Fawad Poya is a Research Fellow at the Center for Governance and Markets, supported by the Pittsburgh Network for Threatened Scholars (PiNTS). He was a research scholar at the Academy in Exile (AiE) at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany. Poya has a PhD in international law from South Asian University. Earlier, Poya was a General Director at the Center for Strategic Studies of Peace (CSSP). The Center was an independent research and advocacy institution founded by the High Council for National Reconciliation (HCNR) with an aim to provide in-depth analysis of strategic issues relating to sustainable peace and prevention of conflict in Afghanistan. He has presented several research papers at domestic and international conferences and workshops. He has also written many ‘peer-review’ journal articles and op-eds.
Poya has been an active member of the civil society groups in Afghanistan and works as a volunteer at Literacy Pittsburgh. In his capacity, Poya worked with many western-funded organizations supporting human rights, democracy, and rule of law.