Princess Alia Al-Senussi, PhD, is an active member of the contemporary art world with a focus on cultural strategy and patronage systems. Over the years, she has been successfully connecting networks in the Middle East, UK, Europe and Asia through various philanthropic and professional roles. She is a cultural strategist, writer, patron, public speaker and academic.
Dr Alia has long served as Art Basel's UK and MENA Representative and in 2019 she was appointed Senior Advisor to the Ministry of Culture, Saudi Arabia, where she focuses on developing international partnerships whilst working on a variety of projects across the Ministry’s commissions. Dr Alia is closely collaborating with the Thunaiyat Ad-Diriyah Foundation, which is currently developing two major international biennales, as well as working with the Visual Arts Commission on strategy.
She is an affiliated scholar and guest lecturer at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs and its Center for Middle East Studies and has also served as Senior Arts and Culture Advisor to the Milken Institute.
For over a decade Dr. Alia has been an Advisor to Generation Three Family Partners.Dr Alia is currently a member of the Tate Modern Advisory Council (London), the Strategic Advisory Panel of the Delfina Foundation (London), the Board of Trustees of The Showroom (London), Ikon Gallery (UK), the Board of Trustees of Global Heritage Fund UK, the Board of Trustees of Elisa Sednaoui Foundation (UK / Egypt / Italy), the Board of Governors of Aiglon College (Switzerland) as well as a member of Therme Advisory Board (Germany) and the UCCA Contemporary Circle (China). She continues to serve as a founding member of the Tate's Acquisitions Committee for the Middle East and North Africa, the Board of 1:54 The African Art Fair, and the Middle East Circle of the Guggenheim, as well as the Board of Patrons of Art Dubai, having played an integral role in the founding of the fair. Dr Alia also brings a breadth of experience from previous affiliations including Chair of the Tate Young Patrons (and representative to the Tate Patrons board) as well as the Board of Trustees of the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London.
Dr Alia has a PhD in Politics from SOAS (London), examining the nexus of power and cultural patronage, featuring Saudi Arabia as a case study. She graduated Magna Cum Laude in International Relations (honors) and Middle East Studies from Brown University and holds an MA in Political Science from Brown and an MSc in Law, Anthropology and Society from the London School of Economics.
