Aweis Ahmed

Stavros Niarchos Foundation Visiting Fellow, Africa Programme

Headshot of Aweis Ahmed

Biography

Aweis Ahmed is a Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) visiting fellow with the Africa Programme. His research focuses on Somalia’s international and regional relations in a shifting global order. He examines how these relationships are influenced by geopolitical dynamics affecting Somalia and the Horn of Africa. 

Additionally, Aweis is a researcher at Somali Public Agenda (SPA). He is also a part-time lecturer at SIMAD University. 

Previously, he served as the SPA Policy Lab Director, and as a programme manager at SPA. He worked as a lecturer in international relations and related subjects at various universities in Somalia. His work centers on politics and society in the Horn of Africa, with particular focus on governance, political economy, regional security and peacebuilding in Somalia and the wider Horn of Africa. 

Aweis holds a PhD in International Relations from Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University and a master’s degree in the same field from Selçuk University. 

Past experience

2021–presentResearcher, Somali Public Agenda
2025–presentPart-time lecturer, SIMAD University
2021–2026Director, SPA Policy Lab; Program Manager, Somali Public Agenda 
2018–2021PhD researcher, Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University