President of Al Sharq Forum

Hassan Aourid is a Moroccan journalist and thinker. He has published a number of works, the most prominent of which are “The Refracted Mirror of the West,” and “Behind Mecca.”

S. Sayyid is a Professor of Rhetoric and Decolonial Thought. Until recently, he served as the Head of the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Leeds. His significant publications include Recalling the Caliphate and “A Fundamental Fear”. Sayyid played a crucial role in shaping the parliamentary definition of Islamophobia, which has garnered widespread adoption. He spearheads an innovative research program in Critical Muslim Studies. Sayyid is the founding editor of interdisciplinary ReOrient and his work has been translated into nearly a dozen languages.

Mohammad Affan is the acting director of Al Sharq Strategic Research, the coordinator of Al Sharq Program on Political Islam, and the managing director of Al Sharq Academia. A medical doctor by training, he holds a Ph.D. from the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter. Also, he obtained his MA degree in Comparative Politics at the American University of Cairo. His thesis was published in Arabic as a book titled: ‘Wahhabism and the Brotherhood: The Conflict on the Concept of the State and the Legitimacy of Power.’ In addition, he holds a post-graduate diploma in Civil Society and Human Rights from Cairo University, a diploma in Political Research and Studies from the Institute of Arab Research and Studies, and a diploma in Islamic Studies from The Higher Institute for Islamic Studies, Cairo. His research interests include Islamism and democratization in MENA region.

Thembisa Fakude is a senior research fellow and director of Africa Asia Dialogues (Afrasid),a think tank based in Johannesburg, South Africa.  He holds a Master’s degree in Politics from the university of the Witwatersrand. He is a columnist with the Middle East Monitor in London and a research fellow at Al Sharq Forum in Istanbul, Turkey. He also serves on the board of Common Action Forum (CAF) in Madrid, Spain and on the board of Mail and Guardian publication in South Africa.

Thembisa is the chairperson of Gauteng Industrial Development Zone (GIDZ), a government owned special economic zone (sez) located at OR Tambo International Airport in South Africa. He also serves as a Deputy Chairperson of Gauteng Growth and Development Agency (GGDA) a government investment promotion agency in South Africa.

He is the former Bureau Chief of Al Jazeera Media Network in Southern Africa, former head of English unit of Al Jazeera Centre for Studies and a former chairperson of Foreign Correspondents Association of Southern Africa (FCA).

Founder & General Manager of Siyasat

Managing Director at GEM, a Digital Transformation company

Executive Director Khalil Center

Campaigns Director at Avaaz

Director of Civil Migration Research Center- Ankara University

ASK is the founder & CEO of Youth Impact, an award winning not for profit, having trained 26,000+ youth across five continents on earth. ASK, a cancer survivor, who has dedicated his second life to empower youth of the world, has introduced ‘Markhor’, Himalaya’s unique wilderness-based youth leadership conference held annually since 2013. A published author, founded leadership development organizations in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, has leadership development experience of more than 20 years. ASK is specialized in wilderness and adventure-based leadership development programs. Being an adventure enthusiast, he is first Pakistani to graduate from National Outdoor Leadership School, USA. He is also certified in ‘Train the Trainer’ from American Management Association, Chicago. ASK holds multiple Leadership Fellowship including at Stanford University’s ‘Executive Program for Nonprofits, International Visitors Leadership Program by US State Department, South East Asia Leadership Academy, Executive Endeavor Award in Australia and many more.

CEO of GoodDeeds and Chairman of Hasoub

Director of Digital at TRT, Turkish Radio and Television Corporation

Osama El-Mourabit is a Moroccan Researcher and Political Analyst.
His Research Interest focuses mainly on the geopolitics of the Maghreb region as well as the EU-Southern Mediterranean relationship.
He is a Holder of a Master of Arts in International Relations from the University of Humboldt-Berlin (HU-Berlin), with a master thesis entitled “The European discourse towards the Southern Mediterranean: From the Barcelona Process to the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP)”.
He worked previously as a research fellow in a number of institutions including Al Sharq Forum, the Policy Center for the New South and the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP). He is currently a Phd candidate in International Relations.

Director of Harmoni Project- Türkiye