Dr Antoine Hyafil shaking hands with French ambassador Eric Chevallier at a ceremony recently.

Dr Antoine Hyafil, director of programmes for executive education at Hamad bin Khalifa University (HBKU), has been awarded the Knight of the National Order of Merit (Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite) by French President François Hollande for contributing to the quality of French-Qatari relations.
Dr Hyafil received the medal from French ambassador Eric Chevallier at a ceremony held on November 2 at the HBKU Student Center which was attended by HBKU president Dr Ahmad Hasnah, as well as family, friends and colleagues.
“I feel very fortunate to have been able to play a part in using education to help with Qatar’s development,” Dr Hyafil said.
“Participating in the early growth of HBKU and developing a new concept for a multidisciplinary master’s degree that focuses on energy, after having established HEC Paris in Qatar, has been an extraordinary adventure, which probably could only have taken place here,” he added.
Dr Hyafil is responsible for devising and overseeing the innovative Executive Master in Energy and Resources programme currently offered by HBKU. He was previously the founding academic dean of HEC Paris in Qatar. Prior to coming to Qatar, he was dean of the faculty at HEC Paris in his native France.
As the initial holder of the Deloitte-Société Générale Chair in Energy and Finance, he was instrumental in the creation of the HEC Paris “Energy in a Carbon Concerned Economy” certificate and the HEC Paris EMBA “Energy Major”. Dr Hyafil holds a Doctorate in Financial Economics from HEC Paris and the University of Orléans.
In presenting the award, the French envoy highlighted the significant contribution made by Dr Hyafil in promoting academic collaboration between Qatar and France.
“This award acknowledges his longstanding commitment to education and research. Professor Hyafil is an outstanding figure of the French-Qatari friendship since he was Founding Dean of HEC in
Qatar in 2012,” the envoy said.