Dr. Mark C. Thompson is Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Socioeconomics Program at King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies (KFCRIS) in Riyadh. His principal research areas are Saudi socio-economic development and societal transformation, and he has published extensively on topics such as Saudi youth issues and social transformations in publications such as the British Journal of Middle East Studies, Journal of Arabian Studies, Asian Affairs, Middle Eastern Studies, Middle East Policy; POMPES Studies, Chatham House, King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies and Gulf Affairs. His books include “Saudi Arabia and the Path to Political Change: National Dialogue and Civil Society” (Bloomsbury IB Tauris, 2014) and “Being Young Male and Saudi: Identity and Politics in a Globalized Kingdom” (Cambridge University Press, 2019). Mark is also the co-editor with Dr. Neil Quilliam of “Policy-Making in the GCC: State, Citizens and Institutions” (Bloomsbury IB Tauris, 2017) and “Governance and Domestic Policy Making in Saudi Arabia: Transforming Society, Economics, Politics, and Culture” (Bloomsbury IB Tauris 2022).
Dr Neil Quilliam is an energy policy, geopolitics and foreign affairs specialist, with extensive knowledge and experience of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. He is Research Director at SRMG Think and an Associate Fellow with Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa Programme. Neil headed the programme’s Future Dynamics in the Gulf project, and, prior to that, was project director of the Syria and Its Neighbours policy initiative. Neil also served as senior MENA energy adviser at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), senior MENA analyst at Control Risks, London, and senior programme officer at the United Nations University, Amman.