Distinguished Associate Fellow

Dr. Iyad Abumoghli is a distinguished diplomat and engineer with over 40 years of experience advancing international environmental policy, including more than three decades in senior leadership roles within the United Nations.

His work has focused on bridging climate science, public policy, and values-based engagement to advance more inclusive and effective approaches to environmental governance.

As the founder and chair of Al-Mizan and the architect of UNEP’s Faith for Earth Coalition, Dr. Abumoghli has played a leading role in integrating ethical and faith-based perspectives into global climate and sustainability efforts. Through this work, he has helped translate complex environmental challenges into policy-relevant frameworks that engage a wide range of societal actors.

Throughout his career, Dr. Abumoghli has held senior regional and global positions, including Regional Director for UNEP in West Asia and Global Practice Manager at UNDP in New York, where he contributed to shaping environmental and sustainable development agendas across diverse political and institutional contexts.

He currently serves on the Higher Council for Science and Technology and on the Strategic Advisory Councils of the United Religions Initiative and Bread for the World. His work continues to focus on addressing the interconnected challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution, with particular attention to equity, governance, and the needs of vulnerable communities.

Distinguished Associate Fellow

Ms. Majdalani is a senior climate and natural resources expert with extensive experience advancing food systems transformation and sustainable development across the Arab region. Her work focuses on integrated management of water, energy, and food security, collaboration with public- and private-sector institutions, and support for intergovernmental processes aimed at region-specific development goals.

She currently serves as Senior Climate Advisor at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Drylands (ICARDA), a role she assumed in January 2022, where she supports the alignment of institutional programs with climate and sustainable development agendas. Previously, she was the Director of the Arab Center for Climate Change Policies and the Cluster Leader for Natural Resource Sustainability at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN-ESCWA).

Ms. Majdalani holds an MSc in Urban and Regional Planning from Syracuse University. She has served on several international research and development boards, including the International Center on Biosaline Agriculture and the Stockholm International Water Award, and is currently a member of the Steering Committee of the Global Water Partnership.

Distinguished Associate Fellow

Faisal Ali Al Rashid is a senior energy executive with extensive experience in energy demand management, large-scale project delivery, and decarbonization initiatives across the UAE. His work spans public-sector energy strategy and major industrial projects, with a strong focus on efficiency and net-zero implementation.

He currently serves as Senior Director of the Demand Side Management (DSM) Directorate at the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, where he oversees energy demand management programs across Dubai. Since the inception of the Dubai DSM program, he has played a central role in its development and implementation. He also chairs the Advancing Net Zero Volunteering Team, supporting efforts to accelerate decarbonization in UAE cities.

Prior to his work in energy policy and demand-side management, he accumulated 16 years of experience in the oil and gas sector, leading multiple major EPC projects and delivering large-scale initiatives.

He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Ohio University and maintains Project Management Professional (PMP) credentials, as well as an accredited policy-making certification.

Associate Fellow

Malak Altaeb is an independent consultant, blogger, and researcher based in Paris. She holds a master’s degree in environmental policy from Sciences Po University in Paris and a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Tripoli in Libya. Her work as a consultant on environmental policy in the MENA region focuses on the water-energy-food nexus, security, and conflict analysis in the MENA region, particularly in Libya, Tunisia, and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

She has previously served as an ecological security fellow at the Center for Climate and Security under the Strategic Risks Institute and was a non-resident fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy.. She also worked as a consultant for the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), focusing on policy analysis related to water management and the circular economy of water. Additionally, she consulted for the American University in Cairo, addressing food security and artificial intelligence in Tunisia. Her research has been published in various outlets, including the Arab Reform Initiative, the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI), and the Centre for European Reform (CER).

Associate Fellow

Jamila El Mir has two decades of experience in environmental and sustainability strategy and policy development covering large-scale urban and infrastructure development, city planning, climate change mitigation and adaptation and circular economy.

She has worked closely with industry and has led several technical alliances and working groups to advance public private dialogue and inform policy and market enablers. 

El Mir is currently acting as a government environment strategy and policy advisor as well as Insights and Activation Lead at Wave, an NGO focused on supporting ocean regeneration within one generation.

She has previously acted as senior advisor to the UN High Level Champion for COP28 and held several key environment and sustainability roles in the public and private sector.

Associate Fellow

Piotr Schulkes is a Norway-based Middle East consultant, where he helps clients with political risk analyses, economic & market entry reports, and due diligence. He has a master’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Oxford, where his dissertation studied the causes and consequences of bank sector concentration in Saudi Arabia, and a bachelor’s degree in the same field from the University of Groningen. His current research concentrates on economic and energy transition initiatives in the Middle East, with a special interest in the Gulf’s finance and low-carbon sectors. He regularly writes data-driven articles on the Middle East’s renewable energy and hydrogen policies, and the role that banks and sovereign wealth play in facilitating economic diversification strategies. In 2024 he published a book chapter on the different funding models for renewable energy projects in Oman and Saudi Arabia.

He was previously a non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute’s energy and economics programme, where his research focused on the role of private and public financing in non-oil industries, and a MENA analyst in Kroll’s London office.

Associate Fellow

Dina Zayed is a policy strategist, researcher, communicator and facilitator. Her expertise straddles climate adaptation politics and finance, international development, social and climate justice, and public participation in climate governance. A participatory action researcher and practitioner, she has worked on and has interest in climate diplomacy, civic activism, environmental politics, anticipatory action, democratic and institutional policy design, urban climate adaptation, and sustainable community development. 

With expertise across the Middle East and Africa regions, she has worked on a variety of commissioned projects and collaborated with a wide range of philanthropic, research, intergovernmental, and civil society groups. Zayed has a deep interest in South-South collaboration and evidence-based knowledge and learning across networks and geographies. A former journalist, coalition-builder, and convener, she leverages a career-long commitment of research and practice that centers power, relationships, and ethical care. Dina holds a PhD from the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, an MSc in Environmental Change and Management from the University of Oxford, and a BA in Political Science from the American University in Cairo.