Biography
Ahmed El Assal is a visiting postdoctoral researcher with the Crisis, Law, and Politics (CLA) research group at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He specializes in governance, public policy, and political economy. He recently completed his PhD in International Development as part of a European joint doctorate funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, jointly undertaken at Erasmus University Rotterdam and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands, through the ADAPTED programme (Eradicating Poverty: Pathways Towards Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals). His research focuses on critical social policy in Africa, civil society and accountability, the political economy of development, and Southern epistemologies.
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Work
- Ahmed El Assal (2026) - Accountability contested: The politics of citizens’ claims-making in education, social protection, and NGO sectors in Uganda
- Ahmed El Assal (2026) - Citizens’ Claims‐Making and Navigating the Politics of Accountability in Social Cash Transfers in Uganda - Politics and Governance, 14, 1-22 - doi: 10.17645/pag.11237
- Guido Maschhaupt & Ahmed El Assal (2025) - How international aid inadvertently props up autocratic regimes - [link]
- Guido Maschhaupt, Ahmed El Assal & Petronilla Wandeto (2025) - Can ODA enable autocratic entrenchment?: Investigating donor-driven cash transfer programmes in Uganda, Ethiopia, and Egypt - Development Policy Review, 43 (4), 1-22 - doi: 10.1111/dpr.70014 - [link]
- Sali Hafez & Ahmed El Assal (2025) - Local Humanitarianism and Organisational Complexities: Implementation of Safeguarding Measures - doi: 10.4324/9781003565048-2 - [link]
- Ilaha Abasli, Ahmed El Assal & Yasmine Hafez (2025) - Why are you not doing research in your home country?: dissecting expectations of southern researchers - Development in Practice, 35 (8), 1259-1271 - doi: 10.1080/09614524.2025.2481519
- Ahmed El Assal & Irene Among (2024) - Urban Public Perceptions of NGOs’ Accountability and Legitimacy: A Social Media Analysis of #UgandaNGOsExhibition - Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 36 (2), 166-178 - doi: 10.1007/s11266-024-00705-z
- Ahmed Elassal & Ilaha Abasli (2023) - “Why are you not doing research in your home country?” – The complexities of being from and doing research in the Global South - [link]
- Ahmed Elassal & Amr Marzouk (2023) - Civil society organisations' public diplomacy and youth political participation in Egypt - doi: 10.4324/9781003441465-7 - [link]
- Ahmed Elassal & Amr Marzouk (2023) - Is the legacy of the Arab Spring greater oppression?: Twelve years after the Egyptian Revolution, Egypt’s civil society has been all but nationalized - [link]
- Zhiqi Xu, Ahmed Elassal, Francesco Colin, Gabriela Villacis Izquierdo, Petronilla Wandeto & Chitrakshi Vashisht (2022) - 18th Development Dialogue Conference (Organiser)
Activity: Organising and contributing to an event › Academic - Ahmed Elassal (2021) - 18th Development Dialogue Conference (Event) (Member)
Activity: Membership of committee › Academic
- Ilaha Abasli & Ahmed Elassal (2026) - Best PhD Article 2025
