Roby C. Barrett is a Middle East and North Africa Forum Fellow and a scholar and Gulf expert with the Middle East Institute, Washington, DC. He is a former Foreign Service Officer with a background in intelligence and special operations. He has been a Senior Fellow and Instructor of Applied Intelligence at US Special Operations Command and a briefer and subject matter expert with Special Operations – US Central Command. He provides support to various US government organisations including the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the National Defense University, the State Department, and the intelligence community. He was a visiting professor at the Royal Saudi Arabian Command and Staff School focused on Gulf security (specifically Yemen and Iran), and a featured expert on Iran at the German Council on Foreign Relations and with the Bundeswehr. He holds a Ph.D. in Middle Eastern and South Asian History from the University of Texas at Austin.

Leah Sherwood has 17 years of experience in the areas of strategic, human and international security, which was largely gained by working in universities, think tanks, and various government and semi-government entities. Currently, she works at the Department of Defence in Canada where she builds upon her earlier experience at the Privy Council. Previously, she worked in the Middle East and Africa in positions such as Nuclear Security Training Specialist with Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation, Deputy Director of Research at Trends Research and Advisory (an Abu Dhabi-based think tank specialised in security issues), and Senior Officer at Khalifa University’s Institute for International and Civil Security. She has also worked at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in Pretoria as a Researcher working on good governance and post-conflict management issues. She has a Ph.D. in International Relations from King’s College London and serves as a Fellow at the Middle East and North Africa Forum at Cambridge University.