Alia Abdel Hamid Aaref is currently the Dean of the Faculty of Political Science, Economics and Business Administration, May University in Cairo (MUC). She is also the Head of Strategic Management & Policies Unit at The National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development (NIGSD), the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development and International Cooperation. Previously, Alia worked as a Head of Public Administration Department and the Vice Dean for Education and Students' Affairs for 5 years - at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Future University. Further, she is a consultant at The African Secretary of the Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), under which she was assigned a task of drafting Egypt’s Governance Impact Assessment Report as a national consultant. Alia is as well a reviewing member in the current Committee of Political science and Public Administration designed to assess faculty staff for promotion purposes. On the regional level, she is also a reviewing member for academic publications proposed by faculty staff seeking promotions in: The Public Administration Institute- Saudi Arabia, and Al Balqaa University and Jordan University- Jordan. She, as well, is a reviewer for diverse scientific journals at the local, regional, and international levels.

Alia is a Full professor at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University, and the former head of Public Administration Research and Consultation Center (PARC) at Cairo University. Additionally, alia worked as a professor for The Arab Academy for Maritime and Technology, and the Canadian International College (CIC)

Alia got her Bachelor degree in Economics from the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University. She got the Master’s degree in Public Administration from the American University in Cairo (AUC). She also managed to obtain her Ph.D in Public Administration from the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University.

Alia has a deep experience in a wide spectrum of topics related to public administration as a field of study; above all administrative reform, organizational behavior and human resource management. She has many writings and researches in both Arabic and English published in local, regional and international academic journals. Alia has also a rich experience in translation in both economics and public administration.

Moreover, Alia underwent many training programs suited to develop the capacity of Cairo university academic staff. She has also a wide experience in providing training programs targeting mainly government organization in addition to private ones.