Victor J. Willi holds a DPhil in History from the University of Oxford and a Master in History, Arabic & Islamic Studies, and International Law from the University of Zurich. He has over 15 years of professional and academic experience in different countries of the Middle East and North Africa, including extended field trips in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon and Israel.
In 2012 and 2013, he conducted extended fieldwork in Cairo and Alexandria, collecting hundreds of hours of recorded interviews with members of the Muslim Brotherhood from across the organizational spectrum. His book The Fourth Ordeal: a History of the Society of the Muslim Brothers in Egypt, 1967-2013 is currently under review by Cambridge University Press. His new research project focuses on the politics and practice of Islamic law among the Hamzawi and the Salafi scene in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip. He currently serves as the academic advisor of the interdisciplinary programmes at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva.
Previously, he worked at the World Economic Forum, from where he received an executive Master degree. He has several years of teaching experience, lecturing in Oxford on post-Arab Spring Middle East politics and the modern history of the Middle East and North Africa. He is the recipient of several full-time research scholarships, including from the Swiss National Science Foundation. He is a Swiss-American double citizen and is fluent in English, German, Arabic and French.