Nagla Rizk
- Position: Professor of Economics and Founding Director of Access to Knowledge for Development Center (A2K4D)
- Department: Mohamed Shafik Gabr Department of Economics
Rizk’s area of research, teaching and advocacy is the economics of knowledge, technology and development, with focus on governance of data, responsible Artificial Intelligence, fair work in the platform economy, innovation, gender and inclusion in Egypt, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Her research is multidisciplinary in nature and aims at offering academic contribution to an area of interest that is novel to Egypt and the region, while contributing to global scholarship and actively presenting the voice of developing countries in global conversations. In her work as founding director of the Access to Knowledge for Development Center (A2K4D), Rizk is engaged with regional and international partners working on policy-oriented research that focuses on the developmental perspective of knowledge in general and knowledge governance in particular. Given the multidisciplinary nature of her area of interest, her teaching spans academic specializations and speaks to students of diverse fields. Her record also includes active citizenry within AUC through membership in numerous committees and engagement in various administrative capacities, currently as center director, and previously as associate dean for Graduate Studies and Research at the Onsi Sawiris School of Business and chair of the Department of Mohamed Shafik Gabr Department of Economics.
Rizk founded the Open Data for Development Node for the Middle East and North Africa and leads the Feminist AI Research (f<a+i>r)network’s MENA hub, Open African Innovation Research Partnership (Open AIR)’s North Africa hub, and the Fairwork Egypt team, in partnership with Oxford Internet Institute. She is a Faculty Associate at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, Affiliate Faculty at Harvard Law School’s CopyrightX course and an Affiliated Fellow of Yale Law School’s Information Society Project. She is associate member at the University of Ottawa’s Centre for Law, Technology and Society.
Examples are the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Councils, Expert Advisory Committee of the Global Index on Responsible Artificial Intelligence, Paris Peace Forum Digital Rights in Society Working Group on Algorithmic Governance, and the Global Partnership on AI (GPAI)’s Data Governance Working Group. She received her PhD in economics from McMaster University in Canada, and her MA and BA in economics from AUC.
Books
Rizk, Nagla, and Hassan Azzazy, eds. 2016. Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Egypt. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press.
Rizk, Nagla, Pranesh Parakesh, and Carlos Affonso de Souza, eds. 2015. Global Censorship and Access to Knowledge: Shifting Modes, Persisting Paradigms. New Haven: Information Society Project, Yale Law School.
Rizk, Nagla and Shaver Lea, eds. 2010. Access to Knowledge in Egypt: New Research on Intellectual Property, Innovation and Development. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Research Reports and Working Papers
Rizk, Nagla. 2019. “The Knowledge Economy – A Position Paper for Egypt’s Vision 2030”. Presented to Egypt’s Vision 2030, Egypt Ministry of Planning.
Rizk, Nagla, Stefanie Felsberger and Nancy Salem. 2019. “Narratives around Women, Work, and Technology” Taking Stock: Data and Evidence on Gender Equality in Digital Access, Skills and Leadership. EQUALS Global Partnership.
Rizk, Nagla, Ayah El Said, Nadine Weheba and Jeremy DeBeer. 2018. “Towards an Alternative Assessment of Innovation in Africa” Open AIR Working Paper Series, Working Paper 10. Open African Innovation Research Network. Available online at http://openair.africa/2018/02/08/towards-an-alternative-assessment-of-innovation-in-africa/
Rizk, Nagla, Nancy Salem and Youmna Hashem. 2018. “Open Data Management Plan Middle East and North Africa”. MENA Data Platform. Available online at www.menadata.net
Rizk, Nagla, Nancy Salem and Youmna Hashem. 2018. “Capacity Building and Skills Development in the Solar Energy Sector in Egypt: The Case of Tiba” Bonn: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. Available online at www.menadata.net
Rizk, Nagla, Nancy Salem and Youmna Hashem. 2018. “Efficiency Assessment of Oasis Hotel in Utilizing a Hybrid Solar Energy System” Bonn: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. Available online at www.menadata.net
Rizk, Nagla, and Nagham ElHoussamy. 2018.”The Maker Movement Across North Africa”. Open AIR Working Paper Series: Working Paper 17. Open African Innovation Research Network. Available online at http://openair.africa/2018/10/05/the-maker-movement-across-north-africa/
Rizk, Nagla. 2017. “A Glimpse into the Sharing Economy: An Analysis of Uber Driver-Partners in Egypt.” Social Science Research Network. Available online at https://www.ssrn.com/abstract=2946083
Rizk, Nagla, Lina Attalah and Nadine Weheba .2016. “The Networked Public Sphere and Civic Engagement in Post-2011 Egypt: A Local Perspective”. Arab Networked Public Sphere, Access to Knowledge for Development Center and Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. Available online at http://www.arabnps.org
Rizk, Nagla. 2016. “Civic Engagement and the Arab Networked Public Sphere: A Synthesis of Research Findings” Arab Networked Public Sphere. The Access to Knowledge for Development Center and Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. Available online at http://www.arabnps.org
Rizk, Nagla. 2016. “Studying the Arab Networked Public Sphere: A Reflection on Methods.” Arab Networked Public Sphere. The Access to Knowledge for Development Center and Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. Available online at http://www.arabnps.org
Rizk, Nagla, Shirin Elahi, Jeremy de Beer, Dick Kawooya, and Chidi Oguamanan. 2013. “Knowledge & Innovation in Africa: Scenarios for the Future” The Open A.I.R. Network, Cape Town: Open African Innovation Research. Available online at http://www.openair.org.za/publications/knowledge-innovation-in-africa-scenarios-for-the-future/
Rizk, Nagla, Kamal Abdul Latif, Omar Bizri, Mouin Hamza and Ramzi Salama. 2009.” Arab Knowledge Report 2009: Towards Productive Intercommunication for Knowledge” Al Maktoum Foundation and the United Nations Development Programme. Available online at http://www.undp.org/content/dam/rbas/report/AKR2009-Eng-Full-Report.pdf
Journal Articles
Rizk, Nagla. 2015. “Revolution, Graffiti and Copyright: The Cases of Egypt and Tunisia.” The African Journal of Information and Communication (AJIC), (16), 48-59.
Rizk Nagla, and Sherif Kamel. 2013. “ICT and Building a Knowledge-Based Society in Egypt.” International Journal for Knowledge Management 9 (1), 1-20.
Rizk, Nagla. 2012. “Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) as a Vehicle for Human Development in Egypt: Some Evidence and Insights.” International Journal of Technological Learning, Innovation and Development, 5(3), 221-236.
Rizk, Nagla and Sherif Kamel. 2012. “ICT Strategy4Development: Public-Private Partnerships: The Case of Egypt.” International Journal of Strategic Information Technology and Applications (IJSITA), 3(2), 72-90.
Rizk, Nagla. 2010. “Notes from Egypt's Alternative Music Scene: Business Models, Commons and Copyright.” Journal of World Intellectual Property, 13 (3), 474-501.
Rizk, Nagla. 2005. “The Information Revolution and the Industrial Revolution: Today’s Egypt in the Shadow of the Past - A Note.” Topics in Middle Eastern and North African Economies, Volume 7 (invited).
Rizk, Nagla. 2004. “E-Readiness Assessment of Small and Medium Enterprise in Egypt: A Micro Study.” Topics in Middle Eastern and North African Economies, Volume 6 (invited).
Rizk, Nagla. 2002, “E-Commerce in the Arab World: Issues, Challenges and Opportunities.” Permanent Court of Arbitration/Peace Palace Papers, Volume 4, Kluwer Academic Publishers, September 2002.
Rizk, Nagla. 2002. “Information Technology and Growth: Prospects for Egypt’s Software Industry.” L’Egypte Contemporaine, Issue 465/466, January – April 2002.
Book Chapters
Rizk, N. (forthcoming 2020). “Artificial Intelligence and Inequality in the Middle East: The Political Economy of Inclusion.” In Oxford Handbook of Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, M Dubber, ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Rizk, Nagla, (forthcoming 2020) “The Sharing Economy and the Law: The Legal Environment Around Ride-Hailing Services in Egypt.” In Mobile Technologies and Access to Knowledge. Stefanie Felsberger and Ramesh Subramanian, eds. Information Society Project, Yale Law School.
Rizk, Nagla, Caroline Ncube, Chris Armstrong, Dick Kawooya, Erika Kramer-Mbula, Jeremy de Beer, and Shirin Elahi, (forthcoming 2020). Smith, Matthew L., and Seward, Ruhiya K. (Eds.). 2020. Making Open Development Inclusive: Lessons from IDRC Research. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; Ottawa: IDRC.
Rizk, Nagla, Nancy Salem and Stefanie Felsberger. 2019. “Regional Focus: the Middle East and North Africa” In The State of Open Data, Histories and Horizons, Tim Davies, Stephen B.Walker, Mor Rubinstein, and Fernando Perini, eds. Cape Town and Ottawa: African Minds and International Development Research Center (IDRC).
Rizk, Nagla, Nancy Salem and Nadine Weheba. 2018. “A Gendered Analysis of Ridesharing: Perspectives from Cairo, Egypt” In Urban Transport in the Sharing Economy Era - Collaborative Cities. Fernando Bercovich, ed. Buenos Aires: Center for the Implementation of Public Policies Promoting Equity and Growth with the International Development Research Centre and the Multilateral Investment Fund, Inter-American Development Bank.
Rizk, Nagla. 2018. “Open Approaches to Sharing: Egypt’s Independent Music: A Realm of Sharing and Creativity.” In Research Handbook on Intellectual Property and Creative Industries. Abbe E. L. Brown and Charlotte Waelde, eds. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Rizk, Nagla, and Sherif Kamel. 2017. “ICT strategy development: from design to implementation – case of Egypt” In Strategic Information Systems and Technologies in Modern Organizations, Caroline Howard and Kathleen Hargiss, eds., a volume in the Advances in Business Information Systems and Analytics (ABISA) book series, 2017, ISSN: 2327-3275, pp. 239-257
Rizk, Nagla. 2016. “Media Concentration in Egypt”, in Who Owns the World Media? Media Concentration and Ownership Around the World, Eli Noam, ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Rizk, Nagla. 2015. “Behind Egypt’s Communication Outage of 2011: Censorship and Economic Liberty” In Global Censorship and Access to Knowledge: Shifting Modes, Persisting Paradigms, Access to Knowledge Research Series, Pranesh Prakash, Nagla Rizk and Carlos Affonso de Souza, eds. New Haven: Information Society Project, Yale Law School.
Rizk, Nagla. 2013. “From Ad Hoc Commons to Digital Commons in Egypt’s Independent Music Industry” In Collaborative Dynamics of Innovation and Intellectual Property in Africa, Jeremy de Beer, Chris Armstrong, Chidi Oguamanam and Tobias Schonwetter, eds. Cape Town: University of Cape Town Press.
Rizk, Nagla. 2013. “Wireless Engagement”, in Knowledge and Innovation in Africa: Scenarios for the Future, Shirin Elahi and Jeremy de Beer, eds. Cape Town: Open African Innovation Research and Training (Open AIR).
Rizk, Nagla and Lina Attalah. 2011. "Egypt's Evolving Media Landscape: Access, Public Interest and Control" In A New Frontier, An Old Landscape, Dixie Hawtin and Andrew Puddaphatt, eds. New York: Ford Foundation, 118-136.
Rizk, Nagla. 2010. “Stories from Egypt’s Music Industry: De Facto Commons as Alternatives to Copyright” In Access to Knowledge in Egypt, New Research on Intellectual Property, Innovation and Development, Nagla Rizk and Lea Shaver, eds. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Rizk, Nagla and Lea Shaver. 2010. “Access to Knowledge in Egypt: Economic, Global and Local Perspectives” In Access to Knowledge in Egypt: New Research on Intellectual Property, Innovation and Development, Nagla Rizk and Lea Shaver, eds. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Rizk, Nagla and Sherif El-Kassas. 2010. “The Software Industry in Egypt: What Role for Open-Source?” In Access to Knowledge in Egypt, New Research on Intellectual Property, Innovation and Development; Nagla Rizk and Lea Shaver, eds. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Rizk, Nagla. 2008. “Arab Musiconomics, Culture, and Copyright” In Intellectual Property and Development: WIPO Development Agenda and Developing Countries, Neil Netanel, ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Rizk, Nagla. 2008. “Information Technology, Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Development” In Cultural Heritage and Development in the Arab World, Fekri Hassan, Aloisia de Trafford and Mohsen Youssef, eds. Alexandria: Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
Rizk, Nagla. 2006. “Venturing the Unexplored: E-readiness Assessment of Small and Medium Enterprises in Egypt” In Electronic Business in Developing Countries: Challenges and Opportunities, Sherif Kamel, ed. London: Idea Publishing Group.
PhD 1995, McMaster University, Canada
Major: Economics
Dissertation: Productivity, Technical Change, and the Role of R&D: The Case of Public Sector Engineering and Textiles Industries in Egypt 1975-1989.
MA 1987, The American University in Cairo, Egypt
Major: Economics
BA 1983, The American University in Cairo, Egypt (summa cum laude)
Major: Economics
Minor: Mass Communication