Continuing its role as a thought leader on public issues, the College of Public Policy (CPP) at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) will participate at the 9th AMEPPA Global Conference on Public Policy and Administration in the Middle East from December 8-9. 

Dr. Leslie A. Pal, Founding Dean of CPP, will deliver the keynote speech to open the conference and set the context for discussions over the two days. Dr. Steffen Hertog, Associate Professor in Comparative Politics in the Department of Government, London School of Economics and Political Science, will also be a distinguished keynote speaker on the second day. 

The Association for Middle Eastern Public Policy and Administration (AMEPPA) is convening this year’s conference virtually in collaboration with the School of Public Administration and Development Economics at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, under the theme “Crises, Conflicts, and other Challenges: Rethinking Governance and Public Policy Reforms in the MENA Region”. The conference will serve as an interdisciplinary forum to address pressing topics and contribute to strengthening governance and policy reforms in the region.

CPP faculty will also make leading contributions addressing the conference themes. Dr. Andreas Rechkemmer, Professor; Dr. Anis Ben Brik, Associate Professor; Dr. Ozcan Ozturk, Assistant Professor of Economics; and Dr. Pal will present their COVID-19 Policy Tracker of MENA government responses (menatracker.org), during a session on institutional responses in MENA countries. 

During a session on public policy and administration reforms, Dr. Brik will jointly present a paper titled “The UAE as a Global Donor: Analyzing a Decade of Foreign Aid Data and Foreign Affairs Policy”, with Dr. Logan Cochrane, Associate Professor at CPP. Dr. Ozturk and Mr. Noureddine Radouai, a Master of Public Policy student at CPP, will jointly present a paper titled “Inequality and State Institutions in the Arab World”.

Speaking ahead of the conference, Dr. Pal, Dean of CPP, said: “The event is a timely reminder that it is not only the pandemic weighing heavily on policymakers, but multiple crises that demand innovative policy solutions. This fact underscores the importance of CPP’s participation at the global forum, and the opportunity it presents to share the interdisciplinary work we are doing that can contribute to effective policy development in the region and ultimately serve the public good. The College looks forward to hosting the 10th AMEPPA Conference in December 2021.” 

For more information on the work of the College of Public Policy, please visit cpp.hbku.edu.qa