Meet our Team

Our expert practitioners are from the highly acclaimed Birmingham Business School. 

Academic Staff

Natalie Al-Samarrai

Natalie Al-Samarrai

Assistant Professor
Programme Director BSc Accounting and Finance

Natalie is an Assistant Professor in Accounting and Finance and based at the Dubai campus. Natalie teaches on both the BSc and MSc degrees and is also one of the Programme Directors for BSc Accounting and Finance in Dubai. 

She is a Chartered Accountant, originally from the UK and after leaving private practice she has enjoyed a lecturing career that has spanned almost two decades both in ...

Telephone
00971 442 80500
Email
n.al-samarrai@bham.ac.uk

Dr Vic Benuyenah

Dr Vic Benuyenah

Assistant Professor & Interim MBA Director

Vic Benuyenah is an Assistant Professor and the Interim Dubai MBA Programme Director. He has a background in organisational psychology and the application of economic theory to HRM/management decisions. Vic is a Senior Fellow of the HEA, MCIPD and a Fellow of the Royal Economic Society of England. He has extensive experience teaching business courses and managing higher education teams. Dr. ...

Email
v.benuyenah@bham.ac.uk

Dr Senika Dewnarain

Dr Senika Dewnarain

Assistant Professor in Marketing

Dr Senika Dewnarain joined the University of Birmingham in Dubai as an Assistant Professor in Marketing, in April 2022. Senika was awarded her PhD in Hospitality Marketing and Management in 2020. Prior to joining the UoBD, she was working as a Senior Lecturer in Marketing and Tourism Management at Curtin University, in Mauritius, where she also served as a Corporate Trainer in Marketing and Managi ...

Telephone
+971 (0)97144280698
Email
s.dewnarain@bham.ac.uk

Dr Saneesh Edacherian

Dr Saneesh Edacherian

Assistant Professor - Strategy and International Business
Programme Director - MSc International Business (Dubai)

Saneesh is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Strategy & International Business. His research explores how strategic leadership groups and entrepreneurial teams shape strategic outcomes such as innovation and internationalization. He uses Multivariate Analysis including Meta-analysis, and Topic Modeling in his research.

His emerging interests lie in extending the scholarly ...

Telephone
+971 44280500
Email
s.edacherian@bham.ac.uk

Dr Alessio Faccia

Assistant Professor in Finance

Alessio gained International Experience in Italy (Università LUISS Guido Carli, Università Roma TRE, Università di Roma La Sapienza), UAE (American University of the Emirates, De Montfort University Dubai), UK (Coventry University), and Malta (American University of Malta). He has been a professional Auditor and Chartered Accountant since 2009 and served as an expert and ...

Email
alessio.faccia@bham.ac.uk

Nikos Fatouros

Nikos Fatouros

Assistant Professor in Economics
Programme Director of BSc Economics and BSc Money, Banking and Finance

Nikos Fatouros is an Assistant Professor in Economics, at the University of Birmingham. His research focuses on Economic Growth, Environmental policy, and Natural Disasters. 

 

 

Email
n.fatouros@bham.ac.uk

Dr Yusuf Hartavi

Dr Yusuf Hartavi

Assistant Professor of Finance
Head of External Engagement

Yusuf Hartavi is an Assistant Professor of Finance at the Birmingham Business School.

Email
y.hartavi@bham.ac.uk

Dr Heather Jeffrey

Dr Heather Jeffrey

Lecturer in Marketing (Dubai)

Heather Jeffrey is a lecturer in marketing with research and teaching interests in Cultural Studies. Heather is a member of the European Commission-funded International Network for Comparative Analysis of Social Inequalities, and an associate for the non-profit organisation Equality in Tourism. She has published peer reviewed articles on the topic of gender (re)presentations, and her research has ...

Email
h.jeffrey@bham.ac.uk

Muhammad Khawar

Muhammad Khawar

Associate Professor

Muhammad is an Associate Professor of Accounting and the Programme Director of MSc Accounting and Finance in Birmingham Business School Dubai. Previously, he was an Associate Professor and Programme Director of MSc International Accounting and Finance at the University of Bradford, UK. In addition, Muhammad is a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and a Senior ...

Email
m.khawar@bham.ac.uk

Dr Parvez Mia

Dr Parvez Mia

Assistant Professor in Accounting

Parvez Mia is an Assistant Professor in Accounting at Birmingham Business School. His research interests are social and environmental accounting, and the way organisations communicate that information. His research interests cover a range of Social and Environmental Accounting topics with a particular interest in Accounting for Climate Change and Accounting for Sustainable Development.  He ...

Email
p.mia@bham.ac.uk

Fiona Oster

Lecturer in Business Management

Fiona Oster is a Lecturer in Business Management at the University of Birmingham Dubai.

Fiona has 13 years of academic experience in both the Irish and German Higher Education systems. She has taught at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels to AACSB standards and has been an active member in curriculum design and quality assurance teams.

She has considerable expertise in innovation ...

Email
f.oster@bham.ac.uk

Sarah Percy

Sarah Percy

Assistant Professor in Marketing

Sarah has a wealth of marketing industry experience across the services and luxury goods sectors in the UK. In addition, she has taught a range of marketing subjects at both postgraduate and undergraduate level at prestigious Russell Group Universities in the UK.  Her PhD was in Innovation in Family Business.

Email
s.percy@bham.ac.uk

Dr Dimitrios Reppas

Dr Dimitrios Reppas

Assistant Professor in Economics

Dimitrios Reppas joined the Department of Economics at the University of Birmingham in January 2024. His previous academic experience includes the positions of Assistant Professor of Economics at Khalifa University of Science and Technology (United Arab Emirates) and of Lecturer in the Department of Economics at the University of Manchester (UK).

He holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource ...

Email
d.reppas@bham.ac.uk

Dr Lohrasp Sadri

Dr Lohrasp Sadri

Lecturer in Accounting

Dr Lohrasp Sadri is a Lecturer at the School of Accounting at University of Birmingham.

Lohrasp has a number of years’ experience in teaching Accountancy, Economics and Finance at Under-Graduate, Post-Graduate and Professional level. Lohrasp is a competent lecturer, trainer and researcher with relevant industry experience. He is an effective communicator with strong mentoring, ...

Email
l.sadri@bham.ac.uk

Dr Sheikh Selim

Dr Sheikh Selim

Head of Education
Programme Director of BSc Economics and BSc Money, Banking and Finance
Senior Lecturer in Economics

Sheikh Selim is a Senior Lecturer in Economics and Programme Director for BSc Economics and BSc Money Banking Finance.

He previously led the BSc Business Economics programme in the University of Westminster where he held the position of  Senior Lecturer of Economics. He served as a visiting professor of Political Economy in the New College of Humanities, and as a Lecturer of Economics in ...

Email
s.t.selim@bham.ac.uk

Dr Imen Tebourbi

Senior Lecturer in Finance
Programme Director of MSc Financial Management (Dubai)

Dr. Tebourbi is an associate professor of Finance and Programme director of the MSc Financial Management at University of Birmingham, Dubai. She has an extensive international experience in teaching, research and academic leadership experience and has won awards for her research work and her leadership in the education sector.

Dr Mahmoud Zakarneh

Dr Mahmoud Zakarneh

Assistant Professor in Marketing (Dubai)

Dr Mahmoud Zakarneh is an Assistant Professor in Marketing at Birmingham Business School (BBS), Dubai campus. He joined BBS in 2022, teaching at the Postgraduate Taught level (MSc.). Prior to joining BBS, he was part of the Kent Business School (KBS) teaching team since 2018 and was appointed to a lectureship in 2020. His educational background includes a BSc in Marketing from the University of ...

Email
m.s.a.a.zakarneh@bham.ac.uk

Julie McDonald            

Programme Director of BSc Accounting and Finance
Lecturer in Accounting 

Email: j.a.mcDonald@bham.ac.uk

Julie McDonald