Dr irfan Al hasani

Co-founder

WAPPP

Al Hasani's experience spans the academic, research, training, and advisory fields. He has worked as an economics and investment lecturer at several universities and has collaborated with various institutes to provide training courses in different programs. Dr. Irfan served as an economic expert and Economic Editor-In-Chief for the Dubai’s Government for nearly 20 years. He published numerous evidence-based, policy-oriented working papers, studies, and reports, in addition to proposing several strategic initiatives, including the establishment of the "Dubai Competitiveness Centre", the first of its kind in the UAE and the Gulf region. He has also published many studies in Arab and international journals, covering a wide range of economic topics, particularly foreign trade, global economic crises, international finance, public-private partnership (PPP), oil markets, and competitiveness, among others. After his tenure with the Dubai’s Government, Al Hasani worked as the head of the Strategy & Transformation Unit at the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF). He has developed a number of initiatives to serve the Arab economies. He has also published several studies, the most recent ones focusing on stagflation and the US-China trade war. Al Hasani has written hundreds of economic articles for UAE and Arab newspapers and magazines and has conducted numerous interviews with business channels. Further, he has participated in many conferences worldwide particularly in finance and PPP realms. In recent years, Dr. Irfan has specialized in PPP and became an internationally recognized expert and lecturer in this field. He has been invited by various jurisdictions active in PPP to provide lectures and training courses for their staff. In 2018, he was selected by the Geneva-based United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) together with other experts as co-founders of the World Association of PPP Units and Professionals (WAPPP) and became the Chair of the MENA Chapter. Additionally, Al Hasani serves on the jury committee for several prestigious scientific awards, including the "Rashid Bin Hamid Award for Culture and Science" and the "Al Owais Award for Creativity" in the UAE, as well as the "Economic Research Competition" in Libya, among others. He has also engaged in a high-level economic research project entitled “UAE History Encyclopaedia”, in addition as a member of referee committee in several universities and think tanks. Dr. Irfan is a member of several professional associations, including the Arab Economic Research Association, the Economic Research Forum (ERF) in Cairo, Egypt, the Administrative Board of the Association of Economists (Sharjah, UAE), and the Canadian Economists Association, among others. Al Hasani has received numerous scientific awards, including the "Dubai Economic Research Award" in 2008, organized by the Dubai’s Government, for the best applied research in the UAE; the "Research Grant Award for the Best Research Submitted in the Arab World," organized by the Arab Economic Research Association, Egypt, in 2002; and several certificates of appreciation from local and international universities and research centres including Cambridge University for his scientific contributions. In 2017, he was named "Economic Personality of the Year" by the International Finance Award for his contributions to the Middle Eastern banking sector. Al Hasani holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Derby, UK, as well as Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Economics from Al-Mustansiriya University, Iraq.