Timor Sharan

Dr Timor Sharan is a Visiting Fellow at the Global Security Programme, University of Oxford. He is also associated with the Overseas Development Institute, the London School of Economics-IDEAS think tank, and the Centre on Armed Groups as Senior Research Fellow.

His research focuses on the relationship among international military intervention, transnational financial flows, violence, and the political economy of international statebuilding.

He was formerly the International Crisis Group’s Senior Analyst for Afghanistan and an Adjunct Professor at the American University of Afghanistan. Before this, he was the Deputy Minister for Policy and Programme for the Independent Directorate of Local Governance for the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Since leaving the public sector, he has advised governments and international organisations, including USAID, GIZ, and the Open Society Foundations. In 2020, he founded and managed the Afghanistan Policy Lab, the first policy hub to conduct experimental research, policy modelling and behavioural insights in the country.

As a leading policy voice in Afghanistan, he has written policy articles for Foreign Policy, Politico and others. He has appeared in renowned media outlets and has published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Central Asia Survey and Conflict Security and Development.

Dr Sharan is an expert member of Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung’s Asia Strategic Foresight Group which aims to navigate the new geopolitics of Asia and the global order of tomorrow. He has also been an alumnus of the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s prestigious Special Visits Programme and the US Government’s International Visitor Leadership Programme.

He holds a PhD from the University of Exeter and an MPhil from the University of Cambridge. He is a good cook and loves carpet weaving.