Dlawer Ala'Aldeen

Professor Dlawer Ala'Aldeen
Former Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research
In office 28 October 2009 – 5 April 2012
President	Massoud Barzani
Prime Minister	Barham Salih
Preceded by	Idris Hadi
Succeeded by	Ali Saeed
Founding President of Middle East Research Institute, MERI
Incumbent
Assumed office 18 May 2014
Personal details
Born	(1960-11-28) 28 November 1960 Koy Sanjaq, Erbil, Iraq
Alma mater	University of Al-Mustansiriyah University of London Royal College of Pathologists
Website

Dlawer Ala'Aldeen (born 1960) دلاوه‌ر عبدالعزيز علاءالدين, is the Founding President of the Middle East Research Institute, a policy-research institute, based in Erbil, Kurdistan Region of Iraq. He is a former Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research in the Kurdistan Regional Government ^[1] (2009-2012) and professor of Medicine at the University of Nottingham in the UK.^[2]

Background and career

Dlawer Ala'Aldeen was born in the town of Koya, near Arbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan. His father (Abdul-Azizi) was a primary school teacher and author of several books published in Kurdish, including "the life of Mohammad" and "Exegesis (Tafsir) of Quran".

Ala'Aldeen grew up in and around the city of Arbil, and studied medicine in Baghdad.^[3] He immigrated to the United Kingdom in 1984 where he furthered his education and specialised in infectious diseases. He studied tropical medicine at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and trained for PhD in molecular microbiology at the MRC Clinical Research Centre. He was appointed as a clinical academic in the University Hospital of Nottingham in 1992 and became Professor of clinical microbiology in 2002. He founded the Molecular Bacteriology and Immunology Group in Nottingham University in 1999.^[4] He was also the Founding Director of the MSc course in Clinical Microbiology in Nottingham University.^[5] He was seconded to the Health Protection Agency as Deputy Director of the Centre for Infection.^[6] Dlawer was appointed as the Director of Research at the Royal College of Pathologists in 2009.

On the 28th of October 2009, Ala'Aldeen was sworn in as the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Kurdistan Region of Iraq.^[1] He left the position as a result of KRG cabinet change on the 5th of April 2012. After a brief return to his University position in Nottingham, he founded a new policy-research institute (The Middle East Research Institute, MERI) in Erbil, Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Lobbying for Human Rights

Ala'Aldeen has long lobbied for Kurdish people's human rights and campaigned for a global ban of chemical and biological weapons. His own parents and siblings were among the survivors of the chemical weapons used in Iraq.^[7]

He was active in the late 1980s and early 1990s, lobbying within the British Parliament, media and Government. With UK-based colleagues, he founded the Kurdish British Scientific and Medical Support Group (KBSMSG) in 1988,^[8] which later became the Kurdish Scientific and Medical Association in 1989. He was elected as the founding Secretary and later the Chairman of KSMA, before the organisation expanded into the Kurdistan Medical and Scientific Federation.^[8] He was also an active member of the British academic group, The Working Party on Chemical and Biological weapons between 1988-1996.

Ala'Aldeen met Mrs Margaret Thatcher, the former British Prime Minister, and Dr George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in April 1991 and persuaded them to put pressure on John Major (then British Prime Minister) ^[9] and George HW Bush (then President of USA) to help end Saddam Hussein's attack on the Kurds. This was in the aftermath of the second Gulf war, when almost two million displaced Kurds fled to the borders with Iran and Turkey. As a consequence, a "no-fly zone, Safe Haven" was established north of 36th parallel north that lasted from April 1991 until the fall of Saddam regime. The Safe Haven allowed the Kurds in Iraq to return to their homes, elect their own Kurdistan Regional Government and Kurdistan Parliament. Ala'Aldeen has published a book on Lobbying for a Stateless Nation;^[10] and investigated the use of chemical weapons in Kurdistan,^[11] and the poisoning of Kurdish refugees in Turkey (published in the Lancet, 1990 Feb 3;335, p. 287-8).

Minister of Higher Education & Scientific Research

Ala'Aldeen has long been involved in capacity building for Iraqi and Kurdistan Universities and establishing academic links with British universities. On 28 October 2009, he joined Dr Barham Salih's Cabinet of Kurdistan Regional Government as Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research.^[12]

He initiated a major reform process in the system of Higher Education, with the aim to raise standards and help Universities gain total independence. He led a major and highly transparent scholarship program for sending thousands of students abroad for Masters and PhD studies. His first-year report (A roadmap to quality) in 2010 ^[13] and a second year report (On route to quality) in 2011 outline the process of reform, including the first introduction of teaching quality assurance in Universities, continuous academic development for teachers, split-site PhD programs, restructuring university management in preparation for independence, introducing electronic system for student applications, converting technical institutes to Polytechnic Universities and modernising postgraduate (specialised) clinical training. He introduced the process of appointing staff on merit via open competition, and took measures to ensure equal opportunity and gender equality in the system of higher education. He submitted two legislative drafts for reforms in higher education and postgraduate clinical training. Ala'Aldeen faced fierce resistance from anti-reformists and interest groups, particularly when he closed down five private dental and pharmacy Colleges in 2010 and four previously licensed private Universities in 2011.

Middle East Research Institute

MERI, Policy-research think tank, Erbil-Kurdistan Region of Iraq , since May 2014

Ala'Aldeen is the Founding President of the Middle East Research Institute (MERI), an independent, non-profit think tank which is focused on policy-issues and governance reform in Iraq and Kurdistan Region. Funded mainly by a Capacity Building grant from the KRG's Oil and Gas Council, MERI became operational on 18 May, 2014, and held its inaugural forum (MERI Forum 2014) in November of the same year. The Forum (title: The Middle East in Transition: The need for Dialogue and Reconciliation) was held in Erbil and included live debates between Iraq's top politicians, including the President and Parliament speaker of Iraq as well as the current and previous Prime Ministers of KRG (). The second MERI Forum, attended by the Turkish Foreign Minister, several national leaders, international diplomats and academics, was held in November 2015 ().

MERI has conducted numerous research projects on Internally Displace persons (IDPs), conflict resolution (e.g. the future of Kirkuk), promoting human rights (protecting minority's rights, prevention of violence against women prevention of violence against women) and institutional reform (Judiciary system, public prosecution, interior ministry and Ministry of Peshmarga).

Only one year after its establishment, MERI was named among the top think tanks in the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) Region, and the highest ranking in Iraq, according to the 2015 Global Go To Think Tank Index report issued by the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Lauder Institute.

Scientific work

Ala'Aldeen has worked on pathogenesis, molecular epidemiology and vaccine development of various bacterial pathogens, particularly Neisseria meningitidis (causes meningitis and septicemia) and Campylobacter jejuni (most common cause of food poisoning). He and his research group discovered a number of bacterial virulence factors and identified their human target receptors. They have also studied the human genetic response to bacteria as well as the population genetics and genome evolution of N. meningitidis, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Ala'Aldeen has published extensively in international scientific journals and co-authored three books in microbiology, Staphylococcus Aureus: molecular and clinical aspects; Molecular and Clinical Aspects of Bacterial Vaccine Development; and Medical Microbiology. He also holds patents for anti-Campylobacter agents and meningococcal vaccine candidates.^[14]

He was chairman or member of a number of National learned societies and committees, which included:

• Editorial board of three international microbiology/infection journals: Journal of Medical Microbiology,^[15] Journal of Infection,^[16] BMC Microbiology.^[17]
• Director of Research, Royal College of Pathologists^[18] (2009–10)
• Chairman, RCP/RCPath Infection Research Subcommittee (2007-9).
• Chairman, Clinical Microbiology Group of the Society for General Microbiology^[19] (2005–2009)
• Chairman, Federation of Infection Societies Scientific Committee (2007)
• Examination Board of the Royal College of Pathologists (2005–10)
• Medical Research Council's Infection and Immunity Board^[20] (2007–2010)
• Specialty Advisory Committee of the Royal College of Pathologists (RCPath)^[18] (2006–10)
• Health Protection Agency's^[21] Meningococcus Forum (1998-2010)

A Kurdish Writer

As a Kurdish writer, Ala'Aldeen has published numerous articles, mainly in the Hawlati newspaper,^[22] on the impact of global politics on Kurdistan and on strategic issues relating to Kurdish human rights.^[23][24] He has published a book on "Lobbying for a Stateless Nation" (2007) and a book on "Nation Building and the system of self-governance in Kurdistan Region" (2013).

References

External links

• A list over some of his publications
• Ala'Aldeen's official website