Who’s Who: Munir bin Mahmoud El-Desouki, president of King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology

Munir bin Mahmoud El-Desouki. (Supplied)

Munir bin Mahmoud El-Desouki was recently appointed president of King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology by royal decree.
He had previously served as acting president of KACST since April 2021.
El-Desouki supervised the founding team of the Research, Development and Innovation Authority. He has also been an adviser to the authority’s chairman since July 2021.
Before than, El-Desouki served as assistant minister at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. He also worked as deputy minister for development and planning in the same ministry, and as senior adviser to the minister.
He gained a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in 2002. He also received a master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering from McMaster University, Canada, in 2005.
Two years later, he completed a master’s degree in engineering entrepreneurship and innovation from McMaster University.
In 2010, he obtained a Ph.D. from the same university in electrical and computer engineering, specializing in CMOS sensors for low-level light biomedical applications and high-speed non-invasive fluorescence lifetime imaging systems.
El-Desouki has won numerous awards and prizes, including the 2014 Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Prize for inventors and the talented for his work in electrical engineering, titled “Development through Time Integration.”
He has published more than 85 scientific papers and articles in scientific journals, and has received more than 20 patents.