About

Background of Middle East Institute, NUS (MEI)

The Middle East Institute (MEI), which was founded in 2007, is an autonomous research institute within the National University of Singapore (NUS). From its vantage point in Singapore, a crossroads of the world, MEI exists to advance understanding of the Middle East, and to deepen engagements between the Middle East and Asia. We do this through research, and aim to provide reasoned views to scholars, students, policymakers, businesses and the public through publications, lectures, consultations and outreach. We host speakers and visitors from and on the Middle East, and serve as a concourse for exchanging ideas and information on the Middle East in Singapore, Asia and the world.

The Middle East is also known as West Asia. West Asia, South Asia and East Asia meet in Southeast Asia. They were principals and partners in the historic maritime Silk Roads, intermeshed in webs of trade, religion, kinship, friendship and mutual recognition. Southeast Asia is profoundly shaped by this lasting engagement. We stand at the cusp of its historic revitalisation today, and feel a sense of responsibility to help inform its future course. West Asians have always had homes elsewhere in Asia. We want to make that a reality again today.

Board Members

CHAIRMAN

Joseph Liow

جوزيف ليو

Prof Joseph Liow (Joseph Chinyong Liow) is Dean of College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, where he is also Tan Kah Kee Chair in Comparative and International Politics and concurrently Senior Research Advisor for the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS). He was previously Dean of RSIS from October 2014 to December 2018. He also previously held the inaugural Lee Kuan Yew Chair in Southeast Asia Studies at the Brookings Institution, Washington DC.

Joseph’s research interests encompass Muslim politics and social movements in Southeast Asia and the geopolitics and geoeconomics of the Asia-Pacific region. Joseph is the author, co- author, or editor of 18 books, the most recent being Navigating Uncertainty: Our Region in an Age of Flux (World Scientific 2024), Islam and Political Power in Indonesia and Malaysia (Cambridge University Press Element Series 2022) and Dictionary of the Modern Politics of Southeast Asia, fifth edition (Routledge 2022). A regular columnist for the Straits Times, his commentaries on international affairs have also appeared in New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, National Interest, Nikkei Asian Review, Wall Street Journal, and South China Morning Post. He has testified to the United States Congress and been invited to deliver a special closed door briefing to the ASEAN Defence Minister’s Meeting. In addition to scholarship and policy analysis, Joseph has also consulted for a wide range of multinationals including Shell, BHP Billiton, Chevron, Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Temasek, Total, and Statoil, as well as major global consultancies. He sits on the board of several peer- reviewed academic and policy journals, and is Singapore representative on the Experts and Eminent Persons Group of the ASEAN Regional Forum and the Trilateral Commission. He is also on the boards of the Social Science Research Council (Singapore), ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, and the National Arts Council. He will assume the position of Chairman, Middle East Institute on 1 September 2024.

He has degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Nanyang Technological University, and the London School of Economics and Political Science.

MEMBERS

Amrin Amin

عمرين أمين

Mr Amrin Amin is Head of Corporate Development at Temasek Foundation.

Mr Amrin was Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Health, and Member of Parliament for Sembawang GRC from 2015 to 2020.

Prior to political office, he was a corporate lawyer in Singapore and New York, specialising in mergers and acquisitions, strategic investments and corporate restructurings.

Andress Goh

أندرس غوه

Ms Andress Goh was Managing Director, Global Co-Head and Head of Singapore office Allianz Capital Partners GmbH (ACP) – Fund Investments until end-2021.

Prior to working for ACP, Andress was employed at the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (Special Investments) in London.

She started her career with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore where she worked on the China and North American desks and was posted to Germany as First Secretary/Deputy to the Ambassador and was also a Singapore delegate to the United Nations in New York.

She also served as Centre Director for the Singapore Economic Development Board in Frankfurt, where she helped German businesses set up in Singapore.

Andress holds an MA from the University of Oxford in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

Apart from MEI, Andress is also on the board of the education company XCL, and will join the SSO Board in September 2024.

Anthony Teo Soon Chye

السيد انتوني تيو سون تشي

Mr Anthony Teo Soon Chye, in his international business and advisory experience, served as a Senior Advisor of EcoPower; Managing Partner of Asia at The Enhancement Partners II LLC of Huston; Executive Advisor of Asia Inc; Managing Director of Euro Group International; and as Publisher of Asian Business.

Prior to his current portfolio, he served as an Independent Director and the Lead Independent Director of Innovalues Ltd. since June 1, 2005; Independent Director at the Greenship Holdings, a subsidiary of Paris-based Jaccar Holdings; and as Vice Chairman of the Singapore Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.

In the recent past, he was in the troika of president, provost and chief administrative officer to corporatise NTU, with its Trustees, through the Cabinet, Senate & Administrative Committee to reposition its strategic technological mission and to encompass a new age medical school in venture with Imperial, endowed by the Lee Foundation. He was awarded a visiting fellowship and Chevalier of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques by Cambridge University and the French Government, respectively.

Mr Teo is devoted to comparative strategy, social psychology of leadership and governance across tri-lateral spheres of corporate, public and NGO arenas; and the emerging public policy implications of UniverCities. He recently published a book called “UniverCities: Strategic View of the Future from Berkeley and Cambridge to Singapore and Rising Asia (Volume 2)”.

Mr Teo is the Emeritus Board Member of the Global Harvard Business School Alumni Board of Governors in Boston and conference provost for the 1997 & 2004 HBS Global Leadership Forum respectively in pre-handover HK & post-WTO China at Shanghai. He is also the Founder of the Harvard Singapore Foundation and is an Advisor to HBS Alumni Club of HKSAR. He addressed international conferences at Technical University of Munich, QS Asia Pacific Professional Leaders’ in Education in Manila, amongst others.

He holds an MBA from Harvard University and a BA in Economics from the University of Singapore.

Eli Manasseh (Nash) Benjamin

إلي مناسح بنجامين

Born in Singapore in 1950, Eli Manasseh Benjamin is better known in the fashion lifestyle industry as Nash Benjamin, the outspoken Chief Executive Officer of F J Benjamin Holdings Ltd.

The younger brother of Frank Benjamin, Founder and Executive Chairman of F J Benjamin Holdings Ltd., Nash joined the Company in the late 1960s where he was involved with the sales and marketing for brands like Amco and Lanvin. In the years that followed, Nash assisted his elder brother and carried the vision which Frank had for the Company.

Prior to his current position as Chief Executive Officer of the Group, Nash held the post of Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operations Officer of the Group since 1994.

Over the years, Nash was involved in the growth of our business in North Asia and S.E. Asia where he was involved in acquiring additional franchise brands and played a major role in the growth of the business in Indonesia through Associate company partnering Saratoga, a P/E firm in Indonesia.

Nash’s achievements at F J Benjamin and in the industry were recognized in November 2007 when he won the prestigious Ernst & Young Lifestyle Entrepreneur of the Year 2006 award. In 2008, Nash also won the Chief Executive Officer Award at the Singapore Corporate Awards in the category of companies with a market capitalization of less than $300 million.

Nash is currently the President of the Jewish Welfare Board in Singapore since 2020.

Fazlur Rahman Bin Kamsani

فضل الرحمن بن كمسان

Fazlur Rahman is currently with Maybank Singapore, bringing over 20 years of experience spanning various sectors including government, real estate, banking, financial advisory, investment, and client-relationship management. His career began with the Singapore government statutory board under the Ministry of Trade & Industry, and he has since worked with international firms, specialising in business development, client relationship management, and leadership. Fazlur is particularly noted for his expertise in promoting cross-border investment and business opportunities, with a focus on the Middle East and Islamic Finance.

Fazlur has been instrumental in fostering relationships between Singapore and the Middle East, significantly contributing to the promotion of Singapore in the region. In 2008, he was invited by Masraf Al Rayan, a Qatari-listed Islamic bank, to work in Qatar, underscoring his expertise and reputation in the field.

Beyond his professional achievements, Fazlur is deeply committed to community service. He serves as the Chairman for the Racial and Religious Harmony Circle at Kembangan-Chai Chee under the Ministry of Community, Culture & Youth (MCCY). Additionally, with his extensive experience in Waqf (Endowment) and Islamic charity, he was appointed by Minister Masagos Zulkifli to the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) Advisory Panel for Wakaf Masyarakat Singapura (Endowment for Singapore Muslim Community). Fazlur’s dedication to both his professional and community roles highlights his leadership and commitment to fostering growth and harmony in diverse sectors.

Hawazi Daipi

حوازي دايبي

Singapore’s non-resident representative to the Palestinian Territories
Former Senior Parliamentary Secretary

Mr Hawazi Daipi is a former Senior Parliamentary Secretary and currently serves as Singapore’s non-resident representative to the Palestinian Territories.

Mr Hawazi has broad experience in education, journalism and union work. He worked as a teacher from 1978 to 1983 before joining Singapore Press Holdings as a journalist. When he left journalism in 1997, Mr Hawazi was Berita Harian’s Special Assistant Editor.

He Subsequently joined the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) for five years where he was Director of the Internationals Affairs Department and Executive Secretary of four unions.

In 1996, Mr Hawazi was elected as an MP for the Sembawang Group Representation Constituency (GRC) and was re-elected in the GRC in 2001, 2006 and 2011.

At the community level, Mr Hawazi has served as Chairman of the Malay Language Council, Singapore and as Chairman of the Sembawang-Nee Soon Town Council.

Kevin Cheok

كيفن شيوك

Mr Kevin Cheok joined the Singapore Foreign Service in 1996.

He served as First Secretary in the Singapore Embassy in Berlin from 2000 to 2003, as Deputy Permanent Representative at the Permanent Mission of Singapore to the United Nations (New York) from 2005 to 2008, and as Deputy High Commissioner at the High Commission of Singapore in Kuala Lumpur from 2008 to 2011. Mr Cheok was Singapore’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Thailand from 2019 to 2023 and to the Kingdom of Cambodia from 2013 to 2016.

Mr Cheok has held various appointments in the Ministry’s headquarters, including as Director-General for Southeast Asia I, and Deputy Director for Malaysia and Brunei in Southeast Asia Directorate. He was also Senior Director/Infrastructure in the Ministry of National Development from July 2016 to June 2018.

Mr Cheok graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Lafayette College, United States of America in 1991. He obtained a Master’s Degree (International Affairs) in 1996 from Columbia University, United States of America.

Mr Cheok was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 2018. He is married to Mdm Low Hui Ching.

Khadijah Alattas

خديجة العطاس

Khadijah Alattas is a banking and investment professional who worked with three major banks in the US, and Europe, as well as a large regional bank based in Singapore, for many years.

Her work covers business development and generation of pipeline opportunities from corporate and institutional clients in Singapore and the South and South-east Asia regions. She also spent four years in a Singapore-based bank, covering business development for clients in the Middle East with a focus on the GCC.

She currently represents a GCC-based family office for their investments in Singapore and South-east Asia. As Director and Group Representative, she develops pipeline opportunities for investments, directs, reviews, and approve these, as well as managing ongoing investment performance, risks, and returns.

Khadijah jointly founded the not-for-profit organisation “Arab Network @ Singapore” with a small group of like-minded Singaporean Arabs from different professional backgrounds in 2010. AN@S is a volunteer-led organisation whose mission is to serve the less fortunate through its core pillars of education, humanitarian, and cultural/heritage initiatives.

AN@S has collaborated with MEI for several talks, musical performances and exhibitions.

Ngiam Shih Chun

Mr Ngiam Shih Chun is the Deputy Secretary (Policy) at the Ministry of Home Affairs. He oversees policy, planning, international cooperation, research and statistics, legal and psychological services.

He was the Chief Executive of the Energy Market Authority from 2018 to July 2024, where he developed and implemented Singapore’s strategies for electricity imports, hydrogen and national gas procurement. He also established and oversaw the development of generation capacity at Meranti Power Pte Ltd.

Mr Ngiam was the Deputy Secretary (Industry) at the Ministry of Trade and Industry from 2012 to 2018 where he helped shape Singapore’s industrial and economic policies.

He has held various appointments in the Emeritus Senior Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, and Ministry of Education.

Mr Ngiam is currently the Deputy Chairman of Yellow Ribbon Singapore and sits on the Board of Gambling Regulatory Authority, Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore, National Gas Company Pro-Tem Board, Singapore Nuclear Research Institute, Singapore Anglican Community Services and the Middle East Institute (NUS).

He holds a Bachelor of Science (Mechanical Engineering) degree from Carnegie Mellon University, USA, and a Master of Science (Financial Engineering) degree from National University of Singapore. He was a Sloan Fellow at Stanford Graduate School of Business, USA, in 2006 and attended the Advanced Management Programme at Harvard University, USA, in 2024. Mr Ngiam was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 2016 and the Public Administration Medal (Gold) in 2024.

Tan Soon Kim

تان صون كيم

Mr Tan serves as Deputy Managing Director of Enterprise Singapore and oversees its international operations in the Markets Group.

Enterprise Singapore is the government agency championing enterprise development. The agency works with companies to build capabilities, innovate and internationalise. It also supports the growth of Singapore as a hub for global trading companies and startups; and builds trust in Singapore’s products and services through promoting quality and standards.

Mr Tan’s previous portfolios in Enterprise Singapore included handling Trade Policy issues on the WTO and European Union. He was also in charge of engagement with International Organisations such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank. Mr Tan was posted to Washington DC from 2001-2003 as First Secretary in the economics section of the Singapore Embassy.

Mr Tan holds an Executive MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. He also completed the Advanced Management Program in Harvard Business School in 2011. Mr Tan was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 2020 and the Public Administration Medal (Gold) (Covid-19) in 2023.

Prof Teo Hock Hai

تيو هوك هاي

Hock-Hai Teo is Provost’s Chair Professor of Information Systems. He served as the Head of the Department of Information Systems at the School of Computing, National University of Singapore from August 2008 to June 2015 and as Vice-Dean, Corporate Communications from August 2007 to August 2008. His current research interests focus mainly on Health Informatics, open innovation, and IT artifacts that are geared towards improving individual decision-making, health outcomes and educational outcomes. Dr. Teo has published broadly in journals such as the ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interactions, MIS Quarterly, Journal of Management Information Systems, Information Systems Research, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, and Information and Management and has presented at numerous international conferences, including the International Conference on Information Systems. He is currently serving or has served on the editorial boards of Data Base for Advances in Information Systems, European Journal of Information Systems, International Journal of Electronic Commerce, Information Systems Research, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management and MIS Quarterly. He has won numerous best paper award at conferences and was also the winner of the MIS Quarterly Reviewer of the Year (2004) award.

MEI EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Michelle Teo

ميشيل تيو

Michelle Teo has more than 20 years’ experience in both the government and private sectors. Her career has spanned international relations, corporate and digital communications, and the globe. Michelle’s career with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has taken her to Europe, Australia, North America, the Middle East, North and Southeast Asia. Michelle served as Singapore’s Deputy High Commissioner in Canberra. She then joined IBM, first as Communications Leader with IBM Singapore and later with IBM ASEAN. Prior to joining the Middle East Institute in NUS, Michelle was working with local SMEs focused on digital content re-design for Singapore government agencies.

Research

Jean-Loup Samaan

Senior Research Fellow

Dr Jean-Loup Samaan is a Senior Research Fellow specialising in Middle East strategic affairs, with a particular focus on Israel–Hizballah conflict and the evolution of the Gulf security system. Prior to joining MEI, he held various positions in the policy sector. He worked as a visiting scholar with the RAND Corporation (2007-2008) and as an advisor at the directorate for strategic affairs of the French Ministry of Defense (2008-2011). He then gained extensive experience in the domain of military education and training, first as a deputy director for the Middle East Faculty of the NATO Defense College (2011-2016) and as an associate professor in strategic studies with the UAE National Defense College (2016-2021).

Dr Samaan has written four books as well as various articles for academic and policy journals. He holds a PhD in political science from University of Paris La Sorbonne (2009) and an accreditation to supervise research (2017) by the doctoral school of Sciences Po, Paris.

Jonah Blank

Visiting Senior Research Fellow

Dr Jonah Blank is a political scientist and anthropologist who is currently based in Singapore, with one foot in the world of academia and the other in that of public policy. From 1999-2011 he served as Policy Director for South and Southeast Asia of the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He began his professional life as Finance Editor of the Asahi Evening News in Tokyo, earned his doctorate in social anthropology and has focused his career on the broad intersection of human capital, public policy, international security, economy and social development.

Dr Blank has taught graduate courses at Harvard University (where he earned his PhD and Masters, after earning his Bachelor’s from Yale), Georgetown University, George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, and Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He is the author of the books Mullahs on the Mainframe: Islam and Modernity Among the Daudi Bohras and Arrow of the Blue-Skinned God: Retracing the Ramayana through India.

Clemens Chay

Research Fellow

Dr Clemens Chay is a research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute. His research focuses on the history and politics of the Gulf states, with a particular emphasis on Kuwait, Oman and Qatar. At MEI he spearheads a public education series entitled “Bridging the Gulf”. His recent academic publications include a chapter that examines Kuwait’s parliamentary politics in The Routledge Handbook of Persian Gulf Politics (2020), a chapter in the edited volume Informal Politics in the Middle East (Hurst, 2021), and a study appearing in the Journal of Arabian Studies, titled “The Dīwāniyya Tradition in Modern Kuwait: An Interlinked Space and Practice.” His commentaries also feature across different outlets, including ISPI, KFCRIS, and AGSIW. He is currently working on a book project related to Kuwait’s diwaniyas (affectionately known as diwawin, and more widely known as majalis outside Kuwait), the reception rooms for informal meetings that have implications for society, politics and diplomacy.

Prior to joining MEI, Dr Chay was the Al-Sabah fellow at Durham University, where he taught and completed his PhD in Middle Eastern and Islamic studies, and where he also received an MSc in defence, development and diplomacy. He is also a Sciences Po Paris alumnus, having read his BA at the Menton campus.

Aisha Al-Sarihi

Research Fellow

Dr Aisha Al-Sarihi’s areas of research expertise and interest include clean energy policy and climate economics, policies and governance, with a focus on the Arab region.

Following her PhD, from 2016 to 2017, she was a research officer at the London School of Economics and Political Science’s Middle East Centre. She was also a former visiting scholar at Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington (2017) and Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (2018). Before joining MEI, Dr Al-Sarihi was a research associate in the Climate and Environment Program at King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC) from 2019 to 2021.

She holds a PhD from the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London and a MSc and a BSc, with distinction, in environmental science from Sultan Qaboos University.

Jing Lin

Research Fellow

Dr Jing Lin specialises in Jewish philosophy, Hebrew literature, and Israel Studies. She has been a Senior Lecturer at the School of Asian & African Studies at Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU).

From 2020 to 2021, Dr Lin was a Visiting Associate at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. She also directed the Department of Hebrew Studies at BFSU from 2010 to 2019.

Dr Lin earned her Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Peking University, focusing on Medieval Jewish philosophy. She holds an M.A. in Jewish Studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a B.A. in Arabic Language & Literature from BFSU.

Her research interests include Israel studies, Jewish philosophy, and inter-religious relations. She has published extensively in these areas and translated several Hebrew literary works into Chinese.

Evangeline Cheng

Research Associate

Evangeline is a research associate at Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore. Prior to her current role, she spent a large part of her career in learning and development, focusing on workplace learning and action research projects. She is particularly interested in exploring the traditional and emerging alliances within the geopolitical landscape of the Middle East. Evangeline holds a bachelor’s degree in communication studies and a master’s degree in Asian studies from Nanyang Technological University.

Luciano Zaccara

Dr Luciano Zaccara is Research Associate Professor in Gulf Politics at the Qatar University, Gulf Studies Center. Also a Visiting Associate Professor at the Georgetown University in Qatar.

He obtained a BA in Political Science from National University of Rosario, Argentina, and a PhD in Arab and Islamic Studies from Autonoma University of Madrid, Spain. He has been post-doctoral fellow at Autonoma University of Barcelona; Visiting Researcher at Exeter University, Institute for Arab and Islamic Studies; and Visiting Researcher at Princeton University, Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies.

His research interests are Iranian Politics and Foreign Policy; Gulf Politics; International Relations in the Persian Gulf; and Electoral Systems in MENA region.

A selection of his latest publications includes:

“China’s Economic and Political Presence in the Middle East and South Asia”, Haghirian, M. & Zaccara, L. (Eds.), Routledge, 2023.

“Foreign Policy of Iran under President Hassan Rouhani’s First Term (2013–2017)”, Zaccara, L. (Ed.), Palgrave Macmillan, 2020.

Bilahari Kausikan

Honorary Fellow

Bilahari Kausikan spent his entire career in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore (MFA). Over 37 years in MFA, he served in a variety of appointments at home and abroad. These included Ambassador to the Russian Federation, Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, Deputy Secretary for South-east Asia, Second Permanent Secretary, and subsequently Permanent Secretary. Upon retiring in 2013, he was appointed Ambassador-at-Large, a position he held until 2018. Mr Kausikan became Chairman of the Middle East Institute (MEI), an autonomous institute of the National University of Singapore, in 2017, and retired in 2024, but remains associated with the institute as Honorary Fellow.

Mr Kausikan has published three books — “Dealing with an Ambiguous World” (2016), “Singapore Is Not An Island” (2017) and “Singapore Is Still Not An Island” (2023) — along with many articles in local and international journals. He continues to lecture on global geopolitics, and developments in North-east Asia, the Middle East, and South-east Asia, to universities and other educational institutions in Singapore and abroad, as well as corporations and financial institutions. Raffles Institution, the University of Singapore and Columbia University all attempted to educate him, but should not be held responsible for the consequences.

Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat

Research Affiliate

Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat is a research professor at the Busan University of Foreign Studies. His research focuses on China-Middle East-Indonesia relations. He graduated from the Qatar University with a BA in international affairs and from the University of Manchester with a MA in international politics. He completed his Ph.D thesis on the Belt and Road Initiatives in the Gulf at Manchester.

His publications include a chapter entitled “Qatar and the ASEAN Community” in ASEAN Looks West: ASEAN and the Gulf Region (2017), books in Indonesian on China’s foreign policy in the Syrian conflict (2021) and Indonesia-GCC relations (2021), as well as monographs entitled, “Developments in Indonesian-Saudi Relations Under President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo” (KFCRIS, 2022) and “From Hormuz to Malacca: Straits of Cooperation between the GCC and Indonesia” (MEI-NUS, 2022). His opinions have also been published in The Diplomat, Asia Sentinel, and The Conversation.

Misha Anthony Monteiro-Benson

Research Affiliate

Misha is currently a Public Servant in Singapore and a Research Affiliate at the Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore. His academic interest is the political economy of the Central Asian Republics as they chart a course through an evolving geopolitical landscape which is multipolar and increasingly tied to the geopolitics of the Middle East. With a background in criminology and maritime security, Misha is interested in economic development, and the agency of small states during geopolitical tensions. He has been published in the South China Morning Post, East Asia Forum, and Asia Times on issues linked to Central Asia.

Tommy Steiner

Honorary Fellow

Mr Tommy Steiner is a policy consultant for SIGNAL, an Israeli policy organisation focusing on China and China-Israel relations and holds fellow positions with international policy institutes. Based in Israel, he is an Honorary Fellow of the Middle East Institute (NUS), Associate Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society and Senior Fellow at Cevro Institute’s Prague Center for Transatlantic Relations (PCTR). Concurrently, Mr Steiner is an Adjunct Lecturer and teaches International Relations and Strategic Studies at the Lauder School of Government at IDC Herzliya, Israel.

Until recently, he was a senior research fellow at IDC Herzliya’s Institute for Policy and Strategy.
Mr Tommy’s fields of expertise include, global politics and international security, transatlantic relations, international relations of the Middle East and Israel’s foreign relations. In his areas of expertise, he regularly advises Israeli authorities, international organisations, business, media and think tanks.

Koh Choon Hwee

Research Affiliate

Dr Koh Choon Hwee is a historian of the Ottoman empire. She is currently a visiting assistant professor at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, and she will take on an assistant professor position at UCLA’s History department in July 2021.

Choon Hwee has a PhD in history from Yale University, an MA in history from the American University of Beirut and she graduated from NUS with a BA in philosophy and South Asian studies.

Malik R Dahlan

Honorary Fellow

Professor Malik Dahlan is a prominent Arabian multijurisdictional qualified lawyer and one of the leading international regulatory law and public policy experts in the Middle East. He is Chaired Professor of International Law and Public Policy at Queen Mary University of London, and a senior research fellow at the Rand Europe.

He has authored several books including The Hijaz: The First Islamic State by Oxford University Press. As a senior mediation fellow at Harvard, he built out a Peace Mediation Support Group to explore pressing current global negotiation topics such as Jerusalem negotiations. He is an expert on Investor-State Dispute System and the Belt and Road Initiative. He is a trustee of the British Institute for International and Comparative Law and an Advisory Board member of the Institute for Legal and Constitutional Research at the University of St Andrews.

Professor Dahlan practiced regulatory law for 15 years across many sectors including energy, defence, trade, government affairs, rule of law among others. His experience in renewable energy extends beyond legal practice into investment and entrepreneurship, as he owned the Gulf’s first private renewable energy company.

In parallel to his academic work, Professor Dahlan is the Principal of Institution Quraysh for Law & Policy (iQ). He is a CEDR accredited mediator, and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. Professor Dahlan obtained his LLD in Law and Public Policy from Al-Azhar University. He completed three Harvard University master’s degrees and earned his LLB from the University of Jordan.

Alwi Shihab

Honorary Fellow

Dr Alwi Shihab is one of the leading authorities and scholars on the interaction between Christian and Muslim communities. He is currently the Indonesian president’s Special Envoy to the Middle East and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Previously, he was the Indonesian Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare between 2004 and 2005, and Indonesia’s Foreign Minister between 1999 and 2001.

Mattia Tomba

Research Affiliate

Mattia is the head of Asia–Pacific at Tradeteq, an electronic trading platform.

He was previously with Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund (Qatari Diar), where he managed a portfolio of equities and worked on large private equity and real estate transactions worldwide. Prior to that, he was part of the Goldman Sachs Group, where he was involved in the investment and portfolio management of European real estate acquisitions. He began his career with the private wealth management team of Merrill Lynch.

Mattia sits on the advisory council of SovereigNet, The Fletcher Network for Sovereign Wealth and Global Capital at The Fletcher School (Tufts University).

He graduated from The Fletcher School at Tufts University (Boston) with an MA in international affairs and from Bocconi University (Milan)/ Science Po (Paris) with a BS in business administration.

Francesca P Albanese

Research Affiliate

Dr Francesca Albanese is a human rights lawyer (LLM, SOAS) who spent 12 years working in the field of human rights, including with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and more recently with the UN Agency for Relief and Work of Palestine Refugees in the Near East. Her legal expertise includes research, policy advice and capacity building on various human rights issues mainly in Asia and the Middle East and North Africa region. This includes the protection of refugees and irregular migrants, the international human rights system, transitional justice and the establishment of national human rights institutions and mechanisms for the prevention of torture.

Francesca was leading the research for the revisited edition of Dr Lex Takkenberg’s seminal work on The Status of Palestinian Refugees in International Law, first published by Oxford University Press in 1998. The book, Palestinians Refugees in International Law (Second Edition), was published in 2020.

She is also an associate researcher at the Institute for the Study of International Migration, (ISIM) Georgetown University and an affiliated scholar to the Refugee Program of the Issam Fares Institute, American University of Beirut.