Dr. Ahmed Zayed Wins the Nile Award for Social Sciences
Posted on
Prof. Ahmed Zayed, Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, has won the Nile Award for Social Sciences, which is considered Egypt's highest cultural award. This was announced during a meeting of the Supreme Council of Culture that was held on Tuesday, 29 July, and chaired by Dr. Ahmed Fouad Heno, Minister of Culture, and attended by Ashraf Al-Azazi, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Culture, to vote on the 2025 State Awards in Literature, Arts, and Social Sciences.
Dr. Heno stated that the Nile Awards represent the highest cultural honor in Egypt and reflect the State's deep belief in the value of thought, art, and creativity in shaping the future. He added that this year's Nile Award winners are outstanding examples of scientific, artistic, and cultural achievement, and have contributed over the years to shaping the nation's conscience and building its awareness, noting that this honor comes in recognition of their efforts and is a message of appreciation from their country to all those who serve its causes with enlightened thought and authentic creativity.
Prof. Ahmed Abdullah Zayed Hegab was appointed Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in August 2022. He is a member of the Egyptian Senate.
Since graduating, he has been appointed lecturer at the Faculty of Arts, Cairo University, where he rose through the ranks to become Professor of Political Sociology in 1991. He has also held several administrative and academic positions over the years, most notably as cultural advisor to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Dean of Cairo University’s Faculty of Arts. He has lectured at numerous Egyptian and non-Egyptian universities, most notably Qatar University, the United Arab Emirates University, Omdurman University, and Bielefeld University in Germany.
He has received numerous awards, including the State Award for Scientific Excellence in Social Sciences in 2004, the State Appreciation Award in Social Sciences in 2007, the Cairo University Award for Scientific Excellence, and the Al-Owais Cultural Award. He has been actively involved in public cultural work through regular contributions to newspapers and magazines and participation in multiple conferences and seminars. He writes a biweekly column in Al-Ahram newspaper. His list of publications includes more than 200 titles, the most important of which are The Contradictions of Modernity in Egypt, Political Structure in Rural Egypt, The State: Modernization and Dependency Theories, The Voice of the Imam: Religious Discourse from Context to Reception, and his most recent book The Question of Ethics in the Modernization Project, as well as a number of translated books.