Zeinab Mohammed-Khair Badawi (Arabic: زينب محمد-خير بدوي; born 3 October 1959) is a Sudanese-British television and radio journalist, educator, civic activist, and writer. She was the first presenter of the ITV Morning News (later known as ITV News at 5:30), and co-presented Channel 4 News with Jon Snow from 1989 to 1998 before joining BBC News. Badawi was the presenter of World News Today broadcast on both BBC Four and BBC World News, and Reporters, a weekly showcase of reports from the BBC. In 2021, Badawi was appointed as president of SOAS University of London. Badawi serves on several civic boards and published her first book, An African History of Africa, in 2024.

Badawi was born on 3 October 1959 in Khartoum, to a family of Arab and Ethiopian descent. Her great-grandfather, Sheikh Babiker Badri, fought against Kitchener's British forces at the Battle of Omdurman in 1898 and pioneered women's education in Sudan. Badawi's father, Mohammed-Khair El Badawi, was a newspaper editor in Sudan committed to social reform who, when the family moved to the UK, joined the BBC's Arabic Service. Having grown up with an Arabic-speaking family, Badawi speaks both Arabic and English fluently.

At age two, Badawi began living in the UK. She was educated at Hornsey High School for Girls in North London, before studying Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at St Hilda's College, Oxford. At Oxford, Badawi was a member of the Oxford University Broadcasting Society. In 1988, she moved back to London to pursue a full-time one-year MA degree in Middle East History and Anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (her professors were P. J. Vatikiotis for politics, Malcolm Yapp for history and Richard Tapper and Nancy Tapper for anthropology), graduating with distinction in 1989.

After graduating from Oxford University, Badawi was a researcher and broadcast journalist for Yorkshire TV from 1982 to 1986, during which time she also presented the weekly regional consumer advice show Help Yourself. After a period at BBC Manchester, she joined Channel 4 News in 1988. Badawi co-presented Channel 4 News from 1989 until 1998 when she joined the BBC.

At the BBC, Badawi worked as presenter and reporter for Westminster live political programmes for five years. She also worked on BBC Radio as a regular presenter of The World Tonight on Radio 4 and BBC World Service's Newshour.

In 2005, Badawi became the new presenter of The World on BBC Four, the UK's first daily news bulletin devoted principally to international news. In May 2007, the programme was rebranded as World News Today and is also shown on the BBC World News channel.

She is a regular presenter of the BBC interview programme HARDtalk. In an exclusive interview in May 2009, Badawi interviewed Sudan's President Omar Al-Bashir, the first serving head of state to be charged with war crimes.

Since 2010, in addition to her presenting role on BBC World News, Badawi has presented on the BBC News Channel and the BBC News at Five.