Adel Hamaizia

Adel Hamaizia is a research fellow at the Belfer Center’s Middle East Initiative, Harvard Kennedy School, and a doctoral researcher at the University of Oxford, where he previously taught Middle East Politics. 

His primary research interests include: political economy, geoeconomics, energy policy, state-business relations, MSMEs and the informal sector across MENA (with a particular focus on the Maghreb and the GCC states). More recently he has led research and policy projects on China-MENA relations, GCC-Africa relations, GCC energy transitions, and Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030. 

Adel is currently the Managing Director at London-based Highbridge Advisory, a strategic boutique advisory focused on information advantage, risk mitigation, policy development and implementation for companies and governments working in the Middle East, the Balkans, and Africa (MEBA). 

He is currently a Senior Advisor at the Milken Institute, and a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s Middle East programs.

Adel was formerly a visiting fellow at Harvard’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies, and previously a senior teaching fellow at the Department of Financial and Management Studies at SOAS, University of London. 

He was previously the Committee Vice-Chairman of the Oxford Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies Forum (OxGAPS) where he was the co-founder and the co-editor of OxGAPS’ thematic-quarterly, “Gulf Affairs”. 

Adel was also an associate at Global Partners Governance, and formerly an associate fellow at the Chatham House MENA programme. He has consulted for several governments, foundations, and private sector organizations with a focus on political risk, due diligence, corporate investigations, public diplomacy and economic development. 

Adel regularly convenes and contributes to track 1.5 and 2 meetings, and is engaged in a range of volunteering activities related to employability skills training for students across the Middle East and North Africa. He has provided commentary for a range of media outlets including the New York Times, the Financial Times, the Economist, the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Arab News, the National, and Al Jazeera.