Dr. Hany Besada is a Visiting Senior Fellow, Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa, London School of Economics and Political Science. He is also a Non-Executive Director, MAFCO Capital and Executive Director, Institute for Natural Resources and Sustainable Development; Senior Research Fellow, United Nations University-Institute for Natural Resources in Africa; and Senior Fellow, Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History, University of Toronto. Previously, he was most the Senior Research and Programme Advisor & Senior Research Coordinator at the United Nations Development Programme. Deputy Executive Director at the Diamond Development Initiative (DDI); Senior Fellow, Columbia University's Columbia Centre on Sustainable Development; Senior Fellow with the Centre on Governance at the University of Ottawa, Research Professor, Institute of African Studies, Carleton University; Senior Regional Advisor, African Minerals Development Centre (AMDC) at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA); Theme Leader: Governance of Natural Resources at the North-South Institute (NSI); Research Specialist on the United Nations Secretary General’s High-Level Panel Secretariat on the Post 2015 Development Agenda, United Nations Development Program (UNDP); Program Leader and Senior Researcher at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) in Waterloo, Canada; Principle Researcher: Business in Africa at the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) and Policy Advisor for the South African Ministry of Local and Provisional Government, the Joan Kroc Institute of Peace and Justice, and the Office of US Senator Dianne Feinstein. Dr. Besada is the author of more than 80 peer-reviewed scholarly papers, over 70 opinion pieces and editor/author of 15 books. They include the Routledge Handbook of Natural Resource Governance (Routledge, 2024), Governance, Conflict and Natural Resources in Africa: Understanding the Role of Foreign Investment Actors (McGill University Press, 2020), Innovating South-South Cooperation: Challenges, Modalities and Policies (University of Ottawa Press, 2019), Did the MDGs Work: Meeting Future Challenges with Past Lessons (Oxford University Press, 2017), Governing Natural Resources for Africa’s Development (Routledge, 2016), Development in Africa: Refocusing the Lens After the Millennium Development Goals (Policy Press, 2015), From Civil Strife to Peace Building: Examining Private Sector Involvement in West African Reconstruction (WLU Press, 2009), Unlocking Africa’s Potential: The Role of Corporate South Africa in Strengthening Africa’s Private Sector (SAIIA, 2008). He sits on a number of boards, panels and expert groups, including Warwick Africa Hub, University of Warwick, African Capacity Indicators Reference Group, Society of International Development, Canadian International Council’s Aid Study Group, Pan-African Legal Network, Institute of African Studies Advisory Committee, United Nations Association-San Diego Advisory Council, Canadian International Council’s Africa Study Group, Cambridge Review of International Affairs Review Board, Canadian Foreign Policy Review Board, and the Alvin Curling Foundation Advisory Board. He has consulted for the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, United Nations Office for Sustainable Development, United States International Development Agency, African Capacity Building Foundation, and the Government of Sierra Leone.He holds a Ph.D. in Politics and International Studies from the University of Warwick in the UK.
Research Interests: Natural Resource Governance/Management, Sustainable Development, Digital Economy and Technologies for Sustainable Development, Trade and Investment Promotion & Facilitation, Climate Change and Environment Sustainability, South-South Cooperation, Peacebuilding and Economic Reconstruction
Region of Focus: Africa, Middle East, Global South, BRICS
Expertise Details: International Political Economy, Geopolitics, Commodities Market, Political and Economic Risk Analysis, Environment and Social Governance, News Media and Public Affairs