Leslie A. Pal is the Founding Dean of the College of Public Policy at Hamad Bin Khalifa University. He has authored, co-authored, or edited over thirty books, the most recent of which are Informing Action: Higher Education Countering Violent Extremism (2021), The Future of the Policy Sciences (2021), and Global Governance and Muslim Organizations (2019). He is also a co-author of the best-selling policy textbook Beyond Policy Analysis: Public Issue Management in Turbulent Times (6th edition, 2020). He has published over ninety articles and book chapters in a variety of areas of public policy and administration, and international public management reform. His articles have appeared in the journals Governance, Policy Sciences, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, Canadian Political Science Review, Political Studies Review, and Policy and Society. He was the Executive Editor of the Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis from 2015 to 2020 and is currently a member of the editorial board of the International Review of Public Policy. He has served as both the Vice-Presidents and the Treasurer of the International Public Policy Association and is on the Board of the Association for Middle Eastern Public Policy and Administration (AMEPPA).

He has served as a consultant to the Open Society Foundations, the World Bank, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), as well as several other international organizations.