Nur Arafeh is a fellow at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center, where she is co-leading the program on the political economy of the MENA region. Her research focuses on the political economy of reconstruction, private sector development, business-state relations, food insecurity, and peacebuilding strategies.

Before joining Carnegie, Arafeh was working on her doctorate in international development at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. She also holds a master’s in development studies from the University of Cambridge, and a dual-BA degree in political science and economics from Sciences Po Paris and Columbia University.

Arafeh previously worked as an associate researcher at the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS), where her research focused on issues related to private sector development, economic governance and food security. She has consulted for several international organizations on issues related to development policies, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and socioeconomic policy analysis. Arafeh also worked as a tutor with the University of Stanford, teaching a course on the political economy of the developing world. In 2014-2015, she was a visiting lecturer of economics at Al-Quds Bard College, and in 2013, she worked as a teaching assistant of econometrics at Columbia University.