Fadi Nicholas Nassar

Fadi Nicholas Nassar is a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute (MEI), where he focuses on international humanitarian and relief interventions in fragile and conflict settings, democratization, US foreign policy, and Middle Eastern politics. He is also an assistant professor of Political Science and International Affairs at the Lebanese American University (LAU). Additionally, he serves as a research fellow at the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies and a fellow at the Sectarianism, Proxies, and De-sectarianisation (SEPAD) project based at Lancaster University's Richardson Institute.

Dr. Nassar is the principal investigator of a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, which focuses on resilience and inclusive governance in the post-2011 Arab landscape. He also leads several projects aimed at identifying sustainable pathways out of Lebanon’s compounded crises, with support from organizations such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), and the European Union.

In the immediate aftermath of the Port of Beirut blast on Aug. 4, 2020, Dr. Nassar was part of the core team for the World Bank’s Beirut Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (RDNA), which was the primary evidence-based study evaluating the damages from the explosion and the country’s recovery needs.

Dr. Nassar is the author of UN Mediators in Syria: The Challenges and Responsibilities of Conflict Resolution (Cambridge University Press, 2024). His articles on US foreign policy, Middle Eastern politics, and Lebanon have been published in a variety of journals and outlets in English, Arabic, French, and Spanish.

He holds a PhD from the War Studies Department at King’s College London and a Master of Public Administration from Columbia University.

He is a native Arabic speaker.