Welcome to the research staff page. With a wide array of skills, interests, and expertise, our research staff are pleased to bring you an array of quality research materials.

To contact a specific research staff member please click on the email icon next to their names below. If you aren’t sure to whom your inquiry should be addressed you can send an email to research@pomed.org. We welcome your thoughts and comments.

Shadi Hamid | Email
Director of Research

Shadi Hamid is now the Director of Research at the Brookings Doha Center, as well as a Fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy. He focuses on Islamist political parties and democratic reform in the Middle East. Prior to joining Brookings, he was Director of Research at the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) and a Hewlett Fellow at Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. He was also a research fellow at the American Center for Oriental Research in Jordan, conducting research on the changing relationship between the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood and the regime. His articles have appeared in The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, The Jerusalem Post, The New Republic, The American Prospect, and Democracy: A Journal of Ideas. He wrote his dissertation on Islamist political behavior in Egypt, Jordan, and Morocco. Shadi received his B.S. and M.A. from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

Simon Cooke | Email
Associate Director of Research

Simon Cooke was formerly associate director of research at the Project on Middle East Democracy. He has been a program associate at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), where he oversaw Lebanon and West Bank / Gaza programs. Cooke was previously an editor for the United Nations Development Programme, and a technical consultant for the Center for Global International and Regional Studies. He received his B.A. in Global Economics from the University of California Santa Cruz. Cooke has also completed several years of Arabic language courses at the American University of Cairo and at the Sana’a Institute for Arabic Language.

Research Associates

Chris Assaad | Email
Research Associate, Egypt

Chris Assaad is a research associate at the Project on Middle East democracy, where he focuses on Egyptian politics. His research interests include the persistence of authoritarianism in the Arab world and the political effects of natural resource abundance. He has worked both domestically and internationally for the State Department. Christian holds a B.A. from Johns Hopkins University in International Studies, and is currently pursuing an M.A. in Arab Studies at Georgetown University.

David Mikhail | Email
Research Associate, Lebanon

David Mikhail is a research associate at the Project on Middle East Democracy, where he specializes in Lebanese politics. He was previously a staff writer at The Hill newspaper in Washington, D.C., where he wrote extensively on U.S. congressional policy and Middle East politics. Mikhail has also been a lecturer in political science and criminal justice at Rutgers University and worked as counsel with the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York City. He received his bachelors degree from Rutgers University, his law degree from American University, and his masters in international law from New York University School of Law.

Daphne Mccurdy | Email
Co-Research Associate, Turkey

Daphne McCurdy is POMED’s Senior Research Associate. She was formerly a research associate focusing on Turkish politics. Previously, Daphne worked as a Program Assistant at the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) where she supported CIPE’s projects in Turkey and Iran. From 2007 to 2008, Daphne was on a Fulbright scholarship in Turkey conducting research on Turkish foreign policy in the Middle East and working at the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV). Previously, she worked at the Committee for Economic Development and the Permanent Missions of Turkey to the United Nations and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Daphne holds a B.A. in International Relations and Economics from Tufts University.

James Liddell | Email
Research Associate, Morocco

James Liddell is a research associate at the Project on Middle East Democracy, where he focuses on Moroccan politics. For two years he served as the Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator for the National Democratic Institute in Morocco, where he oversaw evaluation, reporting and youth programming. Previously, he worked with the Public Affairs Sections of U.S. Embassies in Morocco and Tunisia where he focused on press analysis and public diplomacy. He was also the lead organizer of POMED’s 2007 and 2008 Moroccan-American dialogue conferences. Liddell holds a B.A. in Political Science from Bates College.

Lydia Khalil | Email
Research Associate, Iraq

Lydia Khalil is a research associate at the Project on Middle East Democracy, focusing on Iraqi politics. She has worked in the United States and abroad for the U.S. government, international organizations, private companies and think tanks on a variety of international security issues. In various capacities she has also advised the US State Department, Department of Defense, and the Joint Staff. She is an analyst with the Jamestown Foundation, as a regular contributor to Terrorism Monitor and Terrorism Focus, as well as with the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. In addition, she is a contributing analyst to Freedom House, monitoring rights and freedoms in Arab countries. Previously, she worked in Iraq as a policy advisor for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad, working closely with Iraqi politicians on political negotiations and constitutional drafting. For her service, she was awarded the Department of Defense Public Service Award, the highest civilian honor. Khalil holds a B.A. from Boston College and a Masters in International Security from Georgetown University, and is a native Arabic speaker.

Nicholas Danforth | Email
Co-Research Associate, Turkey

Nicholas Danforth is a research associate at the Project on Middle East Democracy, focusing on Turkish politics. Nicholas recently spent a year in Turkey, working at the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) and the International Strategic Research Organization while taking classes in Turkish at Bogazici and Sabanci Universities. Prior to that, he received an MA in Turkish Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. After graduating with a BA in History from Yale, Nicholas spent a year at the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy working on programs related to madrasa reform in Pakistan and track two diplomacy with Iran.