Dr Orzala Nemat is an internationally known scholar & think tank leader from Afghanistan. She is an expert in political ethnography, holding a PhD in Development Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and an MSc in Development Planning from the University College London (UCL). Dr Nemat was the director of Afghanistan’s leading Think Tank, AREU, between 2016-2022. She started her career in the development field as a grassroots refugee leader from Pakistan in 1999. She founded and led various organisations that assisted the most vulnerable women and youth and marginalised communities through educational programs, building schools, protecting female victims of violence, peacebuilding for children and advocating for legal reform.

Dr. Nemat has also worked with various national and international organisations for 25 years. She served on various development organisations’ governance boards and attended numerous international and national conferences representing the voices of Afghans and Afghan women. Dr Nemat was selected as a Young Global Leader at the World Forum in 2009, Yale Greenberg World Fellows in 2008 and is a recipient of the Isabel Ferrer Award for Women’s Education and the Amnesty International Award for Humanitarian Aid to Children and Women in the year 2000. She is an experienced professional in leadership, research management, fundraising, development program and policy assessments.