WASHINGTON, July 22, 2019 – The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington is pleased to announce the addition of several accomplished scholars to its cadre of non-resident fellows.

Eman Alhussein, Sara Bazoobandi, Yasser Elsheshtawy, Bessma Momani, and Aisha Al-Sarihi will contribute to AGSIW’s ongoing examination of key regional trends, drawing on their expertise to enrich both publications and programs.

Eman Alhussein is a visiting fellow with the Middle East and North Africa program at the European Council on Foreign Relations. She previously worked as a research fellow at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Alhussein’s areas of interest include identity and nationalism, gender, cultural and societal change, and religious discourse and reforms. She holds an MA in Gulf studies from the University of Exeter.

Sara Bazoobandi is the managing director of Middle East Risk Consulting, a boutique consultancy firm providing risk management and business intelligence for global clients. She previously served as a senior lecturer in international political economy at Regent’s University London. She has served as an economic analyst for various international corporate organizations, policy advisory institutions, and think tanks. Bazoobandi holds a PhD in Arab and Islamic Studies from the University of Exeter and an MSc in economic development in emerging markets from the University of Reading.

Yasser Elsheshtawy is an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation and formerly a visiting scholar at AGSIW. His scholarship focuses on urbanization in developing societies, informal urbanism, urban history, and environment-behavior studies, with a focus on Middle Eastern cities. He taught at United Arab Emirates University from 1997-2017 and was appointed as curator for the UAE Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale. Elsheshtawy has a PhD in architecture from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a master’s in architecture from Pennsylvania State University.

Bessma Momani is a professor of political science at the University of Waterloo and senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance and Innovation in Ontario, Canada. She previously served as a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and Stimson Center, consultant to the International Monetary Fund, and visiting scholar at Georgetown University’s Mortara Center. She has authored and co-edited 10 books and over 80 scholarly journal articles and book chapters examining international and Middle East affairs, diversity and inclusion, and the global economy. Momani received her PhD in political science with a focus on international political economy from the University of Western Ontario.

Aisha Al-Sarihi is a former visiting scholar at Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, as well as AGSIW. She also served as a research officer at the London School of Economics and Political Science’s Middle East Centre. Her areas of research include political economy of environmental sustainability, energy policy, renewables, and climate policies, with a focus on the Arab region. In addition to scientific publications, her research has appeared in major regional media outlets. Al-Sarihi holds a PhD from the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London and an MSc in environmental science from Sultan Qaboos University.

“It is a great pleasure to welcome such a wealth of talent to AGSIW,” said Executive Vice President Stephen A. Seche. “Non-resident fellows are critical to our ability to expand the universe of issues we are able to examine in depth. In this instance, each individual is a recognized expert in his or her respective field who will enable AGSIW to add to the work being done by our resident scholars. The outcome will be a richer menu of timely, credible, and insightful research relevant to those who are interested in the dynamics shaping the Gulf Arab states and their relations with the United States and other countries.”

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The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington (AGSIW), launched in 2015, is an independent, nonprofit institution dedicated to providing expert research and analysis of the social, economic, and political dimensions of the Gulf Arab states and how they affect domestic and foreign policy. AGSIW focuses on issues ranging from politics and security to economics, trade, and business; from social dynamics to civil society and culture. Through programs, publications, and scholarly exchanges the institute seeks to encourage thoughtful debate and inform the U.S. foreign-policy and business communities regarding this critical geostrategic region.