MAHA Al-ZU'BI, Ph.D.

Maha has over 20 years of experience managing public and internationally funded programs (UNDP, GGGI, World Bank, GIZ, JICA, KOICA, USAID, and others) across the water, energy, agriculture, and environmental sectors. She also brings more than five years of experience leading academic and research initiatives, including the Global Research Initiative in Sustainable Low-Carbon Unconventional Resources at the University of Calgary. Her research focuses on climate governance in Central Asia, West Asia, and Africa, with an emphasis on informing locally grounded adaptation and mitigation strategies. She is particularly passionate about advancing interdisciplinary and evidence-based approaches to sustainability, especially those that scale inclusive, resilient, and nature-based water solutions for climate-vulnerable communities. Maha’s work on the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus explores the interlinkages between natural resource systems and their socio-economic dimensions, highlighting the roles of equity, gender, innovation, and governance. Her policy and research contributions emphasize how integrated WEF approaches and nature-based solutions can enhance resilience, promote resource justice, support shared benefits in transboundary systems, and unlock scalable innovations for inclusive development. She has published widely on climate governance, water resources management, and the WEF Nexus across multiple scales.