She was a member of the international PhD dissertation defense committee of the Egyptian doctoral candidate, Esmat Kamel. In addition to Dr. Azza Kamal, the PhD defense committee membership comprised Prof. Dr. Jose María Mella, Chair of the Department of Economic Sciences of the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (UAM), and Prof. Dr. Inmaculada Martinez-Zarzoso, Chair of Development Economics, University of Göttinegen, Germany. The PhD dissertation’s title was “Trade and Foreign Direct Investment in the Middle East and North African Region: Addressing the Role of Institutions and Political Instability”, and was supervised by Dr. Carlos Llano Verduras and Dr. Federico Steinsberg Wechsler. The PhD candidate was granted the Cum Laude (Highest Distinction) grade.