Dr Fateh Shaban

Dr Fateh Shaban is a Research Fellow in Human Geography at the School of Economics and Political Science, University of Kent, with extensive experience working at the intersection of academia, governance and policy in conflict-affected Syria. He holds a PhD and Master’s in Human Geography from Egyptian universities and a BA in Geography from the University of Aleppo, and has taught at institutions including the University of Kent, Free Aleppo University, the University of Gaziantep and the University of Aleppo.

Alongside his academic roles, he has held senior leadership posts in the Syrian Interim Government, including Deputy Minister of Education, representative to the Syria Recovery Trust Fund, and member of the Higher Education Council, as well as director of the Academic Centre for Development and Peace Studies. He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has collaborated with international bodies such as Oxford Policy Management and Education Cannot Wait on higher education and development in wartime contexts. 

Dr Fateh Shaban’s research examines the geographies of war, humanitarianism and governance in Syria, with a particular focus on how international aid and donor politics shape everyday life in isolated conflict zones in the northwest of the country. He has published widely on the geopolitics of aid, the impacts of war on infrastructure and mobility, and the challenges of including disabled people and returning refugees in education systems, as well as on rebuilding and sustaining higher education and academic communities in contexts of displacement and crisis.

His work spans peer-reviewed journal articles, policy analyses and collaborative reports with international partners, addressing themes such as road network destruction in Aleppo, professional frameworks for university teaching, and the evolving role of Syrian universities before and after 2011. Across these projects, he brings a critical, practice-oriented perspective that connects field-based insights with debates in human geography, education and development policy.

Dr Fateh Shaban has extensive professional experience in education governance and policy in conflict-affected Syria, including serving as Deputy Minister of Education in the Syrian Interim Government and its representative to the Syria Recovery Trust Fund. He has been a member of the Higher Education Council, where he chaired the Private Educational Institutions Committee, and supervised the education sector within the Assistance Coordination Unit on an EU‑funded programme to support governance structures.

He founded and directed the Academic Centre for Development and Peace Studies, and has acted as a national consultant for Oxford Policy Management and Education Cannot Wait on the Syria country case study. He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), and has held an Associate Fellowship at the University of Sussex and the University of South Wales.