Dr Nasser Yassin
Dr. Nasser Yassin is a professor and senior policy advisor specializing in policy, planning, and strategy. He has taught at premier institutions such as the American University of Beirut, Qatar University and Duke University’s CE. He has also led the policy institute (Issam Fares Institute) of the American University of Beirut and founded several research and policy initiatives.
Dr. Yassin served as Lebanon’s Minister of Environment from September 2021 to February 2025, where he led a comprehensive reform agenda aimed at enhancing environmental policy, strengthening governance, and fostering community participation amid Lebanon’s complex crises since 2019. In October 2023, during the Gaza War and subsequent hostilities in South Lebanon, he was appointed by the Lebanese Council of Ministers to lead and coordinate the National Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan. In this critical role, he managed inter-ministerial coordination with UN agencies and humanitarian organizations during one of the most challenging humanitarian emergencies in Lebanon’s recent history, assisting over one million displaced individuals.
Nasser was also Professor of Policy and Planning at the American University of Beirut (AUB) - 2008-2024.
Nasser has been the Director of Research at the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs, and professor of policy and planning at the Health Management and Policy Department at the Faculty of Health Sciences at the American University of Beirut (AUB), Lebanon.
He has been co-chair of the AUB4Refugees Initiative that aims to bring together and build synergy among faculty and departments in AUB responding to the Syrian refugee crisis.
He holds a PhD from University College London (UCL), an MSc from London School of Economics (LSE), and an MSc and BSc from the American University of Beirut (AUB). His research and practice interests are in development planning and policy-making in fragile and transition states. He researches and works on policy and social innovation especially in areas of refugee, youth and health policies and programs.
His work has focused on how civil society actors, community groups and informal networks can influence policies and programs. He is currently leading a research project on understanding the informal adaptive mechanisms among refugees and their host communities in the Middle East.
He is author of more than 40 internationally published articles and reports. His work and views have been featured in The Economist, Al-Jazeera, BBC, The Daily Star and Al-Monitor, among others. His forthcoming book entitled “Women, Civil Society and Policy Change in the Arab World” (Published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2019).