Victoria Greenfield’s role centers on connecting KAUST’s world-class research to policy, increasing the university’s capacity for policy analysis, and introducing new generations of KAUST researchers to policy analysis. She is a thought leader who combines analytical expertise with a deep belief in the value of scientific evidence in public decision-making and an enduring commitment to education and mentoring.

Greenfield comes to KAUST from RAND, where she was a Senior Economist and Research Quality Assurance Manager, known for reaching across disciplines to develop innovative methods and tools for rigorously answering complex policy questions. Over a decades-long career, she has held other senior positions in the public sector and academia, including Chief International Economist at the U.S. Department of State, Senior Economist at the Council of Economic Advisers in the White House, and Crowe Chair at the U.S. Naval Academy.

Her portfolio has spanned matters of domestic and global security, transnational crime, international trade, agriculture, and climate change. She also advises public agencies on strategic planning, performance evaluation, and organizational design.

Greenfield has published extensively across these areas, is co-author of “Assessing the Harms of Crime: A New Framework for Criminal Policy,” which won the 2023 Book Award from the European Society of Criminology, and chaired the U.S. National Academies’ committee on reducing the threat of improvised explosive devices.

Greenfield is a faculty affiliate with George Mason University and holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.