Team:
Department of Development Studies, University of Vienna
Rabie Nasser (overall project coordinator)
is an economist, researcher and co-founder of the Syrian Center for Policy Research (SCPR). His areas of expertise and research include macroeconomic policies, inclusive growth, poverty, and conflict socioeconomic impact assessment. He holds a MSc in Economics from Leicester University, UK. Before joining the SCPR, Nasser worked for the State Planning Commission as chief economist and director general of the Macroeconomic Management Directorate between 2004-2005. He later worked as an economic researcher for the Arab Planning Institute in Kuwait. Since 2008, he has led several United Nations research projects.
Helmut Krieger (researcher)
is a social scientist, post-doc researcher and lecturer at the Department of Development Studies at the University of Vienna. His research focuses on the Israel-Palestine antagonism, social movements in the Arab World, development policies in war zones, critical state theories, and postcolonial approaches. He was the Austrian project coordinator of the APPEAR project Rooting Development in the Palestinian Context.
Click here to visit his profile at the University of Vienna.
Syrian Center for Policy Research
Rabe Bana (project coordinator)
is a pharmacist and an experienced program specialist with a demonstrated history of working in the non-profit organization management sector with a focus on Syria. In the last 10 years he has worked with several international NGOs managing and designing projects in support of civil society, conflict resolution, peace-building, facilitation, multi-track dialogue and mediation. He is currently part of the management and coordination team of the Syrian Center for Policy Research (SCPR).
Ramia Ismail (researcher)
is an economist and researcher at the Syrian Center for Policy Research (SCPR). Her areas of research include economic policies and development issues in Syria. Ismail worked for the Ministry of Finance in Syria as a coordinator of the Value-added Tax Project between 2004-2005. From 2009-2011 she worked as a macroeconomic expert for the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ). Ismail is involved in several UN and international organization projects, including UNICEF. She holds a MSc in Economics of the Middle East from Philipps-University of Marburg, Germany, a MSc in Economic Policy for Developing and Transitional Economies from University of Bradford, UK, and a Diploma in Population and Development from Damascus University.
Nabil Marzouk (researcher)
is an economist and senior researcher at the Syrian Center for Policy Research (SCPR). His areas of research include macroeconomic policies and socioeconomic development in Syria. Marzouk worked for the State Planning Commission as a consultant and lecturer at the Planning Institute of Damascus for the macroeconomics sector. He also worked for the General Company for Technical Studies and as a consultant and expert for ESCWA, UNDP, UNIDO, and ILO. He holds a doctorate in Analysis and Economics Policies from The School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, Paris.
Partners:
Department of Development Studies, University of Vienna
The Department was founded in 2010 (Project International Development was formed in 2002) as a transdisciplinary research platform, with links to the Faculty of History, the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Social Sciences. Its aim in research and teaching is to challenge classical conventions and foster new and critical approaches to development theory, methodology, and policy. The team at the Department of Development Studies (DDS) consists of 9 academic staff members – among them 2 professors – and 58 lecturers with various disciplinary and professional backgrounds. This diversity is an important pillar in transdisciplinary teaching and research that is further strengthened by research projects and their focus on transdisciplinarity (e.g. KNOTS – Fostering multi-lateral knowledge networks of transdisciplinary studies to tackle global challenges, funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the EU and the APPEAR project Rooting Development in the Palestinian Context, funded by the Austrian Development Cooperation). DDS offers an MA (900 students) and PhD program (40 students). Visit the DDS website to learn more.
The Syrian Center for Policy Research (SCPR)
The Syrian Center for Policy Research (SCPR) is an independent, non-governmental, and non-profit research center, working to bridge the gap between research and policymaking process.
Since 2011, the center has worked on evidence-based policy dialogue to diagnose the conflict roots and dynamics in addition to providing policy alternatives that promote people’s priorities in justice, peace, and sustainable and human-centered development.