Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) is a research university in Abu Dhabi. Recognized globally for its research excellence, the university has over 140 faculty — among them recipients of the MacArthur Fellowship, the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, and the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award, and fellows of the IEEE, ACM, and the International Society for Computational Biology.
Its student body has passed 900, drawn from over 50 countries. It is ranked 10th globally across AI, computational biology, computer vision, machine learning, natural language processing, and robotics by CSRankings — ahead of institutions that have been building their reputations for a century.
It has done this, in the words of MBZUAI President and University Professor Eric Xing, by “showing results, making a visible difference, and then asking stakeholders to top up and double down because of the results.”
MBZUAI seeks its inaugural Dean of the Division of Humanities, Social and Management Sciences.
Two of the university’s five Divisions are already operational — Computing and Mathematical Sciences, and Biological and Life Sciences — each home to hundreds of faculty and students. Humanities, Social and Management Sciences is next, with a mandate to build a division that will study how artificial intelligence reshapes decision-making, work, governance, and the broader social fabric.
Reporting to the President and/or Provost, the Dean will serve as the academic, research, and administrative leader of the Division, with the resources and mandate to build it from first principles.
This is a role for someone who wants to build an institution, not join one — at a university where humanities and social science are treated as central to the AI mission, not adjacent to it.
Professor Xing describes MBZUAI as a forge: teaching is the primary duty of every faculty member, including the most senior; research is evaluated on intellectual merit and scientific impact, not grant volume; and faculty are the core of the institution. The Dean who takes on HSMS will define what that culture looks like in a division built around economics, psychology, public policy, organizational behavior, ethics, and innovation management – disciplines whose relationship to AI is still being written.
About Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence
Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) is the first university dedicated exclusively to advancing scientific discovery through artificial intelligence. Founded by the UAE’s visionary leadership in 2019, MBZUAI was established to educate exceptional talent, cultivate a world-class innovation ecosystem, and serve as a strategic resource for both the public and private sectors.
The University takes inspiration from its namesake, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, reflecting a national commitment to harnessing AI and advanced technology for progress, prosperity, and public good.
MBZUAI’s Board of Trustees brings together internationally recognized leaders from academia, technology, industry and government. His Excellency Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak is the Chairman of MBZUAI’s Board of Trustees, which includes Professor Daniela Rus of MIT and Dr. Lisa Su, Chair and CEO of AMD.
MBZUAI attracts distinguished researchers and faculty across computer science/AI, robotics, computational biology and related fields. Through its academic programs and research enterprise, the University develops transformative AI solutions with real-world impact while helping shape how societies imagine, design, and build the future. MBZUAI is currently ranked 10th globally in CSRankings across its core specializations, including artificial intelligence, computer vision, machine learning, natural language processing, robotics, and computational biology. In 2025, MBZUAI conferred its inaugural Honorary Doctorate on Sam Altman.
The Institute of Foundation Models (IFM) at MBZUAI is a global center of excellence advancing the science, scale, and real-world impact of foundation models. With teams across Abu Dhabi, Silicon Valley, and Paris, IFM brings together world-class researchers and engineers to develop leading language, vision, multimodal, and domain-specific AI models. Its work combines cutting-edge research, high-performance computing, open collaboration, and responsible innovation to build AI systems that are technically advanced, socially meaningful, and designed to address real-world challenges.
University Leadership
As MBZUAI’s first president, Professor Xing has led the University’s extraordinary growth in fundamental AI research and has presided over the assemblage of a world-class cadre of eminent faculty.
At MBZUAI, Professor Xing has created a platform for students and faculty to showcase their research at a national level and in alignment with national priorities, while maintaining excellence and a strong balance in basic research and translational R&D.
With a wealth of experience in academia as an active and world-leading scientist, and as an entrepreneur and administrator, Professor Xing serves as an ambassador from the innovation frontier to educate and train those in the emerging and sometimes chaotic field of artificial intelligence and its application in the real world.
Under Professor Xing’s direction, numerous partnerships have been established with IBM, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), the Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS), MIT, AWS, the Gates Foundation, the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA), the Abu Dhabi Department of Energy, the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, and many more.
Professor Xing has built academic homes and robust curriculums for faculty and students to get the most from their time at the University. He has developed a one-of-a-kind executive and professional training program for senior executives and government leaders, as well as a pioneering undergraduate program.
He has brought together an operations team which is leading the rapid growth of the institution.
As a world-leading computer scientist, Professor Xing excels in theory, application, and system at the same time. His major contributions lie in the foundational work of statistical machine learning methodology, including pioneering work in distance metric learning; statistical models and analyses of networks; methods for learning and analyzing graphical models; and new systems, theories, and algorithms for distributed machine learning.
His work also focuses on foundation models and world models, including leadership of the Institute of Foundation Models (IFM) and the development of systems such as PAN and K2 series. He has played a leading role in advancing open and reproducible large language models through initiatives such as LLM360 and models including Vicuna and JAIS. His work also extends into AI for science, where he leads efforts on AI-Driven Digital Organisms (AIDO), Virtual Cell modeling, and large-scale biological foundation models such as GET, alongside contributions to benchmarking and evaluation infrastructure that underpin modern AI research.
Professor Xing supports greater access to AI and open-source platforms to encourage scalable, sustainable, and repeatable processes which opens doors to greater research and industrial possibilities. As a thought leader, Xing is continually bringing together the AI community from around the world to pursue ideas which will impact society in the most beneficial way. He founded the CASL open-source project to help standardize the first truly commercial and versatile AI operating system that will make for better and seamless AI engineering and production.
Professor Xing is a recipient of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Career Award, the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship in Computer Science, the United States Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Award, and the IBM Open Collaborative Research Faculty Award. He is a board member of the International Machine Learning Society (IMLS). He is a fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and of the American Statistical Association (ASA). In 2023, he was elected a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), and in 2026, a fellow of the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB).
Professor Xing holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from Rutgers University, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley. He completed his undergraduate study at Tsinghua University.
Academic Divisions
At MBZUAI, we are building a comprehensive university for the future: one that brings together the full spectrum of science and technology, powered by artificial intelligence.
While AI and computer science remain the foundation of everything we do, our divisions let us expand into new disciplines and widen the ground for interdisciplinary work. That is how we take on problems no single field solves alone.
Our operating model combines the enduring strengths of academia (curiosity, intellectual independence, rigorous scholarship) with the collaborative, solution-driven spirit of industry. This approach lets us pursue bold scientific discoveries and turn them into real-world impact, while educating the people who will carry that work forward.
MBZUAI operates under a divisional academic model, structured across five divisions:
- Computing and Mathematical Sciences
- Biological and Life Sciences
- Humanities, Social and Management Sciences
- Natural and Physical Sciences
- Engineering and Applied Sciences
Computing and Mathematical Sciences
Our Division of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, home to more than 600 students, brings together the disciplines that form the foundations of AI, including machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing, computer science, statistics and data science, human-computer interaction, and robotics. Led by Dean Éric Moulines, the division advances the mathematical and computational breakthroughs that underpin the next generation of AI technologies.
Biological and Life Sciences
Our Division of Biological and Life Sciences, home to around 50 students, sits at the intersection of biology, population health, and artificial intelligence. Through advances in computational biology, genomics, precision medicine, and digital health, we are transforming healthcare and improving lives. Led by Dean Eran Segal, the division builds on internationally recognized expertise, including the Human Phenotype Project (HPP), to advance AI-enabled healthcare and biomedical discovery.
Humanities, Social and Management Sciences
Our Division of Humanities, Social and Management Sciences examine how AI is reshaping decision-making, work, governance, policies and the broader social fabric. Through interdisciplinary research spanning economics, psychology, public policy, organizational behaviour, ethics, and innovation management, the division develops evidence-based approaches to ensure AI is deployed responsibly, effectively, and for the benefit of society.
Academic Programs
MBZUAI is a modern research university offering degree programs at the undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral levels. At the start of the 2026/27 academic year, over 900 students are enrolled in its distinctive academic model. The University prepares the next generation of AI leaders with the knowledge, skills, and practical experience to contribute from day one and address complex global challenges.
Undergraduate Program:
MBZUAI offers a Bachelor of Science in Artificial Intelligence, with two distinctive streams in business and engineering in a unique 3+1 model. The program currently serves around 250 students. This is an elite program designed for exceptional students and future leaders with technical and creative talent, ambition, and drive. Students learn from experienced global entrepreneurs and benefit from a strong emphasis on experiential learning, including a final-year, full-time cooperative education placement supported by MBZUAI’s Career Services and Internship team and aligned with students’ academic and professional goals.
Master’s Programs:
MBZUAI offers eight master’s programs, including seven M.Sc. degrees across Computer Science, Computer Vision, Computational Biology, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, Robotics, Statistics and Data Science, and a Master in Applied Artificial Intelligence (MAAI). These graduate programs are designed for career-oriented students who bring entrepreneurial ambition, intellectual curiosity, and a commitment to using AI to transform industries and advance evidence-based decision-making. Across its master’s offerings, graduate students are encouraged to pursue continuous improvement, innovation, and research-informed leadership. With the exception of the MAAI program, all M.Sc. programs offer full scholarships that include tuition, accommodation, healthcare, a student visa, and a generous monthly stipend.
Ph.D. Programs:
MBZUAI offers eight prestigious and globally ranked doctoral programs dedicated to the study of artificial intelligence, all of which include a full scholarship covering tuition, accommodation, healthcare, a student visa, and a monthly stipend. Doctoral students can undertake AI specializations across Computational Biology, Computer Science, Computer Vision, Human-Computer Interaction, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, Robotics, and Statistics and Data Science, where they engage in cutting edge research, contributing to top-tier scientific literature, and thought leadership driven by career aspirations into academia, research institutes, industry, or startups.
Faculty
MBZUAI’s faculty mission is framed around dual goals — pure research excellence and applied societal impact — reflecting the university’s aim to attract top scholars who are not only capable of producing groundbreaking research but also driven to create real-world impact, paired with the university’s dedicated resources and research funding to enable and encourage exceptional research, teaching, scholarly publications and societal impacts. Across two divisions, 140 faculty are the foundation of the academic enterprise, with one of the world’s most concentrated faculties dedicated exclusively to artificial intelligence, with 45 faculty members coming directly from top 100 global AI institutions. The faculty expertise spans the full spectrum of AI, from machine learning, natural language processing, computer vision, robotics, and computer science to rapidly expanding areas including human-computer interaction, computational biology, and statistics and data science.
Research and Innovation
Research and innovation are central to MBZUAI’s mission to advance artificial intelligence for the benefit of society. Unlike traditional universities where AI is one discipline among many, MBZUAI is uniquely organized as an AI-first research institution, enabling deep collaboration across machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing, robotics, computer science, computational biology, statistics, and emerging interdisciplinary fields. The University’s focused model accelerates the translation of fundamental discoveries into real-world applications spanning healthcare, climate, energy, education, mobility, and digital government.
The University has established an ambitious research ecosystem that combines world-class faculty, state-of-the-art computational infrastructure, strategic industry partnerships, and international collaborations. Faculty and research teams regularly contribute to the world’s premier AI conferences and journals while developing technologies with commercial and societal impact. MBZUAI has also invested in innovation through dedicated entrepreneurship initiatives, startup support, technology commercialization, and partnerships with government and industry, positioning the University as both a generator of scientific breakthroughs and a catalyst for economic development. Aligned with the visionary leadership of the University and the UAE’s national strategy for innovation and sustainable development, MBZUAI’s research and innovation ecosystem empowers faculty, students, researchers, and collaborators to address critical global challenges while driving the UAE’s position as a global hub for AI excellence.
Current Research Projects reflect MBZUAI’s pioneering work across key areas of artificial intelligence. Major research areas and centers include:
- Generative AI & Institute of Foundation Models (IFM) Advancing foundation models and generative AI, including large-scale, multimodal, and next-generation AI systems.
- Mathematical Foundations of Machine Learning: Advancing the theoretical and mathematical foundations that underpin modern machine learning and AI.
- Perception & Multimodal AI – Computer Vision: Developing AI systems that understand and integrate visual and multimodal information.
- Language, Reasoning & Interaction – NLP: Advancing natural language processing, reasoning, and intelligent interaction between humans and AI systems.
- Systems, Security & Scientific Computing: Developing advanced computing systems, secure AI infrastructure, and scientific computing capabilities.
- Robotics: Developing intelligent robotic and embodied AI systems that can perceive, learn, interact, and operate in real-world environments.
- Human-Centered Computing – HCI: Exploring human–computer interaction and the design of AI technologies centered around human needs and experiences.
- World Models of Human Biology & Personalized Medicine: Building multimodal AI models to predict disease trajectories, treatment responses, and personalized interventions.
- Cancer Genomics & Computational Oncology: Applying AI to understand cancer biology, identify therapeutic targets, and improve patient stratification.
- Microbiome & Metagenomics: Using computational methods to study microbial communities and their effects on health and disease.
- Gene Regulation & Epigenomics: Applying AI to understand gene regulation, genomic processes, and epigenetic mechanisms.
- Medical AI & Biomedical Image Analysis: Developing AI methods for medical imaging, diagnosis, prognosis, and clinical decision-making.
- Epidemiology & Population Health: Using AI to study disease patterns, risk factors, prevention, and population health.
The Division of Humanities, Social and Management Sciences
By integrating insights from the social sciences, humanities, and management with advances in artificial intelligence, the Division aims to inform policy, strengthen institutions, cultivate responsible AI leadership, and prepare the next generation of scholars, business leaders, and public sector leaders to navigate an AI-driven world.
The Division currently offers a dozen undergraduate courses supporting the business track. Tenure and tenure-track faculty together with continuing contract faculty; including visiting and affiliated faculty and academic support, the total number stands at eight, a number expected to grow significantly under the new Dean. The mandate for this Dean is to establish the Division’s foundations and lead its growth from the ground up.
Working At MBZUAI and Living in Abu Dhabi
Working at MBZUAI offers a distinctive opportunity to help shape one of the world’s newest and most ambitious research universities. As an AI-first institution with a focused mission and strong government support, the University combines the agility of a startup with the resources of a globally significant research enterprise. Faculty and academic leaders have the opportunity to develop innovative academic programs, build internationally recognized research centers, expand global research collaborations, and pursue interdisciplinary scholarship and collaborate across disciplines within an agile institution. The University’s international community, representing dozens of nationalities, fosters an intellectually diverse, collaborative, and entrepreneurial culture centered on addressing complex societal challenges through artificial intelligence.
Located in Masdar City, MBZUAI sits within one of the world’s leading hubs for sustainability, advanced technology, and innovation. Abu Dhabi has rapidly established itself as a global center for AI investment, research, and commercialization, supported by significant national initiatives and partnerships with industry, government, and international academic institutions. This ecosystem provides exceptional opportunities for research collaboration, technology translation, and engagement with policymakers and industry leaders.
Beyond the workplace, Abu Dhabi offers an exceptional quality of life for faculty and their families. The city is consistently recognized as one of the safest in the world and provides modern infrastructure, excellent healthcare, high-quality international schools, and a diverse multicultural community. Residents enjoy year-round sunshine, world-class cultural institutions, international cuisine, outdoor recreation, and convenient access to destinations across Europe, Asia, and Africa through one of the world’s busiest international aviation hubs. The combination of professional opportunity, personal safety, cultural richness, and global connectivity makes Abu Dhabi an increasingly attractive destination for academic leaders seeking both career impact and an outstanding quality of life.
The Opportunity
This is a rare opportunity in academic leadership: the chance to build a division from the ground up, with the resources and mandate to recruit more than 50 faculty across multiple disciplines and shape a world-class community of scholars from scratch. Faculty will be drawn by substantial internal research funding, access to state-of-the-art facilities, and an institutional commitment to ambitious, high-impact scholarship.
The Dean will define the Division’s academic vision — building world-class programs that integrate AI across policy, management, social science, and the humanities — and establish the research centers, partnerships, and faculty culture that will carry that vision forward. Much of this work involves building from first principles: there is no existing structure to inherit, and approaches that work elsewhere should be expected to be reconsidered rather than replicated.
Core areas of responsibility include:
Academic Leadership & Strategy
The Dean will define and lead the Division’s academic vision and growth in alignment with MBZUAI’s strategic priorities and the UAE’s national AI agenda, overseeing the design of new academic programs and ensuring rigor in curriculum, teaching quality, and academic governance.
Research Leadership & Innovation
The Dean will establish a high-impact research agenda from scratch, building research centers and labs, promoting faculty publication and funding success, and developing the industry and international partnerships that translate research into real-world impact.
Institutional Strategy & Performance
The Dean will translate MBZUAI’s institutional strategy into Division-level plans, define and monitor performance against KPIs and global benchmarks, and report regularly to university leadership, including the President and Board of Trustees.
Faculty Recruitment and Development
With the mandate to recruit more than 50 faculty, the Dean will lead hiring, retention, and development, working closely with academic and HR offices to build a division-wide culture of excellence, collaboration, and mentorship.
Financial & Resource Stewardship
The Dean will oversee Division budgeting and resource allocation, and support fundraising, grants, and partnership-driven funding.
Governance, Compliance & Accreditation
The Dean will ensure compliance with academic and regulatory requirements, lead accreditation processes, and represent the Division in national and international forums — building MBZUAI’s reputation as a serious, credible home for AI-integrated humanities and social science scholarship.
External Engagement & Global Positioning
The Dean will represent the Division in national and international academic, government, and industry forums, and build partnerships with leading universities, research institutes, and industry — establishing the Division’s reputation as a serious, credible home for AI-integrated humanities and social science scholarship.
Student Experience & Academic Environment
The Dean will ensure a high-quality student experience across academic, research, and co-curricular life, supporting student success, retention, and career outcomes, and fostering an inclusive, high-performance academic environment within the Division.
Candidate Profile
MBZUAI’s inaugural Dean of Humanities, Social and Management Sciences will be a distinguished scholar with deep expertise in the humanities, social sciences, or management, and a genuine, considered view of how artificial intelligence is transforming those disciplines. This is not a role for someone looking to administer an existing structure; it is a role for someone who wants to build one.
Credibility within the academic community is essential — the ability to earn the respect of scholars across economics, psychology, public policy, organizational behavior, ethics, and innovation management, and to make the case, inside and outside the university, that these disciplines are central to AI’s development rather than peripheral to it.
The successful candidate will typically bring:
- Full professor rank, or a comparable record of scholarly achievement
- At least fifteen years of progressive academic leadership experience
- A track record of faculty recruitment, development, and mentorship, including tenure and promotion processes
- Experience launching or scaling graduate or postgraduate academic programs
- Success securing external research funding from government agencies, foundations, or industry partners
- Experience with accreditation and regulatory compliance, including national ministries of education or international accreditation bodies
- Financial and operational acumen, including divisional budgeting and resource stewardship
- A track record of building global partnerships with universities, research institutes, and industry
- Experience representing an academic institution in government, industry, or international forums
The role demands a genuinely global outlook. Experience operating in a multicultural or international academic environment, with sensitivity to the dynamics of higher education in the Gulf region or comparable contexts, is valuable — though not a prerequisite for the right candidate. Above all, the Dean will bring the judgment to build something durable from very little, and a genuine commitment to MBZUAI’s mission of advancing AI for the benefit of humanity — and to the belief that the humanities and social sciences are essential to that mission, not incidental to it.
Ideal candidates will possess the following qualifications:
- PhD or equivalent terminal degree in a relevant discipline within the humanities, social sciences, management, or a related AI-adjacent field.
- Advanced academic standing at the rank of Full Professor or equivalent, or a comparable record of scholarly achievement.
- Minimum 15 years of progressive experience in academia and research leadership, with a clear trajectory of increasing institutional responsibility.
- Demonstrated track record of academic program development, including the design, launch, and continuous enhancement of graduate or postgraduate programs.
- Proven record of research excellence, including high-impact publications, funded research projects, and contributions to the broader scholarly community.
- Experience leading faculty recruitment, retention, performance management, and tenure and promotion processes at a departmental or divisional level.
- Experience securing and managing external research funding from government agencies, foundations, or industry partners.
- Prior experience working within or leading a globally ranked academic institution.
- Experience with accreditation processes and regulatory compliance frameworks relevant to higher education, such as those administered by national ministries of education or international accreditation bodies.
- Demonstrated experience in AI-focused, technology-integrated, or interdisciplinary academic environments.
- Experience developing and managing institutional or divisional budgets, including financial planning and resource stewardship.
- Proven record of external engagement, including representation of an academic institution in government, industry, or international academic forums.
- Experience operating in a multicultural or international academic environment, with sensitivity to the dynamics of higher education in the Middle East or comparable global contexts preferred.
Compensation and Benefits
This is a full-time position that will be performed on site in the United Arab Emirates. Salary commensurate with experience with a generous benefits package.
Contact
DSG Global has been exclusively retained for this engagement, which is being led by Amy Sugin, Managing Director, and Laura Bertonazzi, Managing Associate. To express interest in this role, please submit a compelling cover letter and resume by filling out our Talent Profile. All inquiries and discussions will be considered strictly confidential.
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**This leadership profile is not exhaustive and may be subject to change. While every effort has been made to confirm information at the date of publication, the accuracy or completeness of the information provided herein cannot be guaranteed.
