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Staff Profile

Dr Mohsen Nagheeby

Research Associate in Water Security, Public Policy and Governance

Background

Dr Mohsen Nagheeby is a Research Associate in Water Security, Public Policy and Governance at Newcastle University’s Centre for Water. His work sits at the intersection of international public policy, environmental governance, international water law and hydropolitics. He examines how law, institutions, evidence, diplomacy and power shape water and environmental governance across local, national and international scales.

From 2021 to 2025, Mohsen served as Outcome Lead for Public Policy and Governance and led social-science and public-policy activities within the Water Governance Workstream of the UKRI-GCRF Water Security and Sustainable Development Hub. In this role, he worked with researchers, practitioners and policy partners in Colombia, Ethiopia, India and Malaysia on questions of water governance, institutional coordination, stakeholder engagement, environmental justice and the translation of research into policy and practice.

He has over 15 years of academic, policy and practitioner experience in transboundary water governance, international environmental policy, water diplomacy and conflict-sensitive governance. Earlier in his career, he worked with national, regional and international organisations on policy development, inter-institutional coordination, negotiation processes and multidisciplinary research projects related to transboundary waters.

Mohsen completed his PhD at Northumbria University, School of Law, on Anarchy and the Law of International Watercourses: Unpacking the Role of the Equitable and Reasonable Utilisation Principle in the Pursuit of Water Conflict Transformation. His work bridges international law, public policy, political geography, environmental politics and critical water governance.

Research

Research Groups:



Mohsen’s research focuses on the politics and governance of water and environmental policy. His work examines transboundary water governance, international water law, hydro-legal geopolitics, water diplomacy, policy implementation, institutional coordination and justice in environmental decision-making.

His recent research develops three connected themes: hydro-legal geopolitics and the politics of global water treaties; decolonising water diplomacy and conflict transformation; and critical water governance, including his work on the “capitalist black hole” of water governance and the ways in which technocratic and market-centred policy frameworks can limit more just and democratic approaches to water.

A distinctive strand of Mohsen’s research develops decolonising water diplomacy as a critical approach to hydropolitics and conflict transformation. This work explores a fourth paradigm in hydropolitical analysis, moving beyond conventional framings of water conflict, cooperation and security-peace to foreground equity, identity, justice and historical accountability in transboundary water relations.

A central contribution of Mohsen’s work has been his critical analysis of Iran–Afghanistan transboundary water relations, especially the Helmand/Hirmand River Basin, and the possibilities for more just, equitable and sustainable water relations. His broader geographical focus is on West and Central Asia and the wider politics of transboundary water governance in conflict-affected and geopolitically sensitive contexts.

He has recently led projects funded by the BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants scheme and the Geneva Water Hub Science Policy Incubator. He is also involved as a water governance researcher in the EPSRC-funded Decentralised Water Technologies Project, examining governance, policy and stakeholder dimensions of transitions toward net-zero, self-sustaining water systems for rural and off-grid communities.

  • "Reunited in Dreams: Future Proofing the 1973 Helmand Water Treaty between Afghanistan and Iran", awarded through the BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants Scheme.
  • "Decolonising Water Diplomacy", awarded the Science Policy Incubator Grant on Water Diplomacy from Geneva Water Hub.
Teaching

Mohsen contributes to teaching and supervision in areas including:

  • International public policy and environmental governance
  • Transboundary water governance
  • International water law
  • Environmental politics and policy
  • Water diplomacy and conflict transformation
  • Qualitative policy research, stakeholder analysis and policy brief writing
Publications