brotherhood: the conflict on the concept of the state and the legitimacy of power.” Affan is currently pursuing his PhD in the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the Exeter Univesity in the UK. His research interests include, Islamism, State-Theory, and Comparative MENA Studies.

Dr. Tarek Mitri

Director of Issam Fares Institute

Ezzeddine Abdelmoula

Manager of Research at Al Jazeera Centre for Studies

Ezzeddine Abdelmoula is the Manager of Research at Al Jazeera Centre for Studies, Abdelmoula holds a PhD in politics from Exeter University, a Masters of International politics from SOAS and a Masters of political philosophy from La Sorbonne, Paris. He edited and translated books and contributed research papers and book chapters including “Al-Jazeera & Televised Revolution” in Routledge Handbook of the Arab Spring (2014). His recent book, “Al Jazeera and Democratization: the Rise of Arab Public Sphere” appeared in 2015

Courtney Freer

Research Officer at Kuwait Programme at the London School of Economics and Political Science

Courtney Freer is a Research Officer at the Kuwait Programme at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her work focuses on the domestic politics of the Arab Gulf states, with a particular focus on Islamism and tribalism. Her DPhil thesis at Oxford University revised rentier state theory by examining the socio-political role played by Muslim Brotherhood groups in Kuwait, Qatar, and the UAE. She previously worked as a Research Assistant at the Brookings Doha Center.

Seif al-Din Abdul Fattah

Professor of Islamic Sciences at Cairo University

professor of Islamic Sciences at Cairo University

Rudayna Baalbaky

IFI, Arab and International Affairs Program Coordinator

Rudayna Baalbaky is the coordinator of the Arab and International Affairs Program at AUB’s Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs. She holds an MA in Political Science (Comparative Politics) from the Université Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth.

Wadah Khanfar

President of The Al Sharq Forum

Wadah Khanfar is the President of the Al Sharq Forum and former Director General of the Al Jazeera Network. He is a board member of the International Crisis Group and Global Editors Network (GEN). Khanfar has been named as one of Foreign Policy’s Top 100 global thinkers of 2011 as well as one of Fast Company’s ‘Most Creative People in Business’ of the year.

Brad Staples

Chief Executive Officer, APCO Worldwide

Galip Dalay

Senior Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

Research director at Al Sharq Forum and senior associate fellow on Turkey and Kurdish Affairs at Al Jazeera Center for Studies. He previously worked as a visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin and as a political researcher at SETA Foundation in Ankara. He is a regular contributor to German Marshall Fund of the United States’ on Turkey policy brief series, and a columnist for Middle East Eye.

Kristina Kausch

Senior Resident Fellow at The German Marshall Fund of the United States\' (GMF) Brussels office

Kristina Kausch is a Senior Resident Fellow at The German Marshall Fund of the United States' (GMF) Brussels office. Her research focuses on Europe’s relations with the Middle East and North Africa, and political transformations in the Arab world. Prior to joining GMF, she was a non-resident associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the head of its Middle East program, and research coordinator at FRIDE. She has edited three books and published articles in academic journals.

Jana Puglierin

Head of Programme, Alfred von Oppenheim Center for European Policy Studies, German Council on Foreign Relations

Michael Kohler

Director Neighbourhood, DG for Development Cooperation. European Commission

Robert Malley

Vice President for Policy, International Crisis Group

Lord Mark Malloch-Brown

Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations (2006) anc Co-Chair, International Crisis Group

Tarik M. Yousef

Director of Brooking Doha Center and Senior fellow

Tarik M. Yousef is a Senior Fellow in the Global Economy and Development program and the Director of the Brookings Doha Center. His career has spanned the academic world at Georgetown University and the Harvard Kennedy School; the public policy arena at the IMF, the World Bank and more recently the NGO space at Silatech. He has a PhD in economics from Harvard University

Fuat Keyman

Director of Istanbul Policy Center and a Professor of International Relations at Sabancı University

Fuat Keyman is the Director of Istanbul Policy Center and a Professor of International Relations at Sabancı University. Keyman is a leading Turkish political scientist and an expert on democratization, globalization, international relations, Turkey – EU relations, Turkish foreign policy, and civil society development. He is a member of the Science Academy. He has worked as a member on the Council of Wise People as part of the Peace Process to the Kurdish issue. He also serves on advisory and editorial boards for a number of respected international and national organizations as well as for academic journals.

Soli Özel

Professor of International Relations at Kadir Has University

Soli Özel is a professor of International Relations at Kadir Has University in Istanbul and a columnist at Habertürk daily newspaper. He worked as a guest lecturer at Georgetown, Harvard, Tufts and other US universities and has taught at UC Santa Cruz, SAIS, the University of Washington and the Hebrew University. He is also a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations

Anne Applebaum

Professor in Practice, Institute of Global Affairs, LSE

Anna Arutunyan

Senior Analyst, Russia, International Crisis Group

Bernard Cazeneuve

Prime Minister of France (2016-17)

Michel Duclos

Ambassador of France to Syria (2006-09), and Special Advisor, Geopolitics, Institut Montaigne

Claudia Gazzini

Senior Analyst, Libya, International Crisis Group

Liana Fix

Program Director International Affairs, Körber Foundation

Susan Jakes

Editor, ChinaFile, and Senior Fellow, Center on US-China Relations, Asia Society

Nader Kabbani

Director of Research, Brookings Doha Center; Senior Fellow, Brookings Global Economy and Development Program

Director of Research, Brookings Doha Center; Senior Fellow, Brookings Global Economy and Development Program

Aleksander Kwaśniewski

President of Poland (1995-2005)

Ramtane Lamamra

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Algeria (2013-17) and Board Member, International Crisis Group

Alain Le Roy

Executive Secretary General, European External Action Service (2015-16)

Dominique Moïsi

Visiting Research Professor, King’s College London; Special Advisor, Institut Montaigne

Tom Tugendhat MP

Member of Parliament for Tonbridge and Malling, and Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee

Leslie Vinjamuri

Head, US and the Americas Programme; Dean, Queen Elizabeth II Academy

Wadah Khanfar

President of The Al Sharq Forum

Wadah Khanfar is the President of the Al Sharq Forum and former Director General of the Al Jazeera Network. He is a board member of the International Crisis Group and Global Editors Network (GEN). Khanfar has been named as one of Foreign Policy’s Top 100 global thinkers of 2011 as well as one of Fast Company’s ‘Most Creative People in Business’ of the year.

Galip Dalay

Senior Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

Research director at Al Sharq Forum and senior associate fellow on Turkey and Kurdish Affairs at Al Jazeera Center for Studies. He previously worked as a visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin and as a political researcher at SETA Foundation in Ankara. He is a regular contributor to German Marshall Fund of the United States’ on Turkey policy brief series, and a columnist for Middle East Eye.

Jamal Khashoggi

Saudi Arabian Dissident Journalist

Jamal Khashoggi is a Saudi journalist, columnist, author, and general manager of the upcoming Al Arab News Channel. He previously served as a media aide to Prince Turki al Faisal while he was Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States. Khashoggi has written for various daily and weekly Arab newspapers, including Asharq al-Awsat, al-Majalla and al-Hayat, and was editor-in-chief of the Saudi-based al-Watan. He was a foreign correspondent in Afghanistan, Algeria, Kuwait, Sudan, and other Middle Eastern countries. He is also a political commentator for Saudi-based and international news channels.

Basheer Nafi

Senior Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

Senior Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Forum and Senior Research Fellow at Al Jazeera Centre for Studies. He writes weekly columns for Middle East eye. His research interests include Egypt, Iraq, Political Islam, and Middle Eastern Politics in general.

Ali Laarayedh

Ali Laarayedh is the former Prime Minister of Tunisia, he served in the office of Prime Ministry from 2013 to 2014. Previosly, he was the Minister of Interior Affairs in Tunisia between 2011 and 2013.

Cemil Aydin

Professor of Middle Eastern History and Global History at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

Cemil Aydin is a Professor of Middle Eastern History and Global History at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. His research and publications offer new ways to understand the historical roots of the contemporary world order by describing the process of imperial era conflicts and decolonization, especially from the perspective of non-Western actors of the Muslim world and East Asia. He studied at the Bogazici University, İstanbul University, and the University of Tokyo before receiving his Ph.D. in History and Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University in 2002. Cemil Aydin’s publications include his book on the Politics of Anti-Westernism in Asia (Columbia University Press, 2007), Regionen und Reiche in der politischen Geschichte des langen 19. Jahrhunderts (1750–1924)” (Region and Empire in the Political History of the Long 19th Century (1750–1924) in Geschichte Der Welt, 1750-1870: Wege Zur Modernen Welt (A History of the World, 1750-1870)“ (Beck Publishers, July 2016) pp: 35-253, and The Idea of the Muslim World: A Global Intellectual History (Harvard University Press, Forthcoming 2017 Spring)

David Hearst

Editor-in-Chief of the Middle East Eye

David Hearst is the Editor-in-Chief of the Middle East Eye, an independent website based in London covering the Middle East in English and French. He writes a column for the Huffington Post’s “The World Post” section and appears as a commentator on the Middle East for Al Jazeera Arabic, Al Jazeera English, TRT, Alaraby TV, Russia Today, Masr Al-Aan TV. Prior to that, he was Chief Foreign Leader writer of The Guardian, Associate Foreign Editor, and Moscow Bureau Chief, European Correspondent, and Northern Ireland correspondent.

Ezzeddine Abdelmoula

Manager of Research at Al Jazeera Centre for Studies

Ezzeddine Abdelmoula is the Manager of Research at Al Jazeera Centre for Studies, Abdelmoula holds a PhD in politics from Exeter University, a Masters of International politics from SOAS and a Masters of political philosophy from La Sorbonne, Paris. He edited and translated books and contributed research papers and book chapters including “Al-Jazeera & Televised Revolution” in Routledge Handbook of the Arab Spring (2014). His recent book, “Al Jazeera and Democratization: the Rise of Arab Public Sphere” appeared in 2015

Khalil Al-Anani

Associate Professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies in Qatar

​Dr. Khalil al-Anani is an Associate Professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies in Qatar. He previously taught at Johns Hopkins University, Georgetown University, George Washington University, George Mason University, and Durham University. His research focuses on Comparative Politics, Democratization, Religion and Politics, Islamist Movements, Social Movements, Egyptian Politics, Identity Politics, and Arab Politics.

Omar Ashour

Senior Lecturer in Security Studies at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies of University of Exeter

Omar Ashour is a Senior Lecturer in Security Studies at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies of University of Exeter and an Associate Fellow at Chatham House in London. He is currently working on a book analysing the military tactics and strategies of IS in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Egypt. He specializes in asymmetric armed conflict, Islamist movements, insurgency/counterinsurgency, terrorism studies, and democratization. He is a regular contributor to media outlets including the BBC, Al-Jazeera, Sky News, CNN, al-Arabiya and others and his op-eds are frequently published in many media outlets in seven languages, in over 40 countries. He previously served as a senior consultant for the United Nations on security sector reform, counter-terrorism, and de- radicalization issues. He is the author of The DeRadicalization of Jihadists: Transforming Armed Islamist Movements.

Omer Aslan

Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

Omer Aslan is an Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Forum, and a researcher at the Institute for Security Sciences at the Turkish National Police Academy (TNPA). He previously worked at the political research department of the Ankara-based SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research. He received his B.A. degree in political science from Bilkent University. After finishing MSc in International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science, he entered the Ph.D. program in political science at Bilkent University in 2010. Ömer is now a Ph.D. candidate at the same university, currently working on his dissertation in the field of civil-military relations. Among his publications are “A Turkish Muslim Between Islamism and Turkish Nationalism: Seyyid Ahmet Arvasi (1932–88)”, and “‘Unarmed’ we Intervene, Unnoticed we Remain: The Deviant Case of ‘February 28th Coup’ in Turkey “. Research Interests: Military and Politics in the Muslim World, External Actors and Military Coup d’états, Police and Politics.

Mohammad Affan

Training Director at Al-Sharq Forum

Mohammad Affan is the Training Director at Al-Sharq Forum. A medical doctor by training, Affan obtained his MA degree in Political Science from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at the American University of Cairo (2015). He also holds three post-graduate diplomas: One in “Civil Society and Human Rights”, from the Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences at Cairo University (2010), another one in Political Research and Studies from the Institute of Arab Research and Studies at the Arab League (2012), and the third diploma in Islamic Studies from the Higher Institute for Islamic Studies in Cairo (2012). Among his publications is his book titled: “Wahhabism and the Brotherhood: the conflict on the concept of the state and the legitimacy of power.” Affan is currently pursuing his PhD in the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the Exeter Univesity in the UK. His research interests include, Islamism, State-Theory, and Comparative MENA Studies.

Ismail Yaylaci

Assistant professor at Istanbul Sehir University

Ismail Yaylaci is an assistant professor at Istanbul Sehir University in the department of political science and international relations. He received his PhD from University of Minnesota Social Sciences Institute Political Science in 2014. His research interests are: international relations theory, critical social and political theory, Islamism, and Middle Eastern politics.

Louay Safi

Professor of political science

Louay Safi is professor of Political Science and Islamic Philosophy at Hamad bin Khalifa University in Qatar and senior fellow at the Center for Muslim–Christian Understanding, Georgetown University. He is the co-founder and first chair of the Syrian American Council (2005-2011), and co-founder and former board member of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (1999-2007). He writes and lectures on issues relating to democracy, human rights, leadership, American Muslims, and Islam and the West.

Tamer Badawi

Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

Tamer Badawi is a Research Fellow at Al Sharq Forum. He received an M.A. in International Relations (with a major in International Political Economy) from Central European University in 2016 and a B.A. in Oriental Studies from Alexandria University in 2013. He is a regular contributor to Sada, an online publication managed by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He also contributes reports to the Doha-based Aljazeera Center for Studies. Research interests: The political economy of the Middle East, economic development in post-JCPOA Iran, and global energy market trends.

ZEYNEP KOÇ

Research Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

Zeynep Coskun koç is a Research Fellow at Al Sharq Forum. Prior to joining Al Sharq, she was a Dr. Herchel Smith Fellow at the University of Cambridge conducting Economic and Anthropological research concerning the MENA region. Zeynep has an MPhil in Social Anthropology from the University of Cambridge and a B.A. from Williams College in Economics and Arabic Studies. Her research interests include Turkish Foreign Policy, Regional Kurdish Politics, Iraq, Energy Politics and Nationalism

Nabil Al Bukiri

Researcher and chairman of The Arabic Forum

researcher and chairman of The Arabic Forum for Studies

Abdulrahman Al Haj

University professor&one founders of Syrian National Council (SNC).

Abdulrahman Al Haj is a university professor. His research falls at the intersection of politics, religion and society. He published three books and many articles: "Rising of Shiites in Syria: 1919-2007", "State and Community: Aspirations of Religious groups in Syria: 2000-2010", "Political Discourse in the Qur'an: Power, Community and Values". Al-Haj is one of the founders of the Syrian National Council (SNC).

Intissar Fakir

fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Abdelwahab El-Affendi

Dean of the school of social Sciences and Humanities and professor of politics at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies

dean of the school of social Sciences and Humanities and professor of politics at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies

Seif al-Din Abdul Fattah

Professor of Islamic Sciences at Cairo University

professor of Islamic Sciences at Cairo University

Abdulkader Tayob

Professor of Islamic studies at the University of Cape Town

Amgad Jerbil

Palestinian researcher in political science and international relations

Sam Heller

Crisis Group senior analyst on non-state armed groups

Bernard Rougier

Director of the Centre d’Études et de Documentation Economiques

Hussein El-Kazzaz

Former senior leader in the Freedom and Justice Party

Wadah Khanfar

President of The Al Sharq Forum

Wadah Khanfar is the President of the Al Sharq Forum and former Director General of the Al Jazeera Network. He is a board member of the International Crisis Group and Global Editors Network (GEN). Khanfar has been named as one of Foreign Policy’s Top 100 global thinkers of 2011 as well as one of Fast Company’s ‘Most Creative People in Business’ of the year.

David Hearst

Editor-in-Chief of the Middle East Eye

David Hearst is the Editor-in-Chief of the Middle East Eye, an independent website based in London covering the Middle East in English and French. He writes a column for the Huffington Post’s “The World Post” section and appears as a commentator on the Middle East for Al Jazeera Arabic, Al Jazeera English, TRT, Alaraby TV, Russia Today, Masr Al-Aan TV. Prior to that, he was Chief Foreign Leader writer of The Guardian, Associate Foreign Editor, and Moscow Bureau Chief, European Correspondent, and Northern Ireland correspondent.

Sami Zeidan

Sami Zeidan is an award winning Senior Presenter with Al Jazeera English since 2005. He was chosen to present the channel’s first live words when AJE launched on November 15th, 2006. Sami joined Al Jazeera after presenting with a number of the largest broadcasters in the world including CNN, CNBC and NBC. As a news anchor and talk show presenter Sami has interviewed a wide range of legendary world leaders, including South African President Nelson Mandela and Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, just to mention a few. Sami’s engaging interviewing style earned him wide recognition and he has been selected to host interviews for the network’s talk show Talk To Al Jazeera. As a reporter Sami has covered several seats of power including the United Nations, the White House and the European Commission, as well as conflict zones stretching from Syria to Korea.

Rt Hon Crispin Blunt MP

Member of Parliament for Reigate, Surrey

Martin Chulov

Middle East correspondent for the Guardian

Bill Law

Sony award-winning journalist

Ajmal Masroor

British Broadcaster

Hugh Miles

Award-winning freelance journalist and editor of ArabDigest.org

Peter Oborne

Former Chief Political Columnist of the Daily Telegraph

Michelle Stanistreet

Secretary General of the National Union of Journalists

Sue Turton

Filmmaker and war correspondent

Omar Ashour

Senior Lecturer in Security Studies at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies of University of Exeter

Omar Ashour is a Senior Lecturer in Security Studies at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies of University of Exeter and an Associate Fellow at Chatham House in London. He is currently working on a book analysing the military tactics and strategies of IS in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Egypt. He specializes in asymmetric armed conflict, Islamist movements, insurgency/counterinsurgency, terrorism studies, and democratization. He is a regular contributor to media outlets including the BBC, Al-Jazeera, Sky News, CNN, al-Arabiya and others and his op-eds are frequently published in many media outlets in seven languages, in over 40 countries. He previously served as a senior consultant for the United Nations on security sector reform, counter-terrorism, and de- radicalization issues. He is the author of The DeRadicalization of Jihadists: Transforming Armed Islamist Movements.

Hakkı Uygur

Deputy Director of İRAM (Iranian Studies Center)

Hakkı Uygur is the Deputy Director of İRAM (Iranian Studies Center). He was born in Berlin, Germany in 1975. After being graduated from high school in Istanbul, he went to Iran for higher education. He received his master’s degree from IKUI Tehran University in History of Islamic Culture and Civilization. He got his PhD program in Persian Language and Literature from Tehran University in 2015

David Jalilvand

Berlin-based analyst and consultant

David Ramin Jalilvand is a Berlin-based analyst and consultant. His work focuses on the interplay of energy and international politics, with a special focus on Iran and the Middle East.

Firas Masri

Political officer at The Shaikh Group (TSG)

Firas Masri is a political officer at The Shaikh Group (TSG) working in the Syria Track II Dialogue Initiative. He was a research assistant at the Brookings Doha Center focusing on conflict resolution, geopolitics, post-conflict reconstruction, and security issues related to the MENA region, specifically the Gulf region. Firas holds a BA in Middle East Studies and Arabic from Emory University and an MA in Middle East Studies and Security Policy from George Washington University.

Assaad Achi

Executive Director of Baytna Syria

Assaad Al Achi is a Syrian economist and activist. He is the executive director of Baytna Syria. He worked for the American Oil and Gas Company ConocoPhillips. Al Achi became part of the revolutionary movement in Syria, joining the Syrian National Council in December 2011 and helping establish the Assistance Coordination Unit of the Syrian Opposition Coalition in December 2012. He graduated from the American University of Beirut with a bachelor’s in business administration and holds an MBA from INSEAD.

Mohammad Al Sabri

Leader of the Nasserite Unionist People’s Organization

He is a member and Spokesman of the Presidency of the National Assembly, member of the General Secretariat of the Unified Popularist Nasserite Organization, member of the Supreme Council of the Joint Meeting Parties, member of the National Council for the Peaceful Revolution in Yemen, member of the executive board of the Social Democratic Forum, He is a member of the Comprehensive Dialogue Conferenc, memember of the executive board of the National Council.

Wadah Khanfar

President of The Al Sharq Forum

Wadah Khanfar is the President of the Al Sharq Forum and former Director General of the Al Jazeera Network. He is a board member of the International Crisis Group and Global Editors Network (GEN). Khanfar has been named as one of Foreign Policy’s Top 100 global thinkers of 2011 as well as one of Fast Company’s ‘Most Creative People in Business’ of the year.

Omer Aslan

Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

Omer Aslan is an Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Forum, and a researcher at the Institute for Security Sciences at the Turkish National Police Academy (TNPA). He previously worked at the political research department of the Ankara-based SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research. He received his B.A. degree in political science from Bilkent University. After finishing MSc in International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science, he entered the Ph.D. program in political science at Bilkent University in 2010. Ömer is now a Ph.D. candidate at the same university, currently working on his dissertation in the field of civil-military relations. Among his publications are “A Turkish Muslim Between Islamism and Turkish Nationalism: Seyyid Ahmet Arvasi (1932–88)”, and “‘Unarmed’ we Intervene, Unnoticed we Remain: The Deviant Case of ‘February 28th Coup’ in Turkey “. Research Interests: Military and Politics in the Muslim World, External Actors and Military Coup d’états, Police and Politics.

Mariya Petkova

Bulgarian journalist

Mariya Petkova is a Bulgarian journalist covering the Middle East, the Balkans and Eastern Europe. She is currently deputy editor at Al Jazeera English

Ismail Yaylaci

Assistant professor at Istanbul Sehir University

Ismail Yaylaci is an assistant professor at Istanbul Sehir University in the department of political science and international relations. He received his PhD from University of Minnesota Social Sciences Institute Political Science in 2014. His research interests are: international relations theory, critical social and political theory, Islamism, and Middle Eastern politics.

Bader Mustafa

Analyst at Omran Strategic Center for Studies

Bedir Mulla Rashid is an analyst working on Kurdish affairs at OMRAN Center for Strategic Studies. His research focuses on autonomous administration in Northern Syria. He is an MA candidate in political science and international relations.

Annalisa Perteghella

Research Fellow at ISPI

Annalisa Perteghella is a research fellow at ISPI and is in charge of the Iran Desk at the Institute’s MENA Centre. She holds a PhD in Politics and Institutions. Her research focuses on transatlantic relations, Iran, and European foreign policy issues especially vis-à-vis the Middle East. She edits the bi-monthly “Iran Watch” for ISPI’s Business Scenarios Centre. She recently edited the Report Post-Vote Iran: Giving Engagement a Chance.

Abdalwahhab Muawdah

Advisor to the Yemeni Prime Minister for Political Affairs

Advisor to the Yemeni Prime Minister for Political Affairs

Joseph Bahout

Director at Issam Fares Institute AUB, Beirut

Mohammad Affan

Training Director at Al-Sharq Forum

Mohammad Affan is the Training Director at Al-Sharq Forum. A medical doctor by training, Affan obtained his MA degree in Political Science from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at the American University of Cairo (2015). He also holds three post-graduate diplomas: One in “Civil Society and Human Rights”, from the Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences at Cairo University (2010), another one in Political Research and Studies from the Institute of Arab Research and Studies at the Arab League (2012), and the third diploma in Islamic Studies from the Higher Institute for Islamic Studies in Cairo (2012). Among his publications is his book titled: “Wahhabism and the Brotherhood: the conflict on the concept of the state and the legitimacy of power.” Affan is currently pursuing his PhD in the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the Exeter Univesity in the UK. His research interests include, Islamism, State-Theory, and Comparative MENA Studies.

Tarik M. Yousef

Director of Brooking Doha Center and Senior fellow

Tarik M. Yousef is a Senior Fellow in the Global Economy and Development program and the Director of the Brookings Doha Center. His career has spanned the academic world at Georgetown University and the Harvard Kennedy School; the public policy arena at the IMF, the World Bank and more recently the NGO space at Silatech. He has a PhD in economics from Harvard University

Nikolay Kozhanov

Visiting lecturer at the European University at St. Petersburg

Nikolay Kozhanov is an academy associate at the Russia and Eurasia Program of Chatham House and a visiting lecturer at the European University at St. Petersburg. From 2006 to 2009, he served as an attaché at the political section of the Russian embassy in Tehran. He got his PhD from the St. Petersburg State University. His area of expertise involves Iran's foreign and domestic policies as well the issue of Russian presence in the Middle East.

Hosam Hafez

The director of QCM

Mohammed Hosam Hafez is the director of QCM, a law, politics and society institute for consultations, studies and training based in Istanbul. He focuses on issues related to International Law, International Relations and negotiations in the context of the Syrian conflict. He participated in the Geneva negotiations of 2014 and was also a member of the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) and the head of its Legal Bureau during negotiations of 2016–2017.

Abdulrahman Al Haj

University professor&one founders of Syrian National Council (SNC).

Abdulrahman Al Haj is a university professor. His research falls at the intersection of politics, religion and society. He published three books and many articles: "Rising of Shiites in Syria: 1919-2007", "State and Community: Aspirations of Religious groups in Syria: 2000-2010", "Political Discourse in the Qur'an: Power, Community and Values". Al-Haj is one of the founders of the Syrian National Council (SNC).

Mohammad Abdul Malek

Assistant secretary-general of Al-Islah party in Aden

Bachelor of Economics, Master of International Relations, University of Sudan. Assistant Secretary of Aden Reform

Ranj Alaaldin

Visiting Fellow, Brookings Institute, Doha

Salah Eddine Elzein

Director of Al Jazeera Centre for Studies

Salah Eddin Elzein is a Sudanese scholar currently serving as an adviser to the Director General of Aljazeera Media Network. From 2010 to 2018, Salah was the Director of Al Jazeera Centre for Studies; Al Jazeera Network’s think-tank and research Centre. Prior to joining Al Jazeera, he was a university professor and researcher in South Africa. Salah holds a PhD and Master’s degrees in Development Planning from the University of the Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Mohammed Dangor

Ambassador, Middle East and North Africa advisor to the South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation

As an ambassador Mohammed Dangor is the Middle East and North Africa advisor to the South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation. He previously served South African ambassador to Syria and to Libya. Ambassador Dangor has a long history in the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa, and served in the underground movement of the African National Congress.

Ahmet Kasım Han

Associate professor at Kadir Has University

Ahmet K. Han is an associate professor at Kadir Has University in Istanbul. He also serves as a member of the board of EDAM, a Turkish think-tank. He is a graduate of Istanbul University Faculty of Economics and received his Ph.D. on International Relations in the same institution. Han specializes in Turkish foreign policy, Middle East, Energy, strategic studies, strategic thinking and focuses on systemic change in international relations.

Taguiah Haoues

Researcher at Al Jazeera Center for Studies

Haoues Taguia is a researcher at the Al Jazeera Center for Studies and is responsible for the Gulf States program. His last publication is The Blockade of Qatar: The Contexts and Repercussions of the Gulf Crisis. He focuses in his research on the interaction of geopolitics, social dynamics, and security.

Engseng Ho

Professor of Anthropology and History at Duke University

Engseng Ho is professor of Anthropology and History at Duke University. He is the director of the Middle East Institute, and Muhammad Alagil distinguished visiting professor of Arabia Asia Studies at the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore. He was previously professor of anthropology at Harvard University, and senior scholar at the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies. He is an expert on Arab/Muslim diasporas across the Indian Ocean, and their relations with Western empires, past and present.

Ibrahim Al Dalemi

Lawyer and the general manager of the Masera media network

Ibrahim Al Dailami is a lawyer and the general manager of the Masera media network

Seyed Kazem Sajjadpour

Head, Center for International Research and Education Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Iran

Walter Posch

Senior Research Fellow at the National Defence Academy in Vienna

Dr. Walter Posch is a Senior Research Fellow at the National Defence Academy in Vienna, Dr. Posch holds a PHD in Iranian Studies and a MA in Turkish studies, he focusses on modern Iran, modern Turkey and the Kurdish issue. Previously, he was posted at the European institute of Security Studies EUISS in Paris and at the German Institute for Foreign and Strategic Affairs SWP in Berlin.

Andreas Krieg

Assistant professor for Defence Studies at King\'s College

Andreas Krieg is an assistant professor for Defense Studies at the School for Security Studies at King's College London. He is also the co-founder of the Near East Centre for Security and Strategy (NECSS) at King's. In his research, Andreas has focused on a variety of different subjects relating to the academic discipline of Security Studies. More recently, Andreas has been exploring the nexus between security and socio-politics in the Middle East after the Arab Spring.

Adel Abdel Ghafar

Fellow in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings

Adel Abdel Ghafar is a fellow at the Foreign Policy program at Brookings and at the Brookings Doha Center. He specializes in political economy and his research interests include state-society relations and socio-economic development in the MENA region. Abdel Ghafar has consulted for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on political, economic, and security issues pertaining to the MENA region. He holds a Ph.D from the Australian National University.

Charles Elinas

Nonresident Senior Fellow at Atlantic Council

Charles Ellinas is the CEO of e-CNHC (E-C Cyprus Natural Hydrocarbons Company Ltd), providing management and advisory services in the oil, gas and energy sectors in Cyprus and the region. Prior to this, he was responsible for implementing the Cypriot government’s strategy for the development of its hydrocarbons sector. He was a director of Mott MacDonald for 25 years. He is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.

Nadim Farajalla

Director of the Climate Change and the Environment Program at the American University of Beirut

Nadim Farajalla is the director of the Climate Change and the Environment Program at the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut. He holds an MS in irrigation engineering from Utah State University, an MS and a PhD in environmental engineering from the University of Oklahoma, USA. He has worked extensively in the private sector in the US, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. His current research focuses on the nexus of water-energy-food and the impact of climate change on human settlements.

Galip Dalay

Senior Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

Research director at Al Sharq Forum and senior associate fellow on Turkey and Kurdish Affairs at Al Jazeera Center for Studies. He previously worked as a visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin and as a political researcher at SETA Foundation in Ankara. He is a regular contributor to German Marshall Fund of the United States’ on Turkey policy brief series, and a columnist for Middle East Eye.

Zeynep Coskun

Former Research Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

Zeynep Coskun is a Research Fellow at Al Sharq Forum. Prior to joining Al Sharq, she was a Dr. Herchel Smith Fellow at the University of Cambridge conducting Economic and Anthropological research concerning the MENA region. Zeynep has an MPhil in Social Anthropology from the University of Cambridge and a B.A. from Williams College in Economics and Arabic Studies. Her research interests include Turkish Foreign Policy, Regional Kurdish Politics, Iraq, Energy Politics and Nationalism

Mohanad Hage Ali

Academician and political journalist and journalism trainer

Mohanad Hage Ali is an academic and a political journalist. He has a PhD in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). As an academic and journalist, Mohanad specializes in the study of Islamic Movements. He has published a book on Hizbullah’s identity project, while his publications include a much-quoted article on the Abu Musab al-Suri and the new al-Qaeda. Mohanad has written extensively on militant groups in the Syrian conflict.

Ahmet Faruk Aysan

Dean of the School of Management and Administrative Sciences at the Istanbul Sehir University

Ahmet Faruk Aysan is the dean of the School of Management and Administrative Sciences at the Istanbul Sehir University. Previously, he was a Board Member and Monetary Policy Committee Member of the Central Bank of Republic of Turkey. He holds a PhD from the University of Maryland College Park. His fields of specialization are international finance, political economy, governance and development. He has also served at the advisory board of the Contemporary Turkish Studies at LSE.

Bahador Aminian

The director general for education department at Iran Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Bahador Aminian is the director-general for the education and training department at Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Rana El Hajj

Program manager for Climate Change and Environment at the American University of Beirut

Rana El Hajj is the program manager for Climate Change and Environment at the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut (AUB). Her current focus areas include climate change adaptation, water-energy- food security nexus, regional security, water governance and resilience in cities. El Hajj holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Sciences with a focus on Ecosystem management and an Agriculture Engineering diploma from the American University of Beirut .

Jamal Khashoggi

Saudi Arabian Dissident Journalist

Jamal Khashoggi is a Saudi journalist, columnist, author, and general manager of the upcoming Al Arab News Channel. He previously served as a media aide to Prince Turki al Faisal while he was Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States. Khashoggi has written for various daily and weekly Arab newspapers, including Asharq al-Awsat, al-Majalla and al-Hayat, and was editor-in-chief of the Saudi-based al-Watan. He was a foreign correspondent in Afghanistan, Algeria, Kuwait, Sudan, and other Middle Eastern countries. He is also a political commentator for Saudi-based and international news channels.

Zeynep Kaya

Research Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre and a Research Officer at the LSE Centre for Women

Zeynep Kaya is a Research Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre and a Research Officer at the LSE Centre for Women, Peace and Security. Zeynep is currently researching gender, displacement and the implementation of the WPS agenda in Iraq. Her wider research interests are in the international politics of the Middle East with a focus on Kurdish politics in Iraq, Syria and Turkey, as well as Turkish domestic politics and foreign policy. Zeynep recently completed a research project on how international-local interaction shapes gender norm compliance in Iraqi Kurdistan, and she is currently leading a project on responses to internal displacement in Iraqi Kurdistan. Zeynep completed her PhD in International Relations at LSE and is currently working on her book Mapping Kurdistan: Self-determination, Territoriality and Quest for Statehood.

Kristina Kausch

Senior Resident Fellow at The German Marshall Fund of the United States\' (GMF) Brussels office

Kristina Kausch is a Senior Resident Fellow at The German Marshall Fund of the United States' (GMF) Brussels office. Her research focuses on Europe’s relations with the Middle East and North Africa, and political transformations in the Arab world. Prior to joining GMF, she was a non-resident associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the head of its Middle East program, and research coordinator at FRIDE. She has edited three books and published articles in academic journals.

Erica Gaston

Fellow with the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi)

Erica Gaston is a fellow with the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) in Berlin and a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge. Her research focus is on local, hybrid, and substate forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria. Gaston has worked as a human rights lawyer, conflict analyst and rule of law specialist for the last decade. Gaston holds a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Stanford University.

Ali Okumus

Member at ORDAF

Ali Okumuş is an analyst in the oil politics of the MENA region and a member of the Association of Researchers on the Middle East and Africa (ORDAF). He studied Turkic Studies at Marmara University in 2010 and wrote his MA thesis about oil rivalry in the Middle East. He started his ongoing PhD in 2015 entitled Oil Policy in the Middle East: International Competition, Concessions, and Agreements.

Thomas Fink

Research fellow at the German based Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy

Thomas Fink is a research fellow at the German based Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy. He holds a PhD in economics from the University of Wuppertal. He has a special focus on sustainable energy system transformation and renewable energy market development in North Africa and Middle East (MENA). He has done several studies on the socio-economic aspects of renewable energies in MENA and the energy-climate-water nexus.

Can Acun

Research Assistant at SETA Foreign Policy Department

Can Acun is a researcher at the SETA Foreign Policy Department. He received his BA from the International Relations Department of the Eastern Mediterranean University and an MA from the Department of Political Science and International Affairs at Yeditepe University. Acun also conducted research for SETA at the Center for Turkey Research in Cairo, Egypt. His research focus is ISIS, al-Qaida, Syria and Iraq.

John Bell

Director of the Middle East & Mediterran Programme at the Toledo International Centre for Peace

John Bell is the Director of the Middle East & Mediterranean Programme at the Toledo International Centre for Peace, and the Director of The Conciliators Guild, an organization dedicated to new foundations for policy development and excellence in diplomacy. He was formerly Middle East Director in Jerusalem for Search for Common Ground. He was also an advisor to the Canadian Government during the Iraq crisis

Talha Köse

Associate Professor of Political Science at Ibn Haldun University

Talha Köse is the chair and an Associate Professor of Political Science at Ibn Haldun University. He completed his PhD at George Mason University in 2010. His research focuses on conflicts and political violence in the Middle East and conflict resolution approaches in foreign policy. Köse worked as a foreign policy and security analyst at the SETA Foundation. Köse’s comments on foreign policy, security and op-eds appear frequently in Turkish and international media.

Navvar Saban

The Information Unit Manager and military analyst at Omran Center for Strategic Studies

Navvar Saban is the information unit manager and military analyst at the Omran Center for Strategic Studies. He holds a MBA from the Australian University of Wollongong and a BA from the American University of Dubai. He produces special military reports and maps about the MENA Region, particularly in Syria. He publishes articles on Syria Deeply and the Atlantic Council, and has been named by Syria Deeply as one of the most significant military experts in both Syria and Iraq.

Mehmet Asutay

Professor at Durham University

Mehmet Asutay is a professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Political Economy and Finance at the Durham University Business School. His teaching, research, publication, and supervision of research is all in Islamic moral economy, Islamic finance and banking, Islamic political economy, Islamic governance and management and the political economies of the Middle East. He is also the director of the Durham Centre in Islamic Economics and Finance.

M. Hassan Panjeshahi

Professor of Chemical Engineering and Dean of Institute of Petroleum Engineering at the University of Tehran

Hassan Panjeshahi is the Head of Energy and Environment group at the Iran Academy of Sciences. He is currently a professor of Chemical Engineering and Dean of the Institute of Petroleum Engineering at the University of Tehran. He is the founder and the first president of the Iran Energy Association and the founder and the first Editor-in- chief of the Iranian Journal of Energy affiliated to the World Energy Council. He holds a PhD from the University of Manchester in UK.

David Hearst

Editor-in-Chief of the Middle East Eye

David Hearst is the Editor-in-Chief of the Middle East Eye, an independent website based in London covering the Middle East in English and French. He writes a column for the Huffington Post’s “The World Post” section and appears as a commentator on the Middle East for Al Jazeera Arabic, Al Jazeera English, TRT, Alaraby TV, Russia Today, Masr Al-Aan TV. Prior to that, he was Chief Foreign Leader writer of The Guardian, Associate Foreign Editor, and Moscow Bureau Chief, European Correspondent, and Northern Ireland correspondent.

Sinan Hatahet

Senior Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

Sinan Hatahet is currently a consultant working with a number of think tanks on Syria. His research is concentrated on governance and local councils, anti-radicalization, Islamism, the Kurdish National Movement, and the new regional order in the Middle East. He previously worked as the executive director of the Syrian National Coalition (SC) media office from its creation in late 2012 until September 2014.

Lurdes Vidal

The Director of the Arab and Mediterranean Department at the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed)

Lurdes Vidal is editor-in-chief of the quarterly journal afkar/ideas and contributes to a diverse range of media. She lectures on the subject of Arab Politics in the master's program on the Arab and Islamic World at the University of Barcelona. She holds a degree in Translation and Interpretation from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and studied International Relations.

Ayman Dassouqui

Researcher at Omran Center for Strategic Studies.

Ayman Aldassouky is a researcher at the Omran Center for Strategic Studies. He is currently a Master's student in International Relations at Gazi University in Ankara. His research is concentrated on governance and local councils, jihadi movements, and the relations between states in the Middle East. He previously worked as an executive researcher at the Orient Center for International Studies between 2009–2010’, and as a researcher at the Sham Center for Research and Studies from its establishment in 2012 until 2014.

Hatice Ilbay Söylemez

PhD candidate at the University of Zurich Social Anthropology Department

Hatice Söylemez is a PhD candidate at the University of Zurich at the Social Anthropology Department. She obtained a BA from Boğaziçi University in History and an MA in East and Southeast Asian Studies from Lund University. She worked as a researcher at Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and a project coordinator at International Centre for Migration Policy Development.

Malek Kabariti

Former Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources of Jordan

Malek Kabariti is a Former Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR) in The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. He was the President of the National Energy Research Center (NERC), a Chairman of the National Electric Power Co (NEPCO) and a Director of the Renewable Energy Research Center (RERC) - The Royal Scientific Society (RSS) in the Kingdom.

DLAWER ALA - ALDEEN

President of Middle East Research Institute (MERI)

Dlawer Ala’Aldeen is the Founding President of the Middle East Research Institute, a policy research institute and think tank based in Erbil, Kurdistan Region (KR) of Iraq (meri-k.org). Between 2009-2012, he was the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Kurdistan Regional Government, where he lead an ambitious reform program to modernise the higher education system in KR. Prior to this, he was the Professor of Medicine in Nottingham University, UK. He worked in capacity building and nation-building projects in Iraq since 1992 and published extensively on the political dynamics, governance system and democratisation in the Middle East, Iraq and KR.

Yury Barmin

Consultant whose work focuses on issues Related to the Middle East

Yury Barmin is a risk consultant whose work focuses on issues related to the Middle East and Russia’s positioning in the region. Mr Barmin holds an MPhil in International Relations from the University of Cambridge. He is an Expert at the Russian International Affairs Council covering the Middle East and North Africa, Moscow’s policy towards the region as well as the conflict in Syria

Kamaran Palani

Research Fellow at the Middle Eastern Research Institute (MERI)

Kamaran Mohammad Palani is a Research Fellow at the Middle Eastern Research Institute (MERI). He has an MA in Global Security from Keele University in the UK. He has worked for various local and international NGOs and research centers, including Al Mesalla, Peace and Freedom Organization in Kurdistan, PAX, and the at Salahaddin University-Erbil. His research interests include de facto statehood in the international system, post-war security issues, state-building and democratization in Iraq and the Kurdistan region.

Lucia Ardovini

Scholar of Political Islam

Dr. Lucia Ardovini is a post-doctoral research fellow in the Middle East and North Africa Programme at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI). She is a scholar of Political Islam, and her current project focuses on the politics of contested spaces and on shifting notions of citizenship and belonging in the post-Arab Uprisings Middle East. Lucia received her PhD in International Relations from Lancaster University (UK) in 2017.

Mike Sarjoo

Michael Sarjoo serves in the senior management structures of the security services of South Africa. He was the Head of the training directorate in the Security Services. He was Counsellor Political for four years in the South African Embassy in Saudi Arabia. He also served in Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain and Yemen.

Fouad Gehad Marei

Lecturer in Middle Eastern Politics at the Free University of Berlin

Fouad Gehad Marei is a Lecturer in Middle Eastern Politics at the Free University of Berlin and a Visiting Research Fellow at the German Orient-Institut in Beirut. He is a Senior Policy Analyst and Conflict Stabilisation and Transformation Consultant. Fouad holds a PhD from Durham University. He received several research grant awards from the Arab Council for the Social Sciences (ACSS), the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), and the Council for British Research in the Levant (CBRL).

Dorothee Schmid

Expert on Mediterranean and Middle East issues

Dorothee Schmid is an expert on Mediterranean and Middle East issues. Schmid joined IFRI (The French Institute for International Relations) in 2002 in Paris. She has produced extensive analysis on EU and French policies in the region, induced democratization, the political economy and regional balance of powers. She established the Contemporary Turkey Program in 2008 in order to follow in real time the rise of Turkish foreign policy and the transformations of the Turkish regime. The present agenda of IFRI’s Middle East and Turkey department includes the dynamics of political transitions in the post-Arab spring period, the future of the rentier-state culture, rising conflicts, territorial reorganizations and the new competition for influence among powers. Before focusing on academic research, Dorothée Schmid worked as a country-risk analyst for Bank Crédit agricole-Indosuez and as a Euromed attaché for Cités Unies France, a federation of French local authorities. She has carried out various consulting missions for public institutions (the European Commission, French Ministry of Economy, French Ministry of Foreign Affairs), NGOs and private companies. She authored many articles and reports about Turkey and the Middle East and regularly appears in the French and international media.

Kayhan Barzegar

Director of the Institute for Middle East Strategic Studies in Tehran

Barzegar is the Director of the Institute for Middle East Strategic Studies in Tehran. He is also Associate Professor of International Relations and the Chair of the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the Science and Research Branch of the Islamic Azad University. Dr. Barzegar was a Research Fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center. Dr. Barzegar is Editor-in-Chief of Discourse: An Iranian English Quarterly

Ali Ahmad

Scholar at American University of Beirut

Ali Ahmad is a scholar-in-residence and director for the Energy Policy and Security Program at the American University of Beirut. His research and teaching cover nuclear security, energy policy and economics. Prior to joining AUB, he was a research fellow at Princeton University's Program on Science and Global Security. Beside academia, Ahmad is also involved with governmental and investment consultancy on energy issues. He holds his PhD from Cambridge University.

Louay Safi

Professor of political science

Louay Safi is professor of Political Science and Islamic Philosophy at Hamad bin Khalifa University in Qatar and senior fellow at the Center for Muslim–Christian Understanding, Georgetown University. He is the co-founder and first chair of the Syrian American Council (2005-2011), and co-founder and former board member of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (1999-2007). He writes and lectures on issues relating to democracy, human rights, leadership, American Muslims, and Islam and the West.

Ronnie Kasrils

Activist in the Palestine Solidarity Movement

Ronnie Kasrils has long been a leading voice and activist in the Palestine Solidarity Movement. He served in various portfolios in the new democratic government from 1994 to 2008, including deputy minister of defense, minister of water and forestry and minister of intelligence services. Kasrils was a commander in the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC) from its inception in 1961 to its victory over apartheid in 1990.

Mona Alami

Mona Alami is a senior nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council's Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East. She has a focus on terrorist organizations and militant groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Jordan. She writes extensively on Hezbollah, the Islamic State and al-Qaeda. Alami holds an MBA from the Lebanese American University and is currently completing her PhD in geopolitics at Lumière University Lyon 2.

Edhem Foco

Director of Al Jazeera Network in Sarajevo

Edhem Foco is the Director of Al Jazeera Network in Sarajevo. Edhem Foco was initiator and one of the founders of Al Jazeera Balkans, news channel that broke the barriers in the turbulent region of the Balkans. The channel’s success was recognized in a number of awards it won in just a few years and Mr. Foco was voted as Vision Manager of the Year 2014 for the region. He studied Law and Shari’ah at the International Islamic University of Malaysia, and speaks six languages. In his business career Mr. Foco has professed his leadership expertise while gaining a multitude of experiences in various business sectors such as Consultancy, Oil & Gas, International Trade, Food & Beverage and Investments.

Adam Bensaid

Deputy Producer, TRT World

Adam Atauallah Bensaid is a Researcher at SESRIC, Organization of Islamic Cooperation, where he conducts policy and strategy design for OIC member states in the fields of security sector reform, CVE, national security capacity building and deradicalization. He completed his Msc in Strategic and Defense Studies from the University of Malaya, Malaysia, and is currently completing an MA in International Relations and Contemporary War from King's College London

Aslı Aydıntaşbas

Expert on Turkish domestic and foreign policy

Asli Aydintasbas is a senior policy fellow at European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) and an expert on Turkish domestic and foreign policy. She is also a columnist for Cumhuriyet. Prior to joining ECFR, Aydintasbas worked as a journalist, writing a regular column for Milliyet, hosting a political discussion show on CNN Turk, and making frequent contributions to publications such as the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. She holds a Master’s degree from New York University.

Laura Pitel

Turkey’s correspondent for the Financial Times

Laura Pitel is the Turkey correspondent for the Financial Times, covering Turkish politics and society, foreign policy, business and the economy. She is based in Ankara, and has lived in Turkey since 2015.

Chafic Choucair

Researcher at Al Jazeera Centre for Studies

Chafic Choucair is a researcher at the Al Jazeera Center for Studies specializing in the affairs of the Mashreq (Levant region) and Islamist movements. He holds a PhD in Islamic studies. His research interests include crises in the Levant region, especially the Syrian issue; the Arab-Israeli struggle; Sunni and Shiite trends; and jihadist groups and their intellectual and jurisprudential rhetoric and political orientations.

Tamer Badawi

Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

Tamer Badawi is a Research Fellow at Al Sharq Forum. He received an M.A. in International Relations (with a major in International Political Economy) from Central European University in 2016 and a B.A. in Oriental Studies from Alexandria University in 2013. He is a regular contributor to Sada, an online publication managed by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He also contributes reports to the Doha-based Aljazeera Center for Studies. Research interests: The political economy of the Middle East, economic development in post-JCPOA Iran, and global energy market trends.

Ezzeddine Abdelmoula

Manager of Research at Al Jazeera Centre for Studies

Ezzeddine Abdelmoula is the Manager of Research at Al Jazeera Centre for Studies, Abdelmoula holds a PhD in politics from Exeter University, a Masters of International politics from SOAS and a Masters of political philosophy from La Sorbonne, Paris. He edited and translated books and contributed research papers and book chapters including “Al-Jazeera & Televised Revolution” in Routledge Handbook of the Arab Spring (2014). His recent book, “Al Jazeera and Democratization: the Rise of Arab Public Sphere” appeared in 2015

Ammar Kahf

Co-Founder and Executive Director of OMRAN Center for Studies

Ammar Kahf is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Omran for Strategic Studies, and a Board Member of the Syrian Forum. He earned his Ph.D at the Interdisciplinary Program for Islamic Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles with a subfield focus on political science, history and sociology. His dissertation research was entitled "Syrian Authoritarianism: Persistence or Change?" His research work focuses on geopolitical political studies, transitional period comparative studies, local governance, and economic development

Azadeh Zamiriad

Senior Associate at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP)

Azadeh Zamirirad is a Senior Associate at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP). She works in the Middle East and Africa Division, where she covers Iran´s foreign, security and domestic policy, including Iran´s nuclear program. She wrote her dissertational thesis on preference formation in Iranian nuclear diplomacy and currently teaches at the Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies (CNMS) at the Philipps-University of Marburg.

Emre Ersen

Associate professor at Marmara University

Emre Erşen is an associate professor at the Marmara University Department of Political Science and International Relations. He completed his PhD at the same department. He has also conducted research at the Higher School of Economics (Russia), University of Kent (United Kingdom), Institute for Human Sciences (Austria) and Jagiellonian University (Poland) as a visiting scholar. His research interests include Russian foreign policy, Turkish-Russian relations, Eurasianism and geopolitics. He has contributed papers in international conferences and published articles in journals.

Mustafa Abushagur

Member of the Libyan House of Representatives

Dr. Mustafa A.G. Abushagur has been a member of the Libyan House of Representatives since 2014. He was the First Deputy Prime Minister of Libya from November 2011 to November 2012. He is also the founder and chairman of the Libyan Policy Institute, a think tank based in Tripoli, Libya. Dr. Abushagur holds a BSc degree from the University of Tripoli and MSc and PhD degrees from the California Institute of Technology, all in the field of electrical engineering.

Waddah Khanfar

President of the Al Sharq Forum

Wadah Khanfar is the President of the Al Sharq Forum and former Director General of the Al Jazeera Network. He is a board member of the International Crisis Group and Global Editors Network (GEN). Khanfar has been named as one of Foreign Policy’s Top 100 global thinkers of 2011 as well as one of Fast Company’s ‘Most Creative People in Business’ of the year.

Hugh Lovatt

Israel/Palestine Project Coordinator for ECFR’s Middle East and North Africa Programme

Hugh Lovatt is the Israel/Palestine Project Coordinator for ECFR’s Middle East and North Africa Programme. Prior to this, he worked as a researcher for International Crisis Group and as a Schuman Fellow in the European Parliament focusing on Middle-East policy. He also worked for the Aga Khan University’s Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations as an Arabic translator, specialising in Muslim cultures and Islamic law

Ahmet Okumuş

Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Istanbul Sehir University

Ahmet Okumuş is an Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Relations, Istanbul Sehir University. Dr. Okumus received his PhD in political science from Sabanci University. Dr. Okumus is also currently the president of Bilim ve Sanat Vakfi (Foundation for Sciences and Arts). His research interests include contemporary political theory, democratic politics, religion, politics and secularism, theories of modernity and comparative political theory

Joost Hiltermann

Middle East & North Africa Program Director, International Crisis Group

Joost Hiltermann is Program Director, Middle East & North Africa, at the International Crisis Group, for which he has worked in various capacities since 2002. Before that, he was Executive Director of the Arms Division of Human Rights Watch (1994-2002) and database coordinator and research coordinator at the Palestinian human rights organisation Al-Haq in Ramallah (1985-1990). He holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Filippo Dionigi

Lecturer of politics and international relations at the University of Bristol

Dr Filippo Dionigi is lecturer of politics and international relations at the University of Bristol. His research focuses on international relations theory applied to Middle Eastern politics. He is interested in international norms diffusion and Islamist movements and is currently working on a study of the effects of the Syrian refugee crisis on neighboring countries. Previously he has published Hezbollah, Islamist Politics, and International Society (2014) while his articles have been published in several journals.

Martin Rupiya

Academic with the Institute for African Renaissance Studies

Martin Rupiya is an academic with the Institute for African Renaissance Studies, University of South Africa. He is the executive director of the African Public Policy and Research Institute based in Pretoria, whose focus is on Africa’s post-2000 challenges in relation to the New Civil Military Relations, aimed at consolidating the African state. He has taught at various institutions including the University of Cranfield, UK; Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia and the University of Zimbabwe.

Gallip Dalay

Research director at Al Sharq Forum

Research director at Al Sharq Forum and senior associate fellow on Turkey and Kurdish Affairs at Al Jazeera Center for Studies. He previously worked as a visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin and as a political researcher at SETA Foundation in Ankara. He is a regular contributor to German Marshall Fund of the United States’ on Turkey policy brief series, and a columnist for Middle East Eye.

MESUT ÖZCAN

Director of Diplomacy Academy of MFA

Mesut Ozcan is currently the Director of Diplomacy Academy of MFA. He serves on the editorial boards of Insight Turkey, Divan and Perceptions journals. He previously lectured at Istanbul Ticaret University’s Department of International Relations and continues to teach at Istanbul Sehir University. Ozcan is the author of three books: Sorunlu Miras Irak (Istanbul: Küre, 2003), Harmonizing Foreign Policy: Turkey, the EU and the Middle East (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008), and Medeniyetler ve Dünya Düzen(ler)i, Mesut Özcan and Muzaffer Şenel (ed), (Istanbul: Klasik, 2010).

Garth le Pere

Professor of International Relations at the University of Pretoria

Garth le Pere is a Professor of International Relations at the University of Pretoria and a Senior Associate of the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection based in Johannesburg. Having served for 12 years, he is also the founding Executive Director of the Institute for Global Dialogue. His areas of interest and publications include international relations theory, multilateral trade and emerging markets

Courtney Freer

Research Officer at Kuwait Programme at the London School of Economics and Political Science

Courtney Freer is a Research Officer at the Kuwait Programme at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her work focuses on the domestic politics of the Arab Gulf states, with a particular focus on Islamism and tribalism. Her DPhil thesis at Oxford University revised rentier state theory by examining the socio-political role played by Muslim Brotherhood groups in Kuwait, Qatar, and the UAE. She previously worked as a Research Assistant at the Brookings Doha Center.

Payam Mohseni

Lecturer at Harvard University

Payam Mohseni is the director of the Iran Project and fellow for Iran studies at the Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. He is also a lecturer at Harvard University. Dr. Mohseni is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. He focuses on Iranian foreign and domestic politics, Shi’a thought and identity, Islam and sectarian conflict in the Middle East, and the politics of authoritarianism and hybrid regimes.

Adel Hamaizia

Researcher at the University of Oxford

Adel Hamaizia is the committee vice-chairman of the Oxford Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies Forum. Adel is a researcher at the University of Oxford, where he focuses on the Political Economy of the Middle East, and teaches Middle East Politics. He is also a Senior Teaching Fellow at the Department of Finance and Management Studies at SOAS, University of London.

ZEYNEP KOÇ

Research Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

Zeynep Coskun koç is a Research Fellow at Al Sharq Forum. Prior to joining Al Sharq, she was a Dr. Herchel Smith Fellow at the University of Cambridge conducting Economic and Anthropological research concerning the MENA region. Zeynep has an MPhil in Social Anthropology from the University of Cambridge and a B.A. from Williams College in Economics and Arabic Studies. Her research interests include Turkish Foreign Policy, Regional Kurdish Politics, Iraq, Energy Politics and Nationalism

Monica Marks

Visiting Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations

Monica Marks is a Visiting Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and a Rhodes Scholar at St Antony’s College, Oxford, where she is completing her Ph.D. A leading analyst on Islamist politics in Tunisia. Her work has appeared in peer-reviewed academic publications, think tanks including the Brookings Institute and Carnegie Endowment, and more popularly oriented publications including the New York Times, Washington Post, Guardian, and Foreign Policy. Her research is currently supported by the IREMAM institute in Aix-en-Provence, France, where she is a Research Fellow. She is currently based in Istanbul and Tunisia, researching Islamist movements and MENA regional politics in Arabic, French, and Turkish.

Özgür Ünlühisarcıklı

Director of GMF’s office in Ankara

Özgür Ünlühisarcıklı is the director of GMF’s office in Ankara, Turkey. Prior to joining GMF, he was the manager of the Resource Development Department of the Educational Volunteers Foundation of Turkey. Previously, Ünlühisarcıklı worked as the director of the ARI Movement, a Turkish NGO promoting participatory democracy, and as a consultant at AB Consulting and Investment Services

Bayar Mustafa

Assistant Professor at the American University of Kurdistan (AUK)

Bayar Mustafa is an Assistant Professor at the American University of Kurdistan (AUK). He has been working as an advisor at the International Middle East Peace Research Center (IMPR) since 2012. He also worked on the Turkey desk at the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He obtained his PhD focusing on the Kurdish Question in American Policy toward Turkey 1991-1999 from Mosul University in Mosul, Iraq. He writes strategic analysis of Turkey-Kurdistan relation and U.S. and regional relations with the Kurdistan regional government.

Magdalena Kirchner

Political scientist and conflict researcher

Magdalena Kirchner, the Mercator-IPC Fellow at Sabanci University, is a political scientist and conflict researcher, specializing in transatlantic security and crisis management, third party interventions, and Turkey and the Levant. Prior to that, she taught at Heidelberg University and headed the Working Group "Conflicts in the Middle East and Maghreb" at the Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research (HIIK). In the past years, she frequently advised German governmental institutions and Berlin-based embassies on challenges stemming from international terrorism.

Safaa Elhalouti

MA candidate at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies in Politics and International Relations

Safaa ElHalouti is an MA candidate at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies in Politics and International Relations. She is a member of the Junior Chamber International, previously the VP of the expats branch (Megapol) in Istanbul and a member of the Justice and Development Party in Morocco. Her research focuses on Security, American Foreign Policy, Middle East politics and Turkey.

Louy Al Khatib

Founding Director of the Iraq Energy Institute

Luay al-Khatteeb is the Director of Iraq Energy, an independent policy institution, and a Fellow at Colombia’s Center on Global Energy Policy. He is a former Fellow at Brookings. Al-Khatteeb hold a PhD in political science from University of Exeter.

Wadah Khanfar

President of The Al Sharq Forum

Wadah Khanfar is the President of the Al Sharq Forum and former Director General of the Al Jazeera Network. He is a board member of the International Crisis Group and Global Editors Network (GEN). Khanfar has been named as one of Foreign Policy’s Top 100 global thinkers of 2011 as well as one of Fast Company’s ‘Most Creative People in Business’ of the year.

Galip Dalay

Senior Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

Research director at Al Sharq Forum and senior associate fellow on Turkey and Kurdish Affairs at Al Jazeera Center for Studies. He previously worked as a visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin and as a political researcher at SETA Foundation in Ankara. He is a regular contributor to German Marshall Fund of the United States’ on Turkey policy brief series, and a columnist for Middle East Eye.

Andreas Krieg

Assistant professor for Defence Studies at King\'s College

Andreas Krieg is an assistant professor for Defense Studies at the School for Security Studies at King's College London. He is also the co-founder of the Near East Centre for Security and Strategy (NECSS) at King's. In his research, Andreas has focused on a variety of different subjects relating to the academic discipline of Security Studies. More recently, Andreas has been exploring the nexus between security and socio-politics in the Middle East after the Arab Spring.

Wadah Khanfar

President of The Al Sharq Forum

Wadah Khanfar is the President of the Al Sharq Forum and former Director General of the Al Jazeera Network. He is a board member of the International Crisis Group and Global Editors Network (GEN). Khanfar has been named as one of Foreign Policy’s Top 100 global thinkers of 2011 as well as one of Fast Company’s ‘Most Creative People in Business’ of the year.

Kamaran Palani

Research Fellow at the Middle Eastern Research Institute (MERI)

Kamaran Mohammad Palani is a Research Fellow at the Middle Eastern Research Institute (MERI). He has an MA in Global Security from Keele University in the UK. He has worked for various local and international NGOs and research centers, including Al Mesalla, Peace and Freedom Organization in Kurdistan, PAX, and the at Salahaddin University-Erbil. His research interests include de facto statehood in the international system, post-war security issues, state-building and democratization in Iraq and the Kurdistan region.

Galip Dalay

Senior Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

Research director at Al Sharq Forum and senior associate fellow on Turkey and Kurdish Affairs at Al Jazeera Center for Studies. He previously worked as a visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin and as a political researcher at SETA Foundation in Ankara. He is a regular contributor to German Marshall Fund of the United States’ on Turkey policy brief series, and a columnist for Middle East Eye.

Bader Mustafa

Analyst at Omran Strategic Center for Studies

Bedir Mulla Rashid is an analyst working on Kurdish affairs at OMRAN Center for Strategic Studies. His research focuses on autonomous administration in Northern Syria. He is an MA candidate in political science and international relations.

Basheer Nafi

Senior Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

Senior Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Forum and Senior Research Fellow at Al Jazeera Centre for Studies. He writes weekly columns for Middle East eye. His research interests include Egypt, Iraq, Political Islam, and Middle Eastern Politics in general.

Bahador Aminian

The director general for education department at Iran Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Bahador Aminian is the director-general for the education and training department at Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Na’eem Jeenah

Executive Director of the Afro-Middle East Centre

Na’eem Jeenah is the Executive Director of the Afro-Middle East Centre, a research institute based in Johannesburg, South Africa, that focuses on the Middle East and Africa. Na’eem taught political science at the University of the Witwatersrand. His recent publications include: Pretending democracy: Israel, an ethnocratic state (2012) and (co-edited) The PLO: Critical appraisals from the inside (2014). He also coauthored (with Shamima Shaikh) Journey of discovery: A South African Hajj (2002). Na’eem is sought-after as a commentator on a range of issues regarding the Middle East and North Africa, Political Islam, Islam and Muslims in South Africa.

Tamer Badawi

Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

Tamer Badawi is a Research Fellow at Al Sharq Forum. He received an M.A. in International Relations (with a major in International Political Economy) from Central European University in 2016 and a B.A. in Oriental Studies from Alexandria University in 2013. He is a regular contributor to Sada, an online publication managed by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He also contributes reports to the Doha-based Aljazeera Center for Studies. Research interests: The political economy of the Middle East, economic development in post-JCPOA Iran, and global energy market trends.

Nicola Pedde

Director of the Institute of Global Studies (IGS) in Rome

Nicola Pedde is the Director of the Institute of Global Studies (IGS) in Rome, and the Director of the Geopolitics of the Middle East Journal. He taught International Relations at the University of Rome La Sapienza University and John Cabot University in Rome. He conducts research on the Middle East and the Persian Gulf at the Italian Military Centre for Strategic Studies (Ce.Mi.S.S.) of the Centre for High Defense Studies (CASD) of the Ministry of Defense. He has published numerous essays, including Iran 1979 Islamic Revolution (Rome 2009), Almanac of the Italian airline from 1947 to 2007 (Rome 2007).

Murat Yesiltas

Assoc. Professor in the Middle East Institute at Sakarya University

Assoc. Prof. Murat Yesiltas has completed his BA and MA at the Department of International Relations of Sakarya University, in 2003 and 2009, respectively. He earned his PhD at the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Marmara University in 2012 with the thesis titled “Locating Turkey: Geopolitical Mentality and the Army in Turkey.” Yesiltas was a visiting researcher at the Department of European Studies and International Politics of Lancaster University between 2008 and 2009. He was a visiting researcher at Virginia Tech’s Institute of Government and International Relations in 2010-2011. Currently, Yesiltas is an Assoc. Professor in the Middle East Institute at Sakarya University. He also holds the position of director of security studies at SETA Foundation, Ankara, Turkey.

Omar Ashour

Senior Lecturer in Security Studies at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies of University of Exeter

Omar Ashour is a Senior Lecturer in Security Studies at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies of University of Exeter and an Associate Fellow at Chatham House in London. He is currently working on a book analysing the military tactics and strategies of IS in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Egypt. He specializes in asymmetric armed conflict, Islamist movements, insurgency/counterinsurgency, terrorism studies, and democratization. He is a regular contributor to media outlets including the BBC, Al-Jazeera, Sky News, CNN, al-Arabiya and others and his op-eds are frequently published in many media outlets in seven languages, in over 40 countries. He previously served as a senior consultant for the United Nations on security sector reform, counter-terrorism, and de- radicalization issues. He is the author of The DeRadicalization of Jihadists: Transforming Armed Islamist Movements.

Anthony Biswell

Researcher at the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies

He joined the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies in September 2017 as an researcher and is also currently working as an independent Yemen consultant. Prior to joining the center, Anthony was the Senior Yemen Analyst for The Delma Institute in Abu Dhabi. Previously, he worked as a researcher on other Yemen-related projects for IHS while based in Yemen. He obtained an MA in International Conflict Studies at King’s College London in 2011.

Omer Aslan

Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

Omer Aslan is an Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Forum, and a researcher at the Institute for Security Sciences at the Turkish National Police Academy (TNPA). He previously worked at the political research department of the Ankara-based SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research. He received his B.A. degree in political science from Bilkent University. After finishing MSc in International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science, he entered the Ph.D. program in political science at Bilkent University in 2010. Ömer is now a Ph.D. candidate at the same university, currently working on his dissertation in the field of civil-military relations. Among his publications are “A Turkish Muslim Between Islamism and Turkish Nationalism: Seyyid Ahmet Arvasi (1932–88)”, and “‘Unarmed’ we Intervene, Unnoticed we Remain: The Deviant Case of ‘February 28th Coup’ in Turkey “. Research Interests: Military and Politics in the Muslim World, External Actors and Military Coup d’états, Police and Politics.

Chiara Lovotti

Research Assistant for the MENA Centre at ISPI

Chiara Lovotti is Research Assistant for the MENA Centre at ISPI. She was awarded her Bachelor's in Foreign Languages and International Relations at the Catholic University of Milan. Lovotti also completed a Master in Development Studies at the University of Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium) and one in Middle Eastern Studies at the Postgraduate School of Economics and International Relations (ASERI) of Milan. Prior to this, she worked as a Research Assistant in the Department of Development Studies at the University of Louvain-la-Neuve. Her research focuses on social dynamics and political transformations in the MENA region.

Mohammad Affan

Training Director at Al-Sharq Forum

Mohammad Affan is the Training Director at Al-Sharq Forum. A medical doctor by training, Affan obtained his MA degree in Political Science from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at the American University of Cairo (2015). He also holds three post-graduate diplomas: One in “Civil Society and Human Rights”, from the Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences at Cairo University (2010), another one in Political Research and Studies from the Institute of Arab Research and Studies at the Arab League (2012), and the third diploma in Islamic Studies from the Higher Institute for Islamic Studies in Cairo (2012). Among his publications is his book titled: “Wahhabism and the Brotherhood: the conflict on the concept of the state and the legitimacy of power.” Affan is currently pursuing his PhD in the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the Exeter Univesity in the UK. His research interests include, Islamism, State-Theory, and Comparative MENA Studies.

Hassan Ahmadian

Assistant Professor at the University of Tehran

Dr. Hassan Ahmadian is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Iran Project, Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Dr. Ahmadian is an Assistant Professor of Middle East and North Africa studies at the University of Tehran, and is also a Middle East security and politics fellow at the Center for Strategic Research, Tehran. He received his PhD in Area Studies from the University of Tehran. His research and teaching work is mainly focused on Iran’s foreign policy and relations, political change, civil-military relations and Islamist movements in the Middle East. His research and analyses have appeared in peer-reviewed journals as well as prestigious Persian, English and Arabic outlets.

Mohamed Okda

Political Consultant, focused on the Middle East and Political Islam

Mohamed Okda is a Political Consultant, focused on the Middle East and Political Islam; active in the issues of interfaith, crisis mediation and assessment, the economics of conflict and religious–secular dialogue. He is also the founder of Insight into Crisis, a conflict advisory.

Hayder Khafaji

Researcher on Middle Eastern affairs

Hayder Al-Khafaji is a researcher on Middle Eastern affairs with a specialist focus on Iraq-Iran relations. He holds a postgraduate certificate in Islamic Studies from Birkbeck College, University of London, and a master’s degree from Middlesex University where he is currently completing a Professional Doctorate in Muslim cultures.

Zeynep Coskun

Former Research Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

Zeynep Coskun is a Research Fellow at Al Sharq Forum. Prior to joining Al Sharq, she was a Dr. Herchel Smith Fellow at the University of Cambridge conducting Economic and Anthropological research concerning the MENA region. Zeynep has an MPhil in Social Anthropology from the University of Cambridge and a B.A. from Williams College in Economics and Arabic Studies. Her research interests include Turkish Foreign Policy, Regional Kurdish Politics, Iraq, Energy Politics and Nationalism

Ozge Genc

Ozge Genc is a PhD researcher at the Political Science department of Istanbul Bilgi University on state reform. She worked at the Democratization Program of the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) since 2007 and served as its Director from 2012 to 2015. Genç is among the founders of Center for Public Policy and Democracy Studies (PODEM) and also a Research Director.

Sinan Hatahet

Senior Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

Sinan Hatahet is currently a consultant working with a number of think tanks on Syria. His research is concentrated on governance and local councils, anti-radicalization, Islamism, the Kurdish National Movement, and the new regional order in the Middle East. He previously worked as the executive director of the Syrian National Coalition (SC) media office from its creation in late 2012 until September 2014.

Petr Topychkanov

Fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center’s Nonproliferation Program

Petr Topychkanov is a fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center’s Nonproliferation Program. Since 2009, he has also held the position of senior researcher at the Center for International Security at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IMEMO RAN). He has been a member of the editorial board of the Nuclear Club journal (Moscow) since 2009.

Yury Barmin

Consultant whose work focuses on issues Related to the Middle East

Yury Barmin is a risk consultant whose work focuses on issues related to the Middle East and Russia’s positioning in the region. Mr Barmin holds an MPhil in International Relations from the University of Cambridge. He is an Expert at the Russian International Affairs Council covering the Middle East and North Africa, Moscow’s policy towards the region as well as the conflict in Syria

Ali Reza Gholipour

Head of the South Asia Department at IPIS

Ali Reza Gholipour is the head of the South Asia department in IPIS, a think-tank affiliated with Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He recieved his PhD in international relations from Kharazmi University. As a diplomat, he was posted in Rome and Islamabad.

Muhanad Seloom

Expert in ethno-sectarian conflicts.

Muhanad Seloom is an expert in ethno-sectarian conflicts. He is a criminologist in training and a linguist [Arabic, English, and Kurdish]. His research focuses on ethno-sectarian conflicts in the Middle East, terrorism and mechanisms of securitization. In his PhD thesis at the University of Exeter, his hypothesis examined the relationship between designating violent groups “terrorist” and the choice to use violence in an ethnic conflict context

Haldun Yalçınkaya

Haldun Yalçınkaya graduated from Kuleli Military High School and later Turkish Military Academy. During his military service as an officer, he completed his post-graduate studies in International Relations at İstanbul University. After having served more than ten years at the Turkish Military Academy, as of 2013 he became an Associate Professor in International Relations at TOBB University of Economics and Technology

Yılmaz Ensaroğlu

Chief Advisor to the Turkish Ministry of Justice

Chief Advisor to the Turkish Prime Ministry. He previously served as the president of MAZLUMDER, and director of Law and Human Rights Department of SETA Foundation. He has authored many articles in various books, journals and newspapers on issues of human rights, civil society, democratization, security sector reform, civil-military relations, coup d’états, freedom of religion, secularism, Kurdish question, and hate crimes among others

Jean-Marie Guehenno

President & CEO, International Crisis Group

Louise Arbour

United Nations Special Representative for International Migration

Wadah Khanfar

President of The Al Sharq Forum

Wadah Khanfar is the President of the Al Sharq Forum and former Director General of the Al Jazeera Network. He is a board member of the International Crisis Group and Global Editors Network (GEN). Khanfar has been named as one of Foreign Policy’s Top 100 global thinkers of 2011 as well as one of Fast Company’s ‘Most Creative People in Business’ of the year.

Massimilliano Alvisini

General Manager, Europe and CIS Global Money Transfer, Western Union

Michael Kohler

Director Neighbourhood, DG for Development Cooperation. European Commission

Nora Muller

Executive Director, Körber-Stiftung International Affairs

Paolo Magri

Executive Vice President and Director, Italian Institute for International Political Studies

Robert Malley

Vice President for Policy, International Crisis Group

Yanis Varoufakis

Professor of Economic Theory, University of Athens and Ministry of Finance, Greece (2015)

Lurdes Vidal Bertran

Director of the Arab and Mediterranean World Department, IEMed

Kirk Bennett

US Foreign Service (retd)

Brad Staples

Chief Executive Officer, APCO Worldwide

Ellie Geranmayeh

Senior Policy Fellow (MENA), European Council on Foreign Affairs

H A Hellyer

Senior Nonresident Fellow, Atlantic Council and the Royal United Services Institute

Ivan Krastev

Chairman, Centre for Liberal Strategies

James Nixey

Head, Russia and Eurasia Programme, Chatham House

Jana Puglierin

Head of Programme, Alfred von Oppenheim Center for European Policy Studies, German Council on Foreign Relations

Joseph Bahout

Director at Issam Fares Institute AUB, Beirut

Lindsey Hilsum

International Editor, Channel 4 News

Lorenzo Kamel

Senior Fellow, Istituto Affari Internazionali

Lyse Doucet

Chief International Correspondent, BBC

Magdalena Grono

Program Director, Europe & Central Asia, International Crisis Group

Quentin Peel

Associate Fellow, Europe Programme, Chatham House

Radoslaw Sikorski

Senior Fellow at the Center of European Studies, Harvard University and Foreign Minister, Poland (2007-14)

Ranj Alaaldin

Visiting Fellow, Brookings Institute, Doha

Sanam Vakil

Associate Fellow, Middle East and North Africa Programme, Chatham House

Tim Eaton

Research Fellow, Middle East and North Africa Programme, Chatham House

Hemin Hawrami

Member, Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Head of KDP Foreign Relations Office

Lina Khatib

Head, Middle East and North Africa Programme, Chatham House

Lord Mark Malloch-Brown

Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations (2006) anc Co-Chair, International Crisis Group

Seyed Kazem Sajjadpour

Head, Center for International Research and Education Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Iran

Andrey Sushentsov

Associate Professor, Moscow State Institute of International Relations

Bahjat Hajjar

Syrian Researcher and Activist

Bahjat Hajjar is a Syrian researcher and activist.

Lina Khatib

Head, Middle East and North Africa Programme, Chatham House

Clayton Swisher

Saban Kardas

TOBB University of Economics and Technology, Ankara

Saban Kardas is the President of ORSAM and a faculty member at the Department of International Relations at TOBB University. He has published scholarly articles and book chapters on Turkish domestic and foreign policies, human rights, energy policies and international security and has been an occasional contributor to Turkish and international media. He has taught classes at Diplomacy Academy, Sakarya University, Police Academy and Turkish Military Academy. He received his doctoral degree in political science from the University of Utah. Dr. Kardas also holds a master’s degree in international relations from the METU in Ankara, and a second master’s degree in European Studies from the Center for European Integration Studies in Bonn, Germany.

Kayhan Barzegar

Director of the Institute for Middle East Strategic Studies in Tehran

Barzegar is the Director of the Institute for Middle East Strategic Studies in Tehran. He is also Associate Professor of International Relations and the Chair of the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the Science and Research Branch of the Islamic Azad University. Dr. Barzegar was a Research Fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center. Dr. Barzegar is Editor-in-Chief of Discourse: An Iranian English Quarterly

Ammar Kahf

Co-Founder and Executive Director of OMRAN Center for Studies

Ammar Kahf is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Omran for Strategic Studies, and a Board Member of the Syrian Forum. He earned his Ph.D at the Interdisciplinary Program for Islamic Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles with a subfield focus on political science, history and sociology. His dissertation research was entitled "Syrian Authoritarianism: Persistence or Change?" His research work focuses on geopolitical political studies, transitional period comparative studies, local governance, and economic development

Nikolay Kozhanov

Visiting lecturer at the European University at St. Petersburg

Nikolay Kozhanov is an academy associate at the Russia and Eurasia Program of Chatham House and a visiting lecturer at the European University at St. Petersburg. From 2006 to 2009, he served as an attaché at the political section of the Russian embassy in Tehran. He got his PhD from the St. Petersburg State University. His area of expertise involves Iran's foreign and domestic policies as well the issue of Russian presence in the Middle East.

Assaad Achi

Executive Director of Baytna Syria

Assaad Al Achi is a Syrian economist and activist. He is the executive director of Baytna Syria. He worked for the American Oil and Gas Company ConocoPhillips. Al Achi became part of the revolutionary movement in Syria, joining the Syrian National Council in December 2011 and helping establish the Assistance Coordination Unit of the Syrian Opposition Coalition in December 2012. He graduated from the American University of Beirut with a bachelor’s in business administration and holds an MBA from INSEAD.

Waddah Khanfar

President of the Al Sharq Forum

Wadah Khanfar is the President of the Al Sharq Forum and former Director General of the Al Jazeera Network. He is a board member of the International Crisis Group and Global Editors Network (GEN). Khanfar has been named as one of Foreign Policy’s Top 100 global thinkers of 2011 as well as one of Fast Company’s ‘Most Creative People in Business’ of the year.

Gallip Dalay

Research director at Al Sharq Forum

Research director at Al Sharq Forum and senior associate fellow on Turkey and Kurdish Affairs at Al Jazeera Center for Studies. He previously worked as a visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin and as a political researcher at SETA Foundation in Ankara. He is a regular contributor to German Marshall Fund of the United States’ on Turkey policy brief series, and a columnist for Middle East Eye.

Maria Fantappie

Senior Analyst at International Crisis Group

Maria Fantappie is Crisis Group’s Senior Analyst for Iraq. Maria has conducted fieldwork in Iraq and Syria since 2009, and works with other members of the Middle East & North Africa team to research and produce reports on security, conflict, politics, governance, and social issues on Iraq, Syria and the Kurdish regions. She has engaged policymakers on her research at some of the highest levels of government in the US, Europe and the Middle East.

Ahmad Abazeid

Writer and Researcher

Ahmad Abazeid is a Syrian writer and researcher focusing on the Syrian uprising and armed groups. He has written for Al Jazeera Center for Studies, Siyasat Arabiya, The New Arab, Omran Center for Strategic Studies, and Forum for Arab and International Relations.

Guney Yildiz

Visiting Fellow at ECFR

Guney Yildiz is a visiting fellow for ECFR's Middle East and North Africa Programme, where he is focusing on the post-Islamic State stabilisation of Syria, with specific emphasis on the areas controlled by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). He is pursuing a PhD on non-state actors in the Middle East at the University of Cambridge and holds a Master's degree from the London School of Economics. He has advised the Foreign Affairs Select Committee of the UK Parliament as a Special Adviser on Turkey, works as a political and security consultant and carries out investigative journalism mainly on Turkey, the Kurds and ISIS. He has given talks at Chatham House, RUSI, ECFR, Oxford University, the UK Parliament and LSE. He has also been consulted by government institutions and the diplomatic community in London. He regularly provides analysis for TV, radio and online outlets, including reacting to breaking news stories from the region. As a journalist with the BBC for ten years, he broke numerous top UK and international stories that have been picked up by other domestic and international broadcasters.

Reza Raouf Sheibani

Former Iranian Ambassador to Syria (2011-2016)

Mohammad Reza Raouf Sheibani has been Iran’s Ambassador to Cyprus (1991 - 1995), Egypt (2004 – 2005), Lebanon (2005 - 2009) and Syria (2011 - 2016). He was also Iran’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs between 2009 and 2011. He is currently a Senior Researcher at the Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS) of Iran and a Senior Expert of the Centre for Education and International Studies at the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Andrew J. Tabler

Senior Fellow Washington Institute for Near East Policy

Andrew J. Tabler is the Martin J. Gross fellow in the Geduld Program on Arab Politics at The Washington Institute, where he focuses on Syria and U.S. policy in the Levant. During fourteen years of residence in the Middle East, Mr. Tabler served as co-founder and editor-in-chief of Syria Today, Syria's first private-sector English-language magazine; as a consultant on U.S.-Syria relations for the International Crisis Group (2008); and as a fellow of the Institute of Current World Affairs (2005-2007), writing on Syrian, Lebanese, and Middle Eastern affairs. Following his graduate work in Cairo, Egypt, Mr. Tabler held editorships with the Middle East Times and Cairo Times, where he focused on Arab-Israeli peace negotiations, before becoming senior editor and director of editorial for the Oxford Business Group (OBG). In 2001, Mr. Tabler personally oversaw with OBG the first comprehensive English-language report on Syria in more than thirty years. Mr. Tabler has lived, worked and studied extensively in Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Tunisia, and Turkey.