Greg Shapland is the Principal Investigator and UKRI FCDO Senior Research Fellow on the project, ‘The Political Economy of Water in the MENA Region: A Cross-Regional Assessment’. Greg will be working on a two-year project that will investigate the key determinants of water security/insecurity in the MENA region. The research will seek to identify geographical "hot-spots" of water insecurity and the challenges specific to these sub-regions, countries and socio-economic groups. It will recommend measures that could be taken to improve water security.
His entire career has been focussed on the Middle East and North Africa, whether as a commercial representative, university lecturer or government official (in the Ministry of Defence, Cabinet Office and FCO). He is currently working on the research project 'The Nile Basin: Climate Change, Water and Future Cooperation and Development' (for the EU Cascade programme, via Chatham House), to be published in mid-December 2023
From 1979 until 2015, he served in the MENA Research Group in the FCO. He was also Head of Research Analysts from July 2010 to July 2013. During his time with the FCO, Greg served in British Embassies in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Tel Aviv and in the Consulate General in Jerusalem.
Since leaving the FCO, Greg has worked on post-conflict stabilisation, Israeli-Palestinian relations, inter-state and intra-state water disputes and the impact of climate change in the MENA region. He has a particular interest in the interactions between geographical phenomena (including the natural environment and resource endowment) and politics and governance. He is currently working on a book on the politics and geography of the MENA region.
Greg holds degrees in Geography, Arabic and Area Studies (Middle East: geography and politics). His book, Rivers of Discord: International Water Disputes in the Middle East, was published in 1997.