Mahmoud Elyes Hamza obtained his doctorate from the Institut national agronomique Paris-Grignon (INA P-G) in 1987. He began his teaching career in 1988 at the Institut national agronomique de Tunisie (INAT).
Between 2007 and 2009, he was Director of the Institut supérieur des études préparatoires en biologie et géologie (ISEP-BG) in La Soukra, before becoming Director of INAT from 2009 to 2017.
During this period, in 2012, he obtained the title of Professor of Higher Agricultural Education, specializing in “Rural Engineering, Water, and Forests”.
From 2017 to 2021, he held the position of president of the Institution de la recherche et de l’enseignement supérieur agricoles (IRESA). He represented Tunisia as a delegate to the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM).
From 2021 to 2023, he was appointed Minister of Agriculture, Water Resources, and Fisheries.
In 2024, he became Director of the Specially Protected Areas Regional Activity Center, which is part of the Mediterranean Action Plan of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP/MAP).