Dr. Jean-Noël Baléo is the Regional Director of the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie in the Middle East since September 1, 2020.
This important office of the AUF, the first university network in the world, is based in Beirut and runs a network of 89 universities or research centers in 16 countries in the Middle East.
A former diplomat, he was previously Director of the French Institute in Iraq and Head of Cooperation at the French Embassy in Baghdad. He owns an Engineering degree, a Ph.D. in physics from the Ecole des Mines de Paris and a “habilitation to direct research” from the University of Nantes. He has more than thirty years of professional experience during which he has held several positions of responsibility in the field of higher education and research, as well as in international cooperation and diplomacy in Canada, Norway, Lebanon, Sudan and Iraq.
