Burhan Al-Chalabi FRSA | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1947-03-01)1 March 1947 (age 78) |
| Nationality | British-Iraqi |
| Education | Imperial College London (PhD) |
| Occupation(s) | writer, publisher |
| Known for | expert on Middle Eastern relations |
Burhan Al-Chalabi (born 1 March 1947) is a British-Iraqi writer and political commentator, and an expert on Middle Eastern relations. He is also the publisher of theLondon Magazine, Britain's oldest journal of the arts and literature (est 1732).[1] Al-Chalabi is the founder and former chairman of the British-Iraqi Foundation,[2] and has been described as one of the most prominent Iraqis living in the UK.[3] He is a Fellow of theRoyal Society of Arts,[citation needed] and a member of theRoyal Institute of International Affairs.[4] He is also a former academic advisor to the United Arab Emirates.[5]
Al-Chalabi was born in 1947 in Mosul, Iraq.[6] In 1965 he was awarded a scholarship by the Iraqi Ministry of Oil to study in the UK. He holds a PhD in Thermal Power from Imperial College London.[7] Al-Chalabi is the owner of BMC Properties, a large London-based property company.[8]
Dr Al-Chalabi holds the role of publisher forThe London Magazine. He purchased the historical publication in 2011, after substantial cuts in its Art Council funding threatened its continuation.[9] As a writer and political commentator, Al-Chalabi produces work in both English and Arabic. He has contributed to some of the UK's most influential media outlets, such as The Guardian, and The New Statesman.[10] He has also contributed to several international news outlets, such as Al-Jazeera.
Al-Chalabi is a member of the Chatham House think tank. He is also a member of the Conservative Party research group, theBow Group, and a member of the Foreign and Commonwealth Council.[11] In 1999, Al-Chalabi became a member of the Conservative Party Premier Club (at the invitation of Rt Hon John Major, Rt Hon Dr Brian Mawhinney, Sir Geoffrey Leigh, and John Beckwith). Al-Chalabi is the founder and former chairman of the British-Iraqi Foundation, and NGO formed with the aim of promoting increasingly close British-Iraqi relations (patrons have included Sir Cyril Townsend, Sir John Moberley, Anthony Harris, and Sabah Al-Mukhtar).[12] He also acted for several years as a named Patron of the Next Century Foundation, and acted as Iraqi Secretariat for the organisation.[13]