Laryssa Chomiak is a political scientist, the Director of the Centre d'Etudes Maghrébines à Tunis (CEMAT) since 2011 and an Associate Fellow with the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House.  She is currently finalizing her book on the politics of dissent in Tunisia based on doctoral field-research in Tunisia between 2008-2010 and postdoctoral research following the 2011 Revolution. Her work has appeared as book chapters and journal articles in Middle East Law and Governance, The Journal of North African Studies, Portal 9 and Middle East Report.  Dr. Chomiak has received research fellowships from the Fulbright Commission (Morocco), the International Research and Exchange Board (IREX/Ukraine) and The American Institute for Maghrib Studies (AIMS/Tunisia). She is a member of the advisory board of Middle East Law and Governance. Before her doctoral studies she worked at USAID’s Bureau of Global Health in Washington, DC. Her opinion analyses and essays have appeared in the Washington Post and Christian Science Monitor, as well as for Midde East Institute. She regularly comments on political developments in Tunisia and North Africa in local and international media.