Princess Alia Al-Senussi

Alia’s professional, personal and academic interest is patronage and arts and culture in the Middle East, holding a variety of non-profit board and committee positions in London, the US and the Middle East.

Alia is a member of the Tate Modern Advisory Council, a founding member of the Tate’s Acquisitions Committee for the Middle East and North Africa, the Board of Patrons of Art Dubai (serving an integral role in the founding of the fair itself), the Board of 1:54 The African Art Fair, the Chinati Foundation Contemporaries Council(founding International co-chair) and the Middle East Circle of the Guggenheim. Alia served as a member of the board of trustees (the Council) of the Institute of Contemporary Arts London. Alia is a member of the Strategic Advisory Panel of Delfina Foundation, the Advisory Board of Ikon Gallery, and the Advisory group of Photo London.

Alia sits on the Board of Trustees for the Global Heritage Fund UK as well as previously their partner organization in the US. Alia is a non-Executive Director of Generation Three Family Partners and works as the Representative for the United Kingdom as well as the Middle East and North Africa and consultant for Art Basel.

Alia graduated from Brown University Magna Cum Laude in 2003 with a double concentration in International Relations (honors) and Middle East Studies, following the completion of her A-Levels at Aiglon College in 2000.  Alia holds an MA in Political Science from Brown University (2004) and an MSc in Law, Anthropology and Society from the London School of Economics (2005).  Alia is currently studying towards her Ph.D. in Politics with Professor Charles Tripp at SOAS (London) examining the nexus of institutions of power, national identity, and art & culture, featuring a case study on patronage in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. She’s also a visiting scholar in Middle East Studies at Brown University.