President

Political science and international relations researcher.

Director, Paris office, Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies.

Professor, Masters’ Programme on Development, Immigration and Crises, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne

Deputy Director and Research Director in Arab Reform Initiative – ARI, France (2007 – 2017)

Salam Kawakibi is the co-founder and chairman of The Day After: Supporting a Democratic Transition in Syria organisation (www.tda-sy.org), senior fellow at Syrian Studies Centre in Saint Andrews University, co-founder and member of the advisory board of the Mediterranean Citizens’ Assembly Foundation (MCAF) (www.fundacionacm.org), member of the advisory committee of the UNU Institute on Globalisation, Culture and Mobility (UNU-GCM) (www.gcm.unu.edu), member of the board of the Institute for Arab World and Mediterranean Research and Studies in Paris, and a member of the scientific committee of Confluences, the Paris magazine focusing on the Mediterranean region.

In 2009 – 2011, Mr. Kawakibi was the senior researcher in the Department of Political Science in the University of Amsterdam. Before that, in 2000 – 2006, he served as the director of the Institut français du Proche-Orient in Aleppo.

He published many articles and essays in specialised journals and volumes in Arabic, French, Spanish, German, and Turkish. His research covered a wide range of themes, including human rights, civil society, culture, immigration, media, global North-South relations, and political reform in the Arab World. Recent publications include “Activism in Syria: Between Nonviolence and Armed Resistance” with Wael Sawah in Taking to the Streets: The Transformation of Arab Activism (Johns Hopkins, 2014),  “The Paradox of Government-Organized Civil Activism in Syria” in Civil Society in Syria and Iran (Lynne Rienner, 2013),  “Turkey-Syria Relations Before and After Arab Uprisings” with Aylin Ünver Noi in Islam and Democracy: Perspectives on the Arab Spring and "Syria's Mediterranean Policy" in Mediterranean Policies from Above and Below (NOMOS, 2009).  He was also editor of Religious Reform (IFPO, 2003), published in Arabic and French, and Syrian Voices from Pre-Revolution Syria: Civil Society Against all Odds (Hivos, 2013), published by the University of Amsterdam in Arabic and English.

He holds a DEA in Political Sciences from l'Institut d’Etudes Politiques, Aix-En-Provence, a DEA in International Relations from Aleppo University and a BA in Economy from Aleppo University.

Treasurer

Vice President

Rana Yazaji has managed several projects, programs and organizations in the cultural field within the Arab region, including projects management in the temporary structure, General Secretary of Damascus Arab Capital of Culture 2008 and Rawafed, a cultural project for the Syrian Trust for Development. In 2011, she collaborated with other independent cultural activists to establish Ettijahat: Independent Culture, a Syrian organization formed to support independent arts and culture, and play a role in fostering positive political and social change in Syria. In 2014, Yazaji became the Executive Director of Culture Resource (Al Mawred Al Thaqafy), a regional cultural organization focused on developing and supporting both an independent art scene and cultural players in the Arab region.

Beyond her work in cultural management, Yazaji is extensively engaged as a researcher on cultural policies, with many of her studies and works published widely in various Syrian and Arab newspapers. Her most significant works include her research on cultural policies in Syria for the book, Introduction to Cultural Policies in the Arab Region; contributing to Istanbul Bilgi University’s yearbook of cultural policies with the chapter entitled, “National Planning & Emerging Role of Civil Society Institutions in Syria”; and a series of papers on cultural economies in the Arab region in collaboration with Paris Dauphine University.

Yazaji completed a B.A. in Theatre Studies from the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts (Damascus, 2001), an M.A. in Design and Management of Cultural Projects from the New Sorbonne University (Paris, 2005), and an M.A. in Theatre Directing and Dramaturgy from the University of Paris X (Paris, 2006).