Sulyman Al-Qudsi

Principal Research Specialist, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research

A Graduate of Kuwait University (KU) with Distinction and First-Class Honors 1972, Sulayman earned his PhD from the University of California (U.C.), Davis 1979 with a doctorate thesis titled “Growth and Income Distribution in an Oil Economy, Kuwait: A Quantitative Approach”. Over the past forty years, he held numerous posts in academia, and research institutions in both the public and private sectors and in reputable universities in the USA, Canada, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan. The diverse international jobs experience of Dr. Al-Qudsi embraces employment at KISR, KU, U.C-Davis, California Energy Commission, the Canadian Energy Research Institute (CERI) and the University of Calgary, Canada. He also worked as a senior economist at U.S. Saudi Arabian Joint Commission Program Office (JCS) Riyadh and subsequently served as Senior Advisor to the Saudi Ministry of Finance. More recently, Dr. Al-Qudsi held the position of Chief Economist at the Arab Bank, Jordan and subsequently held the post of Chief Economist at the Gulf Financial Corporation, Kuwait. Currently, Sulayman is working at KISR as a Principal Research Specialist. Dr. Al-Qudsi served in several international consultancy positions of the World Bank, The Harvard International Institute for Development (HIID), Kennedy School of Government, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the Organization of Arab Oil Exporting Countries (OAPEC), and, the Economic Research Forum (ERF), where he produced specialized economic policy reports. Dr. Al-Qudsi has published more than 70 articles in reputable international and regional journals including the Journal of Economic Development, Population Economics, Asian Economic Letters, Middle East Journal, Economics of Education, Applied Economics, OPEC Energy Review, Journal of International Manpower, International Migration Review, Journal of Science and Technology. He also served as the editor\associate editor and referee for many journals including the Journal of Social Sciences, Geopolitics of Energy, GoE, and the Journal of Development and Economic Policy. He also serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Economics World. Sulayman is one of the founding committee members of the Cairo-based ERF of Arab Countries, Iran, and Turkey and is the recipient of several awards and honors including best TA award from U.C. Davis (1977), a prize for Best Young Arab Economists under the age of forty, Shoman Foundation-The Arab Bank (1988), and a prestigious prize from Kuwait, Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences KFAS (2003) and the Students’ Choice Award, University of Calgary, 2007. His recent research focuses on digital economy growth, technical efficiency and productivity and links to SMEs heterogeneity, digital labor markets and tech-education role in human capital development. He led KISR’s research project on Kuwait’s labor market digital skills gaps and contributed to the foundational research centers & academic anchors of Abdullah Al-Salem University (ASU) of Kuwait, 2022/2023. Concomitantly he also trains youthful Kuwaiti professionals to become research leaders.