Policies. Academic career Ali began his academic career in 1964 when he was appointed by the University of Khartoum as a Senior Scholar (their official term for Assistant Lecturer) in Economics, in the Faculty of Economic and Social Studies. He was promoted to Lecturer in Economics in 1967. In 1971, he became Lecturer in Economics with the University of Leeds, School of Economic Studies, which became Leeds University Business School, LUBS. He was promoted in 1981 to Senior Lecturer there, a position he retained until 1993. But before then, he joined Fukuoka University in Japan as the Professor of International Economics and European/American Economies in the Faculty of Commerce, a position he held until retirement on 31 March 2011 as Emeritus Professor of International Economic Integration, in recognition of his contributions to his academic field. Ali has held several visiting academic positions: Visiting Professor' of the Economics of the European Community at the University of York (UK) during 1980–81; Visiting Professor (of International Economics, Middle Eastern Studies and West European Integration with the Graduate School of International Relations, International University of Japan, during 1984–86; Visiting Professor of the Economics of the European Community, Fudan University, Shanghai in February–March 1985; and Visiting Professor of Economics with Vanderbilt University (Nashville Tennessee, USA) during 1997–98. He was also Adjunct Professor of EU Studies (with, inter alia) Kyushu National University, Seinan Gakuin University and Kyushu Sangyo University all in Fukuoka, Japan, for various periods during 1989–2000. He has taught several intensive graduate courses at the Japan International Development Institute, sponsored by the World Bank in Tokyo, Japan in 1986, and Chulalongkorn University, in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2010. Accolades, consultancies and affiliations Ali was an elected member of The Council of the University of Leeds, during 1980-84 and an invited member of The Senate of the University of Leeds, during 1979–82, when he was the Head of The Office of the University of Leeds Adviser to Overseas Students, now The International Student Office. He was also an elected Member of Council, the University of Leeds, during 1987-90 and an elected Member of Senate, the University of Leeds, during 1983–86. He was External Examiner for Reading University (UK) for the Department of Economics and its Graduate School of European and International Studies for the M.A. and MSc degrees in, respectively, Economics and European Integration; he declined invitations to act as such for many UK universities due