Tarek Galal Shawki was the Dean of the School of Sciences and Engineering at The American University in Cairo. This academic assignment started on 1 September 2012 following a four and a half years tenure as the Director of The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Regional Bureau for Science in Arab States (2008-2012) located in Cairo, Egypt.
Prior to his UNESCO Cairo Office appointment in June 2008, he was the chief of the Section for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in education, science and culture within the information society division in UNESCO headquarters (Paris, France). Shawki served as the regional advisor for communications and information at the UNESCO Cairo Office between January 1999 and November 2005. The UCO is a regional office for science, technology, and information for Arab states.