Marene Madi

Dr. Marene Madi is a Research Fellow with the Middle East Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center. Her current research examines how governments use AI-supported analysis in policymaking, including how such analysis enters policy processes, how it is tested and challenged, and where responsibility for policy judgment remains. Her work focuses on the Gulf, with an initial application to climate and energy policy in the region.

Before joining Harvard, she spent nine years advising governments and institutions in multilateral and diplomatic settings. At PwC’s Government and Public Sector practice, she led a Gulf state’s engagement across four G20 Finance Track presidencies and the BRICS Finance Track, advising on engagement strategy, coalition- building, negotiating positions, and senior-level participation in negotiations. She also contributed to the development of the COP28 Finance Day agenda, including work on climate finance and financial-system resilience. Earlier, she served as Economic Affairs Advisor at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Riyadh, where she developed and delivered economic and public diplomacy initiatives supporting Saudi-Dutch relations.

Dr. Madi holds a PhD in Financial and Management Studies and an MSc in Public Policy and Management from SOAS University of London, and a BA in International Relations and Diplomacy from Notre Dame University–Louaize. Her doctoral research examined how hydrocarbon-dependent states engage with international climate institutions while managing economic exposure, preserving policy autonomy, and seeking to shape rules from within. She developed the concept of conditional integration to describe this pattern of engagement.