Sebastian Ille is an Associate Professor of Economics at The American University in Cairo (AUC). He has taught at various universities (Pisa University, Chulalongkorn University, Lebanese American University) and before moving to AUC, he was an Associate Professor of Economics at the London campus of Northeastern University, where he was also the Associate Director for Research and Knowledge Exchange for Social Sciences and the Research Cluster Lead for Social Dynamics and Behaviour. In addition, he is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and was the Editor-in-Chief of the International Social Science Journal from 2015 to 2022. He wrote his PhD dissertation on A Game Theoretic Analysis of Group Conflict, Social Norms and Conventions under the direction of Alan Kirman and Herbert Gintis.

Ille studies the interrelationship between individual and collective beliefs and actions and the dynamic role of institutions. His research focuses on social systems, systems theory and complexity which he applies to questions related to fields such as, economic growth and efficiency, poverty, migration, and education. He relies on interdisciplinary methods that combine various approaches across the social sciences to better understand social systems as interconnected and complex processes of different social norms, conventions, individual preferences and interactions. 

Sebastian is author of Models of Society and Complex Systems published by Routledge and has published over thirty peer-reviewed academic papers and policy briefs. He has been a consultant for various institutions, such as the UK Home Office, the Canadian Embassy in London, the World Commission on Forced Displacement, and the Egyptian Ministry of Education.