Dr Dawood Azami is an award winning senior journalist and academic with a quarter century of working experience. As a Multi-Media Editor in the BBC World Service (London), he leads a team of journalists in covering international news and current affairs.

Dr Azami is also an Associate Fellow at The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), London, contributing to research and analysis of geopolitics, international relations and sustainable development among others.

He also served as the BBC World Service Bureau Chief and Editor in Kabul, Afghanistan (2010-2011) where he was responsible for the editorial management of the Bureau and led a large team of journalists and supporting staff to lead the coverage of an active war-zone.

He was a Visiting Lecturer/Scholar at the University of Westminster (London) and The Ohio State University (USA) teaching on both BA (Globalization, Power and International Governance) & MA modules (Conflict and the International Politics of Resources) as well as Culture and Politics in the Middle East and MENA.

Dr Azami obtained his Ph.D. in the field of Politics and International Relations/Security. He also holds three Master's in various fields including Politics, International Relations, International Security, Science, Law and Diplomacy.

He has visited more than 30 countries and participated as a speaker in more than a hundred international conferences/seminars on a wide range of topics. His areas of research include International Relations, Sustainable Development, State (Un)building, International Security, Great Power Competition, Hybrid Insecurity, Globalisation and International Governance, Transnational Organised Crime, Climate Change and Conflict, and Media and Multi-culturalism. He is also a member of a number of international academic and professional initiatives.

He has won several national and international awards and prizes. He was selected as a Young Global Leader (YGL) by the World Economic Forum, Geneva, in 2011. In 2009, he won the “Global Reith Award for Outstanding Contribution”, the biggest and lifetime achievement award in the BBC. In 2012, he was selected as a Young Leader in Europe under the first pan- European programme of leadership called ’40 under 40’. In 2015, he was given "Journalist of the Mediterranean (Giornalisti del Mediterraneo)" Award in Italy.

Dr Azami speaks five languages (English, Pashto, Dari/Persian, Urdu/Hindi) and has a working knowledge of Arabic and Turkish. He paints and practices calligraphy and writes poems and short stories.