Dr Eslam Elbaaly to Join UCL Department of Risk and Disaster Reduction

The UCL Department of Risk and Disaster Reduction (RDR) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Eslam Elbaaly as Lecturer (Teaching) in Humanitarian Operations and Crisis Management, starting in June 2025.

Dr Elbaaly brings extensive experience in international humanitarian affairs and field operations. He was a Senior Manager with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), working on assignments in Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Ethiopia and Egypt.

With a background in clinical medicine and public health, he spent over five years with MSF managing projects through their full lifecycle—from planning to implementation. His expertise includes remote management of public health interventions, reproductive health, primary care delivery and responses to migration-related health challenges.

Dr Elbaaly holds a Master’s degree in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), where he is currently a research student in the Department of Global Health and Development. He also has experience in monitoring and evaluation, strategic planning and data analysis to assess the effectiveness of humanitarian programmes.

At UCL, Dr Elbaaly will contribute to teaching across the Global Humanitarian Studies BSc, Risk, Disaster and Resilience MSc and Risk and Disaster Science MSc programmes. His appointment supports UCL RDR’s multidisciplinary teaching and research, bridging public health, humanitarian practice and crisis management.

““We are delighted to welcome Dr Eslam Elbaaly to the Department of Risk and Disaster Reduction. His extensive field experience with Médecins Sans Frontières combined with his teaching background in International Humanitarian Affairs will be invaluable to our students. Dr Elbaaly’s practical knowledge of crisis management across multiple challenging contexts perfectly complements our interdisciplinary approach to disaster risk reduction and humanitarian studies.”

– Professor Joanna Faure Walker, Head of Department