Credits
Dr Maria Gloria Polimeno, SOAS University of London. She is the Scientific Director for the Research England/ISPF-funded project “Routes of Transition in North Africa”, also leading fieldwork as the Principal Investigator across Morocco’s historic medinas and rural outskirts. She is also the Principal Investigator of the RKE project “Inside Glam Politics in Cairo” (2026). Together, these pilot projects serve as prototype studies on the region’s informal economies as Dr Polimeno is currently working on their deep intersections with the multi-level mechanisms of sustainable development and networking.
An expert on Egyptian politics and autocratic systems, she is the author of “Egypt and the Rise of Fluid Authoritarianism: Political Ecology, Power and the Crisis of Legitimacy” (Manchester University Press, 2024). Her research has secured competitive funding from the British Academy, the Council for British Research in the Levant (CBRL), RKE, and Research England. Beyond her academic publications and policy analyses for institutions like the Carnegie Endowment and Princeton’s Arab Barometer, Dr. Polimeno is a regular media commentator, sharing her insights on regional affairs with global networks including the BBC, LBC, NBC, and France 24. She was Visiting Research Fellow in the Department of International Relations at the London School of Economics, LSE (2025), and a visiting scholar at the London Middle East Institute, SOAS University of London (2012/2013 and 2016). She is an interdisciplinary scholar of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) whose work bridges the gap between politics, international development, political economy and environmental politics. She got her PhD in Middle East Politics from the University of Exeter.
Sidi Amir Cherckaoui Cherif, Targa-Aide, Rabat. He has locally supported the delivery of fieldwork in Morocco as the locally informed Researcher, co-leading interviews in Dharija, closely with Dr Polimeno and supporting the expedition with the mitigation of access, besides logistical and safety support, to selected fields across cities and urban/suburban areas. Amir provided support to the translation of interviews conducted in Dharija, Moroccan dialect.
Amir Cherkaoui is a consultant at Targa-Aide (Association Interdisciplinaire pour le Développement et l’Environnement), a Rabat-based organisation specialised in development research and territorial diagnostic studies for Moroccan public policy support. Sidi Amir Cherckaoui Cherif leads national diagnostic studies for Moroccan public institutions (such as SECAESS, covering 65 training establishments across Morocco’s twelve regions), alongside data analysis and reporting missions for the Ministry of Interior.
Imran Ali, Imran Ali is Programme Manager at the SOAS Middle East Institute (SMEI) and Grant Manager for the Routes of Transition project. He supported fieldwork in Morocco across cities with the collection of visual/ethnographic data. He has a background in visual sociology and holds an MA in Race, Ethnicity and Diaspora Studies from Birkbeck, University of London
Prof Giuliano Martiniello, Associate Professor of Political Science and Political Economy at Sciences Po Rabat, Université’ Internationale de Rabat and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, American University of Beirut. He is the co-author of the book “International Political Economy and the Global South” (Routledge, 2025) . Before joining UIR, he was Assistant Professor at the American University of Beirut (2015-2020), Research Fellow at the Makerere Institute of Social Research, Makerere University (2011-2015), and Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Civil Society, University of KwaZulu-Natal (2012-2013). He got his PhD in Politics at the School of Politics and International Studies of the University of Leeds (2011). He is broadly interested in the political economy, political sociology and political ecology of agrarian and environmental change. His research interests include land regimes, food and farming systems, large-scale land enclosures and contract farming, conservation and deforestation, rural social conflicts and agrarian movements in Africa and the Middle East. Prof Martiniello coordinated the closed-door roundtable for the “Routes of Transition” project at the Sciences Po, Rabat, UIR.
Dr Benjamin Worku-Dix is the Founding Director of PositiveNegatives that amplifies academic research through engaging visual storytelling.
Based at SOAS University of London, Ben works with academic teams exploring innovative ways of developing engagement and impact of complex issues.
Ben is a CO-I for the Research England/ISPF-funded project “Routes of Transition in North Africa”
Daniel Locke is Senior Artist at PositiveNegatives and a graphic novelist based in Brighton, UK. His work ranges between commissions for commercial bodies and socially engaged organisations, such as universities and charities, alongside personal work and residencies.
He has collaborated with a wide range of researchers and artists on a diverse series of projects, including Scribner, Bloomsbury, Nobrow, The Nib, Arts Council England, The Wellcome Trust, NHS and The National Trust.
Ed Ball has been developing websites for a range of organisations for more than 10 years.
Previous PositiveNegatives projects Ed has worked on include the build for the web comic I am the Leader of my House, which tells the stories of two Rohingya women and the challenges they face living in refugee camps. Additionally, Ed took on a mentorship role during the Lives on Hold (LOHST) project, providing guidance, advice and support throughout the process of building the LOHST website.