Internationally recognized expert on policy, politics, governance, security, culture, communications, and public diplomacy in relation to the Middle East with a track record of senior leadership at world-leading policy institutions and of multidisciplinary research and analysis.Proven results in building and transforming institutions and teams.Total embrace of cross-disciplinary strategic approaches to creating innovative solutions.Skilled orator with decades of media engagement and of impactful public speaking.Curator of engaging interdisciplinary public programs. Parallel life as a music impresario, designer, and visual artist: Co-founder of the World Metal Congress. Avid traveller and member of the England national football team fan club. Currently at Chatham House as Associate Fellow and at SOAS University of London as Director of the SOAS Middle East Institute, MBI Al Jaber Chair in Middle East Studies, and Professor of Practice in the Department of Politics and International Studies. Formerly Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House; Senior Research Associate at the Arab Reform Initiative; and Director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, part of the global network of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.Previously also co-founder of Stanford University's first ever policy-oriented research program dedicated to the study of the Arab world (Program on Arab Reform and Democracy). Published seven books, including three sole-authored ones on visual culture and film. Prolific writer of analysis pieces and op-eds as well as policy papers, published in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, CNN, Bloomberg, New Statesman, The Guardian, the Times, and many others. Innovation, strategy, and impact sum up my world.