Mariz Tadros is a fellow with the Participation team specialising in the politics and human development of the Middle East. Areas of specialisation include democratisation, Islamist politics, gender, sectarianism, human security and religion and development.

Prior to joining IDS Mariz was an assistant professor of political science at the American University in Cairo, where she taught development studies for many years at an undergraduate and graduate level.

For almost ten years, Mariz worked as a journalist for the English language newspaper Al-Ahram Weekly where she published over 300 articles on a variety of subjects including civil society, women in Egypt and the Arab region, poverty and social justice. She has extensive experience as a development practitioner and worked as a consultant for many international organisations including the Ford Foundation. Mariz obtained her doctorate from Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford in 2004.

Since joining IDS, she has been involved in leading several multidisciplinary, multi-country initiatives including one on women and politics and one on gender and religion.

Mariz is author of the recent book 'The Muslim Brotherhood in Contemporary Egypt: Democracy redefined or confined?' and of the forthcoming 'Copts at the Crossroads: The challenges of building an inclusive democracy in contemporary Egypt.'