Biography:

Dr Moneef R. Zou�bi has been active in Science and Technology Studies for over 27 years. Born in Amman, Jordan, he studied for his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Civil Engineering Technology and Management at Brighton and Loughborough Universities in the United Kingdom, 1980 - 1987. After becoming involved in global development issues, he successfully pursued further post-graduate work at the Department of Science and Technology Studies at the University of Malaya.

Moneef joined the Islamic World Academy of Sciences (IAS) (an international scientific NGO based in Jordan and affiliated to the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC)) in 1990, embarking on a career in international scientific and technological collaboration involving more than 57 countries. After serving in various capacities at the IAS, he was appointed by the IAS Council as Director General, IAS, in May 1998. He also serves as the Science Advisor to the Interaction Council (IAC) which is an independent international organization that mobilizes the experience, energy and international contacts of a group of statesmen who have held the highest office in their own countries. He is also a Founding Fellow of the Academy of Engineering and Technology for the Developing World (AETDEW), based in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia).

Over the last three decades, he has been involved in scientific missions in more than 30 countries. For some time, he was a consultant for the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) on Information Technology policies and strategies; undertook some consultancy work for UNESCO, as well as being the Science Advisor of the of the InterAction Council. Moneef Zou�bi has, since the mid-1990s, devoted all his energies to science and innovation advocacy at all levels, and to promoting the role of academies of sciences as agents of change engaged in bridging scientific and technological, development, and even political divides between countries, cultures and civilizations.

He has written extensively on science and technology issues, science education and sustainable development, as well as on water issues from a Middle Eastern perspective, and has given lectures on such topics in over 25 countries including Canada and the United States. He has published over 60 publications and edited and co-edited 10 books on topics such higher education, the environment as well transformational technologies. In 2010, he co-authored the ground-breaking Arab States Chapter of the 2010 UNESCO Science Report that foresaw the advent of the Arab Spring and the associated turmoil in the Middle East. In 2015, he was commissioned again to be lead author of the Arab States Chapter of the 2015 UNESCO Science Report.

Apart from his work-related interests, he is interested in the history of the Middle East, the history of science especially the history of academies of sciences, the science and religion nexus, science diplomacy as well as sustainable development and water issues in the developing world.

Moneef has visited more than 60 countries and enjoys high-level contacts in most; he speaks Arabic, English and some French, and is a member of many international organizations including the UNESCO International Centre for South-South Co-operation in Science, Technology and Innovation (ISTIC), Malaysia; the New York Academy of Sciences; World Academy of Art and Science and the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology; and is a Founding Fellow, of the Academy of Engineering and Technology for the Developing World (AETDEW), based in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). He is also a member of the Advisory Committee of the Rosenberg International Water Forum, USA, since 2007; member (Ex-Officio) of the Council of the Islamic World Academy of Sciences, since 2009; member of the Advisory Board, Muslim-Science.Com, since 2011, and a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), since 2013.

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