Michel Chiha Foundation

Professor of Sociology at the Lebanese University. He retired in 2007. His numerous publications include studies dealing with various aspects of Lebanese history, the Lebanese political and social system, and the Arab culture.

Farès Dahdah received his undergraduate degrees in both fine arts and architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design and went on to pursue his graduate studies in urbanism and architectural theory at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. Following a two decade long professorial track at Rice University’s School of Architecture, he was appointed director of the Humanities Research Center in 2012, Professor of the Humanities in 2014, and Professor of Art History in 2021, prior to becoming the Mamdouha El-Sayed Bobst Dean of Arts and Sciences at the American University of Beirut. In recent years, data scholarship, digital art history, and cloud adoption increasingly became central to his research interests and so has the creation of online geospatial platforms in the areas of cultural heritage, public health, social justice, disaster response, and climate change.

H.E. started his career as a journalist and columnist, Deputy Editor in Chief of “L’Orient-Le Jour” (1971-1975), Director of the Press Group “An-Nahar” (1977-1980). He was elected Deputy of Mount Lebanon in 1991. He held a number of portfolios: Minister of Tourism (1980-1982) Minister of Health and Social Affairs three times (1992-1997), Minister of the Displaced (2000-2003) Minister of Economy and Trade (1990-1992) and (2003-2004), Minister of Telecommunications (2005-2008). He is Secretary General of the Parliament’s bureau and Chairman of the Environment Parliamentary Commission since 2009. Mr. Hamadé is also President of the Board of the “Société Immobilière de Presse” (SIP), Consultant for the World Organisation of Health for the Middle East (since 1996), Founding member of the “Druze Council for Development” (since 1977), he also figures on the Board of the “Crédit Libanais” s.a.l., the Higher Council of the Lebanese Press, the Strategic Council of the Saint Joseph University (U.S.J.)”, the boards of “An-Nahar” and “l’Orient-Le Jour”

Former Honorary President of the Court of Cassation. Former President of the Higher Council of the Judiciary. Former member of the Constitutional Council. Emeritus Professor at the Faculty of Law and Political Science at Saint Joseph University.

Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for Behavioural Research at the American University of Beirut. He has also held academic appointments at Princeton, Harvard, MIT, and New York University. He is the author of numerous journal articles and book chapters on comparative modernisation, socio-cultural history, urbanisation, and post-war reconstruction. He has been a recipient of several international fellowships and research awards and appointed on the international jury to review master plans for the post-war reconstruction of Beirut. He is a trustee of several foundations and serves on the editorial boards of a score of international journals and publications.

Former President of the Catholic University of Paris, former Head of the Policy planning at the Ministry of Foreign affairs in Paris, Joseph Maïla is currently Professor of International relations and Geopolitics at ESSEC, Paris, France.

Tarek Mitri is the President of St George University of Beirut. He was director of the Fares Institute on Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut. He served as the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General and was, prior to that, member of four successive Lebanese governments as Minister of Environment, Administrative Reform, Culture, Information and acting Minister of Foreign Affairs. Previously, he worked in the World Council of Churches in Geneva as a coordinator of Christian-Muslim relations, intercultural and inter-religious dialogue. He taught at the Université Saint Joseph, Balamand University, the University of Geneva, Amsterdam Free University, Harvard University and the American University of Beirut. He chairs the Boards of Nicolas Sursock Museum and the Institute of Palestine Studies. He is a member of the Strategic Council of Saint Joseph University and of the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies. Tarek Mitri authored a number of books and articles on contemporary Arab issues, religion and politics, inter-religious and intercultural dialogue

Associate Fellow of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House where he directs a program on the regional dimension of the Palestinian refugee issue in the Middle East Peace Process. He is also a senior member of St Antony’s College Oxford where he was director of the Centre for Lebanese Studies from 1986 to 2005. He is a member of the executive board of the Centro de Estudios de Oriente Medio of the Fundacion Promocion Social de la Cultura in Madrid. In 2010 he was a visiting fellow at the Aspen Institute in Washington DC and in the summer semester of 2012, he was a visiting scholar at Tufts University. He is also a consultant to several governments and international organisations. He has several publications and contributes regularly to the media on Middle Eastern affairs.