Professor Mohammad Nurunnabi

Director – Center for Sustainability and Climate (CSC)

Aide to the President

Chair – Accounting; Prince Sultan University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Academic Visitor (Senior Member), St Antony’s College, University of Oxford, UK

Professor Mohammad Nurunnabi PhD (Edinburgh), SFHEA, FRSA, FAIA (Acad), CMBE, FFA, FIPA, CMA, CPA is the Founding Director of – Center for Sustainability and Climate (the first sustainability and climate think tank in Saudi Arabia), Aide to the President, and Chair – Accounting at Prince Sultan University. He is an Academic Visitor (Senior Member) of St Antony’s College, University of Oxford, UK. He was a consultant of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), L20 (Labor 20), Saudi National Committee for Workers Committees, Saudi Investment Bank, General Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises. His article on Saudi Vision 2030 was the most downloaded article after the announcement of Saudi Vision 2030.

Based on Stanford University World’s Top 2% of Scientists, 2023 (single-year data), Professor Mohammad Nurunnabi is ranked number 1 in Education in Saudi Arabia in 2023. Based on ScholarGPS (Highly Ranked Scholars 2022), he is also ranked number 7 in Accounting in the world in 2023. Under his leadership, Prince Sultan University (PSU) became the second private university in the world (outside US) to earn AACSB accounting accreditation in 2022. More recently, he co-chairs the Teaching & Curriculum Committee of International Accounting Section of American Accounting Association (AAA). He has published over 130 articles. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of PSU Research Review: An International Journal, Emerald, and Series Editor-in-Chief of Contributions to International Accounting. He serves on the editorial boards over 20 journals. He is also the reviewer over 100 leading international journals. He was awarded a Platinum Lever Leader by the IMA, USA.

Mohammad is engaged with high-level committees on the SDG agenda in Saudi Arabia and globally. He is a regular invited speaker at the United Nations, Ministry, World Bank, CNBC etc. He was invited as a global distinguished speaker at the United Nations – KSA Local Conference of Youth 18 2023, United Nations Day 2022, WFP, UNEP YEA! Global Summit 2022, U.S. Embassy & Consulates in Saudi Arabia, International Conference and Exhibition for Education (ICEE 2022), Saudi Ministry of Education, the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and the World Bank MENA Group, USA, the Global SDG Congress and the Times Higher Education. He has edited two special issues with a collection of 140 articles on sustainability, climate and SDGs.

He is leading the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), and also supported Prince Sultan University to become the first Saudi University to pledge Net Zero Carbon University by 2060. Under his leadership, Prince Sultan University became the first Carbon Neutral Certified University in the MENA region. He also established Financial Literacy for Women in Business (SDG 5) to support micro, small and medium businesses. He is the founding leader of four global think tanks, including the Center for Sustainability and Climate, Global SME Policy Network (GSPN), Global Education Policy Network (GEPN) and Global Islamic Finance, Tax and Zakat Center (GIFTZ Center).

Mohammad is leading the global higher education sector through GEPN where he engaged more than 100 academics from 35 countries to accelerate progress on climate action within and beyond the sector. He also led the process of becoming the strategic partner of EAUC in Saudi Arabia. His experiences in policy and practice will help to deliver on the goals of the Paris Agreement engaging the global higher education sector.

He has received prestigious awards including Prince Sultan University President’s Distinguished Research Award (2020), the IMA Faculty Leadership Award from Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), USA in 2017, ‘Financial Leadership and Reporting’ from ACCA (2014), and the ‘Outstanding Service as an IMA Campus Advocate’ from IMA, USA in 2014.