Nada ELSHANAWANY

Nada El Shanawany is a marine ecologist with more than 15 years of international experience in ecosystem restoration, environmental consultancy, biodiversity conservation, and project leadership across Europe, Egypt, and the Gulf region.

She has worked with DEFRA UK on environmental modelling of habitat–biophysical characteristics for commercial fisheries, and as Conservation Director at Nature Conservation Egypt (BirdLife affiliate), she led initiatives addressing illegal bird hunting across the Mediterranean Basin and assessing the impacts of wind farms and energy infrastructure on migratory birds. She also designed an ecotourism business plan for the Fayoum Protectorates in Egypt—including Wadi El-Hitan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site—under UNDP.

In the Gulf, Nada has led ecological strategies for over 20 megaprojects across Saudi Arabia, establishing biodiversity codes and guidelines for government entities such as the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU).

Currently, she is the Operations Manager at Nabat, where she directs large-scale ecological restoration programs across diverse ecosystems in the UAE. In parallel, she is a part-time PhD candidate at Wageningen University-Netherlands, researching urban evolution and learning behaviour in reef fishes, with a focus on invasive species dynamics.