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 energy research director at SRMG Think, managing director at Azure Strategy Consulting and an associate fellow with Chatham House's Middle East and North Africa Programme. He headed the programme's Future Dynamics in the Gulf project. Prior to that, Dr Quilliam was project director of the 'Syria and Its Neighbours' policy initiative and acting head of the MENA programme, having first joined Chatham House as a senior research fellow in 2014. He has also served as senior MENA energy adviser at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, senior MENA analyst at Control Risks, London, and senior programme officer at the United Nations University, Amman. He has lived in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the UAE and has travelled extensively around the MENA region, working on a variety of development, education, and research projects. He has also published books and articles on international relations and the political economies of Syria, Jordan, Iraq and the GCC states.