Dr Nawal Al-Hosany is the Permanent Representative of the UAE to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

Dr Al-Hosany’s career spans business and academia, both in the UAE and internationally. Dr. Al-Hosany served as the Deputy Director General of the Emirates Diplomatic Academy (EDA). At EDA, she contributed to the realisation of the Academy’s mandate; to equip the UAE’s current and future diplomats with the relevant knowledge and multi-disciplinary skills to effectively serve their nation. Prior to this, she was the Executive Director of Sustainability at Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company, and the Director of the Zayed Future Energy Prize, the UAE’s annual global awards for renewable energy and sustainability.

Dr Al-Hosany believes passionately in the leading role that women can play in responding to global sustainability and climate change challenges. She launched and directed the UAE-led Women in Sustainability, Environment and Renewable Energy (WiSER) initiative since its formation in 2015 until Feb 2018.

Highly regarded for her expert counsel, she has been invited to sit on several boards and intergovernmental bodies including the Board of Trustees of the Khalifa University of Science and Technology, and the board of the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre at the University of Manchester, UK.

She is also a member of the advisory board of the Payne Institute in Colorado School of Mines, serves as advisory Panel for the Momentum for Change initiative of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Troika Plus of Women Leaders on Gender and Climate Change.

A prolific writer, Dr Al-Hosany has been published globally in international journals and newspapers, including the International Journal of Management of Environmental Quality, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Renewable Energy, and International Journal of Renewable Energy Engineering.

Her professional achievements have been widely acknowledged through prestigious awards. In July 2018, Dr Al-Hosany was presented the “Doctor of letters Honoris Causa” from Keele University in the UK in recognition for her achievements in the field of sustainability. Dr Al-Hosany also received the “Arab Woman Award”, recognising inspirational, talented and deserving Arab women and the “Emirates Business Women Award”.

Prior to assuming her current roles, Dr Al-Hosany held senior leadership positions with the General Headquarters of the Abu Dhabi Police, including Head of Design and Studies in the Engineering Department. In 2007, she became the first-ever female Deputy Director in the Abu Dhabi Police.

She graduated from the Faculty of Engineering at the UAE University in 1992 and obtained her PhD from Newcastle University in the UK in 2002.

Dr Al-Hosany is also credited as one of the first two Emirati women to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest free-standing mountain in the world at 5,895 metres above sea-level.