Institute Faculty member since 1986, Professor Bocco’s main geographical area of fieldwork for the last 30 years has been the Near East with a particular focus on Jordan and Palestine. In addition to his PhD, he has degrees in cultural anthropology, development studies and the Arabic language. He is former director of the Centre for Research on the Contemporary Middle East, based in Amman, and was Research Director at the Graduate Institute for Development Studies. He has led large-scale research projects focusing on international aid and the socio-economic conditions of Palestinian refugees for the Swiss Development Agency and United Nations agencies. Three main research topics have successively shaped his work: tribes, nationalism, development policies and state-building; refugees, humanitarian policies and Palestinian identity in the Near East; and the role of international aid in conflict and post-conflict contexts.