Yahia Dabbous

Communication Design Specialist

With experience across Egypt, France, and the UK, Yahia Dabbous brings over eight years of expertise in communication, cultural journalism, and heritage preservation. As Associate Editor of Scene Noise from 2021 to 2022, he shaped narratives around emerging musical movements and broader cultural trends across Egypt, the Arab world, and its diaspora. He currently serves as Associate Programme Specialist for UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme, managing implementation of documentary heritage preservation projects in Saudi Arabia and the Arab region while maintaining a newsletter with over 12,000 subscribers that bridges heritage practice with contemporary cultural analysis. Previously, Yahia wrote reports for the Population Council examining technical vocational education and training (TVET) and women's labor force participation in Egypt, served as Sub-Editor at Egypt Independent newspaper, and supported administration of UNESCO's first-generation Internet Universality Indicators country assessments. His communication work combines cultural insight with policy analysis, translating complex institutional initiatives into compelling public narratives. He holds a Master's degree in International Security from the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences Po, bringing informed analysis of how Egypt navigates contemporary social, economic, and security challenges. His interdisciplinary background enables him to connect cultural diplomacy with geopolitical context, understanding heritage work not just as preservation but as active engagement with power, identity, and collective memory. At Manara, he provides creative and editorial input on communication campaigns, public messaging, and advocacy across our thematic areas, and contributes to the design of projects related to media, journalism, and information governance. He brings energy and ideas to The Caravanserai and The Reading Room platforms, helping imagine dialogue that bridges regions, disciplines, and perspectives. In his free time, he creates collages.