Akeel Abbas is an expert on Iraqi politics and sectarian identities. He is a former professor at American University of Iraq, Sulaimani.

Before teaching at AUIS, Abbas taught research writing, postcolonial studies, global and British literature, as well as literary theory at several universities in the United States, including Old Dominion University, the University of Houston-Downtown, and Purdue University.

Abbas also worked for several years as a journalist covering Iraq and the Middle East, appearing as a guest analyst on a number of Arabic-language television programs. Specializing in cultural studies, his research interests include modernity, democratization, the politics of identity, and human rights.