Dr. Alia El-Mahdi is a Professor of Economics at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science at the Cairo University. She is the former dean of the Faculty of Economics and Political Science at Cairo University and the Chairperson of the Egyptian Iron and Steel Association (2019-2021). Dr. El Mahdi was also the CEO of Egypols from 2015-2022. In 2021, she won the State Award for Excellence. Prior to that, she was the vice dean of the Faculty of Economics and Political Science for Post-Graduate Studies and Research at Cairo University. Besides being engaged in Higher Education for over 40 years in different capacities, her academic fields of specialization are in the areas of Macroeconomics, Fiscal, Monetary and Trade policies, Industrial Policies, Labor Market studies, as well as Micro and Small Enterprises dynamics and performance. Dr. Alia also acted as consultant and policy advisor to several ministries, national and international organizations.