Berlin, Berlin, Germany
I am a freelance researcher, consultant, educator, and policy advisor with 13 years of experience in consulting, teaching, research, policy advisory, and advocacy working with government institutions, civil society organizations, research institutes, and universities. I focus on shrinking civic spaces, academic freedom, fieldwork safety, human rights, democratization, and authoritarianism.My research lies at the intersection of comparative politics, international relations, and regional studies on Middle Eastern politics & societies. In my dissertation, I explored the impact of protests on elite perceptions and decision-making in authoritarian regimes in Morocco and Egypt during 2011.I regularly consult state institutions in foreign and development policy, academic institutions on protecting academic freedom, fieldwork preparation, and international affairs, and civil society organizations that are active in democracy support, development cooperation, and the human rights sector.Amongst my former clients are parties and members of the German Parliament (Bundestag), the European Parliament, the German Federal Foreign Office, the German Federal Ministry for Development Cooperation, the German Development Agency (GIZ), the Japanese Development Bank, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), the Heinrich Böll Foundation, the Berlin Brandenburgische Academy of Science (BBAW), the Berlin University Allianz (BUA), Adopt a Revolution, Adopt an Academic, Scholars At Risk, the Alexander von Humboldt foundation amongst others.
During my Fellowship at the University of Erfurt I will continue my research on shrinking civic space and civils coeity resilience in the Western Asia and North Africa region and work with colleagues in Erfurt to develop a porject proposal on transitional justice in Syria after the fall of the Assad regime.
I am an associate lecturer at the Centre for Fundamental Rights at the Hertie School I teach seminars on fieldwork methods and human rights, authoritarianism and transitions after the Arab Uprisings.
At CARPO I am focusing on relations between Europe and the Arab world, with particular focus on relations between Germany and Egypt, Morocco, Syria and Tunisia; contemporary authoritarianism; human rights and academic freedom; civil society and shrinking spaces; conflicts and fieldwork safety. In my role at CARPO I have advised the German International Development Agency (GIZ) and the Federal Ministry for Development Cooperation (BMZ).
As a non-resident fellow at the GPPi I continue working on issues of measuring, promoting and advising on academic freedom and civil society support.
Ilyas Saliba was a research fellow at the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) in Berlin, where he focused on democracy and human rights in the Middle East and North Africa and contributed to GPPi’s work on measuring academic freedom and democracy promotion.
At University of Potsdam I am teaching on protests, authoritarianism, transitions and human rights after the Arab Uprisings.