Dr. Hassan Hakimian is a Professor of Economics, and Director of the Middle Eastern Studies Department (MESD). In 2023-24, he was the Interim Dean of The College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS) at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU). Before joining HBKU, Dr. Hakimian was Director of the London Middle East Institute (LMEI) and Reader in the Economics Department at SOAS University of London (2010-2019). Prior to that, he was an Associate Dean at Cass (now Bayes) Business School, London, where he was responsible for Executive MBA Programs and set up pioneering programs in Shanghai and Dubai (2002-2010).  

His research focuses on MENA economies, specifically labor markets, economic sanctions, inclusive growth, and the economics of Arab uprisings. He is the author of "Labour Transfer and Economic Development” (1990), co-editor of “The State and Global Change” (2000 with Ziba Moshaver), “Trade Policy and Economic Integration in MENA” (2003 with Jeff Nugent), “Iran and the Global Economy: Petro Populism, Islam and Economic Sanctions” (2014 with Parvin Alizadeh) and “Environmental Challenges in the MENAS Region” (2019 with Hamid Pouran). His latest work is the edited volume “The Routledge Handbook on the Middle East Economy” (2021).

Dr. Hakimian is a Founding Member and a past President of the International Iranian Economic Association (IIEA), a Lifelong Research Fellow, and a former Chair of the Economic Research Forum (ERF) Advisory Committee in Cairo. He currently serves as a Board member of the ERF. He is the Founder and Series Editor for the “Routledge Political Economy of the Middle East and North Africa,” which he launched in 2003. In 2024, he set up the “IHF Modern Iran Series”, of which he is a Series Editor.

One of the programs he directed at SOAS at the Centre for International Education in Economics (CIEE) won the Queen’s Prize for Higher and Further Education in 1996.

• Economic development and growth in the MENA region
• Inclusive growth and economic diversification in oil-exporting countries
• Economics of the Arab uprisings
• Economic sanctions and blockades in MENA
• Population policy and demographic transition (including migration and labour transfer)

1979-87    DPhil – University of Sussex, UK

1977-79    MPhil (Development Studies) – University of Sussex, UK

1974-77    BSc (Econ) – London School of Economics, University of London