Professor Zidan holds a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Alexandria University (Egypt), and has extensive experience in science and monitoring science and technology developments at national and international levels. He has 29 years' experience in the public sector, starting from the Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority (EAEA) in 1993, moving on to also indude the Egyptian Nudear and Radiological Regulatory Authority (ENRRA) in 2012. For the seven years from 2007 to 2014 he was Supervisor of the Egyptian System for Nuclear Material Accounting and Control of the EAEA and ENRRA. From 2012 to 2014, he was then Head of the Nuclear Safeguards and Physical Protection Department of ENRRA, and in 2014, he became Vice Chair of ENRRA, as well as Rapporteur and National Coordinator of the Supreme Committee of Nudear and Radiological Emergencies, two positions that he held until 2017 when he was appointed Vice Dean of the Division of Regulations and Nuclear Emergencies and Head of the Nuclear Safeguards and Physical Protection Department both of ENRRA.

In science, Professor Zidan has supervised several Ph.D. and M.Sc. theses and published 50 scientific articles in international journals. His publications focused on improving the operational performance of fuel cycle facilities through safe and secure management, nuclear material accountancy, criticality prevention, and process systems performance improvements.On the international level, Professor Zidan has extensive experience in cooperating with the IAEA and has served on a number of its Committees. He has also conducted two regional projects with the Agency and has coordinated several Technical Cooperation projects with the IAEA and the EU.