Ayman Zohry (Ph.D., University of Sussex, 2002) is a demographer/geographer and expert on migration studies based in Cairo, Egypt. He was born in Souhag, Egypt in 1964. He is a leading researcher in the field of migration studies in Egypt with a special focus on illegal migration.
Dr. Zohry has about 20 years of experience in the field of population studies and migration research. He started his career working as a junior demographer at the National Population Council (Egypt) from 1987 until joining the Cairo Demographic Center in 1992 to study for two diplomas in demography and population and development, then a Master of Philosophy in Demography in 1995 with specialization in family planning programs and population policies. While studying at CDC he worked as a lecturer assistant, lecturer, and trainer. He was also a lecturer in the United Nations-sponsored Population and Development Program also. He carried out a lot of studies in his field of specialization and he used an array of Demographic and Health Surveys for countries of Africa and Asia. He moved then to work in a UNFPA-funded project in the field of strengthening NGOs working in the field of population. In 1997 he joined the US Naval Medical Research Unit in Cairo (NAMRU-3), Egypt as a data analyst working in the field of medical demography and infant and child diseases. In 1999 he joined a project implemented by the Academy for Educational Development (AED), a United States organization and he used to work as the director of Monitoring and Evaluation division.
In the last few years he worked as a visiting professor at American University of Beirut (AUB), American University in Cairo (AUB), and The Danish Institute for International Studies. In addition, he carried out consulting work in the fields of demography, education, labor force, and migration for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), World Bank, Arab League, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, European Union, Academy for Educational Development, United States Agency of International Development (USAID), and many other national, regional, and international organizations. Currently, Dr. Zohry's work focuses on migration with special emphasis on illegal migration of Egyptian youth to Europe. Most of Dr. Zohry's published work is available for download at his website. His recent book (Arabic) Insights into Egyptian Society was published in Cairo in 2006.