Omar BESSAOUD holds a doctorate in economics and a higher diploma in political studies from the Universities of Algiers and Montpellier (France). He is a senior scientific administrator at the Centre International des Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes. He was a teacher-researcher in Algiers and at the Institut Agronomique Méditerranéen de Montpellier (IAM-M) until 2017. He is currently an associate professor at the IAM-M. His speciality is agricultural and rural public policy in Mediterranean countries. He has been an elected member of the Académie d'Agriculture de France since January 2018.