Besnik Aliaj

Besnik Aliaj - is one of the founders and current Rector of POLIS University (www.universitetipolis.edu.al), Tirana. He holds the academic titles "Professor" and "Docent". Aliaj completed his university studies in Architecture-Urbanism in Tirana (1990). He then completed his postgraduate studies "Master of Urban Management" at Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands (1996), with further specializations at the University of Oslo, Norway; IPC College, Helsingør Denmark; University of Florence, Italy; “Harvard Business School”, Boston; IVP Program / Department of State, USA; and at ILD Lima, Peru.
Besnik Aliaj has defended his PhD degree at the Polytechnic University of Tirana (2007).

Besnik Aliaj has a rich organizational and academic-research experience of 30 years in public (non-) public higher education institutions in Albania. In addition to POLIS University, he has a long experience of working as a lecturer at the Polytechnic University and the University of Fine Arts in Tirana. He has lectured and has held many "keynote" lectures in many European schools and international events of his field. Aliaj is one of the co-founders and first CEOs of Co-PLAN, Institute for Habitat Development (www.coplan.org), as a pioneering institution in the field of planning and participatory governance in Albania and the region.

Besnik Aliaj is also a co-founder of the architecture studio, "Metro-POLIS" (https://metropolis.al/), and the scientific journals "Forum A + P" (https://forumap.org/) and "TGWeB", in the fields of architecture and urban planning. He is the initiator of TDW (https://tiranadesignweek.com/) and TAW (https://tiranaarchitectureweek.com/), as well as author and co-author of many texts, books and articles, mainly in Albanian and English, but also in German, Italian and Slovenian (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Besnik-Aliaj).

Mr. Aliaj has been a member of the Tirana Municipal Council three times, and is an active intellectual in Albania, with valuable social contributions, who takes a stand on issues of public interest, including developments in civil society, planning and development of the country, formalization of the economy, consolidation of education and science, etc. He is the winner of two ‘honorary citizen’ awards in Albania, and the winner of the international award “Urban Professional Award” at World Urban Forum in 2020 by IHS and UN Habitat. 
He is the initiator of the PhD program at POLIS University.