Adel Abdel Ghafar

I am a Senior Fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), where my work focuses on the geopolitics and geoeconomics of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), with a particular emphasis on the growing linkages and interdependencies between the Middle East, Asia, and the Indo-Pacific. Previously, I was Director of the Foreign Policy Program and Senior Fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs. Prior to that, I was a Fellow in the Brookings Institution's Foreign Policy Program and Director of Research at the Brookings Doha Center.

With more than 25 years of experience across think tanks, academia, consulting, and finance, I advise governments, international organisations, and multinational firms on geopolitical and geoeconomic issues across the MENA region. My advisory work has included engagements with the European Union, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), the Saudi Ministry of Defense, the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), and Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

I am also an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University, where I teach undergraduate and postgraduate courses on geopolitics and international political economy. I also design and deliver executive education and policy training programs for governments and institutional partners across Asia, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and Europe, including programs for ambassadors, diplomats, and corporate leaders prior to postings to the Middle East.

I am the author and editor of several books, volumes, and policy reports, including The Foreign Policies of the Gulf Cooperation Council (I.B. Tauris, forthcoming October 2026), Asia in the GCC: A New Strategic Partner? (Waseda University & MEC, 2023), The Gulf Cooperation Council at Forty (Brookings Institution Press, 2022), China and North Africa (I.B. Tauris, 2021), The European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021), The European Union and North Africa (Brookings Institution Press, 2019), A Stable Egypt for a Stable Region (European Parliament, 2018), Egyptians in Revolt (Routledge, 2017), and The Middle East: Revolution or Reform? (Melbourne University Press, 2014).

I hold a PhD in Political Science and International Relations from the Australian National University, an MA in Arab and Islamic Studies and a combined Master of Commerce and International Business from the University of Sydney, and a Bachelor of Commerce from Cairo University.