Stam K. Saeed is an awardee of the Iraqi Higher Committee for Education Development (HCED) scholarship and a recipient of a partial tuition fee award from King’s College London’s Doctoral College, pursuing an MPhil/PhD in the Department of Political Economy, which he’s started since October 2025. He completed a Pedagogical Training Programme at HAMK University of Applied Sciences (Finland, 2019), earned his master’s degree at the University of Exeter in Political Philosophy in (UK, 2014) through an HCDP scholarship, and holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Sulaimani (2011).

One of the highlights of the past decade of his academic career has been his pioneering contributions to pedagogical reform in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRG). He served as director and trainer at the Center for Pedagogical Training and Academic Development at the University of Sulaimani for over six years. Since 2018, the Ministry of Higher Education in the KRG, has launched reform initiative, aimed at reforming teaching, learning, and assessment practices across the region. Saeed co-developed the Pedagogical Training for Teacher Professional Development programme—a six-month course designed to equip MA and PhD graduates, as well as university teaching staff, with key competencies in student-centred learning, innovative pedagogical methods, assessment tools, competence-based education, 'edupreneurship', research development, and ICT integration. The programme has been highly successful across the KRG, with several thousands of educators completing the training.

Since 2015, he has also served as a lecturer at Department of Politics and IR at the University of Sulaimani, where he’s taught both classical and modern political theory to undergraduate students. Beyond academia, he has actively participated in Kurdish and Iraqi politics, producing research and policy papers for decision-makers in the KRG and beyond. He has presented his work at numerous national and international conferences such as: The First Conference of Young Democratic Leader (Turkey 2015), The Baghdad Forum for Young Leaders (2024), the Middle East Research Institute Annual International-MERI Forum (2024), BRISMES Annual Conference (2023), and the Palace of Westminster (UK Parliament 2023). In addition to his academic and professional achievements, Saeed is multilingual: Kurdish is his mother tongue, and he is fluent in both Arabic and English

Research interests

• Social movements and civil disobedience
• Kurdish, Iraqi, and Middle Eastern politics
• Classical and modern political thought
• Pedagogy, educational policy, and leadership

PhD project

Saeed’s doctoral research investigates the 2019 October Revolution in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square, examining why, how, and when it emerged. The study explores how ordinary citizens in a deeply divided society mobilised collectively, transformed grievances into political action, and created functional, self-governing spaces of solidarity. Grounded in Social movement and political theory, the project synthesises perspectives possibly from resource mobilisation, political process, framing, and new social movement approaches, while also engaging with Hannah Arendt’s political thought on public action, courage, and civic freedom. By analysing the intersection f space, emotion, and collective agency, the research advances theoretical understanding of social movements in Iraq and the wider Middle East, illuminating the mechanisms through which movements emerge, sustain themselves, and exert transformative political and social influence. The study contributes to debates on social movements and Iraq’s evolving political activism.

PhD supervisors

Professor Jeroen Gunning, Dr Kevin Mazur and Dr Poornima Paidipaty.