The Founding President of the Middle East Research Institute (MERI, www.meri-k.org). Formerly, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research (KRG, 2009-2012) and Professor of Medicine in Nottingham University, UK. In the field of medicine, he held a number of leadership positions in the UK within the Health Protection England, Medical Research Council, Royal College of Pathologists, and Society for General Microbiology. In the policy field, Ala’Aldeen has long been engaged in nation and state-building projects in Iraq, and has published extensively on the political & security dynamics in the Middle East

and state-building and democratisation in the Iraq and Kurdistan Region. His recent books: ‘Nation-Building and the System of Governance in Kurdistan Region’ (2013)

‘State-Building: A Roadmap for the Rule-of-Law and Institutionalisation in Kurdistan Region’ (2018) and State-Building in Iraq, Addressing the Structural and Functional Gaps in the Governing System (2021).