Abdullahi Ali Hassan is a PhD candidate in Socio-Legal Studies at the University of Oxford with extensive experience across the public, private, and NGO sectors. He holds an MPhil in Southern Urbanism from the University of Cape Town, an Honours degree in Politics from the University of the Western Cape, and a BA in Politics and Development Studies from the University of South Africa. His research interests encompass ethnography, socio-legal studies, customary law in Africa, conflict mediation, transnationalism, and new communication technologies within diaspora communities. He has previously served as a research assistant for ConflictNet at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford. In addition to his academic work, Abdullahi served as the Head of Development Programmes Coordination for the Banadir Regional Administration in Mogadishu (2025–2026) and as a Liaison Officer in the Western Cape for the Embassy of the Federal Government of Somalia in South Africa (2016–2024). He was also a member of the Advisory Council of the Greater Tygerberg Partnership for the City of Cape Town (2017–2020). He is a co-founder and current board member of Group 50 Investment Trust, headquartered in South Africa. Selected Publications • Hassan, A. A. (2020). The philanthropic immigrants: How Somalis in Cape Town responded to the Covid-19 crisis. Annual Review of South African Philanthropy, 65–67. • Hassan, A. A. (2022). Informal roamers to formal establishers: Exploring the evolution and economic contribution of Somali formal entrepreneurship in Cape Town. In H. Aidi, M. Lynch, & Z. Mampilly (Eds.), Africa in movement (pp. 87–95). Programme on African Social Research (PASR), City University of New York. • Hassan, A. A. (2025). Countering violent extremism in the Horn through pax Africana. The Heritage Institute for Policy Studies. • Hassan, A. A., & Adelowo, A. (2018). Ascend to dignity. In S. Oldfield (Ed.), Ruo Emoh–Our home; our stories: From housing struggles to new homes. African Centre for Cities (ACC), University of Cape Town. • Hassan, A. A., & Cirolia, L. R. (2024). Techno-worlding and the mobility of money. Carnegie Endowment for International Development. • Hassan, A. A., Cirolia, L. R., Tahir, A., & Goodfellow, T. (2026). Worlding Mogadishu: New cities and material modes of urban speculation.