Restructuring regional security reconfiguration in the Gulf

Following the outbreak of the US–Israeli war against Iran on 28 February, Iran responded with military strikes against both the United States and Israel, including attacks on US military facilities in the Gulf. The conflict rapidly escalated, with civilian infrastructure becoming a primary target.

The escalation of hostilities has had far-reaching consequences for the Gulf region. Iran’s retaliatory strikes targeted not only US military bases but also civilian infrastructure in Gulf states, transforming the conflict into a broader regional confrontation with significant implications for security, geopolitics, and economic stability. These developments have introduced renewed instability into intra-regional relations. As a result, Gulf countries are compelled to reassess their defence strategies. This seminar explores the long-term geopolitical and security implications for the region. 

This event is in collaboration with the Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore.

Speakers

Dr Sara Bazoobandi

Sara Bazoobandi is a researcher at the Institute for Security Policy of Kiel University in Germany. She was previously a Marie Curie fellow at the German Institute of Global and Area Studies working on Iran’s economic diversification and economic resilience strategies. Additionally, she is a visiting fellow at Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, and ISPI in Milan. Over the past decade, she has worked as a consultant for various global clients in both public and private sector. Between 2013 and 2018, she was a senior lecturer in international political economy at Regent’s University London. Prior to that, she was a scholar at the Middle East Institute of the National University of Singapore. In recent years, she has worked on technological advancement across the MENA region, and globally. She worked on a project funded by Euromesco in which she examined intersection of geopolitics of economic digitalisation and digital sovereignty in the Middle East North Africa region, focusing on technological governance. She has also worked, along a group of GIGA researchers in a project funded by the Federal Foreign Office in Germany, titled Digital Transformation Lab (DigiTraL). Her contribution is focused on digital diplomacy and statecraft in the global Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC), particularly focusing on China-GCC technological collaboration and Emerging Defense Technologies in the Middle East. In addition, she is working on autocratic application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and AI governance.

Dr Alam Saleh

Dr Alam Saleh is Honorary Senior Lecturer in Iranian Studies at the Australian National University and Reviews Editor of the British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. He holds a PhD, MA and BA in Politics and International Studies from the University of Leeds and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He has taught International Relations, Security Studies and Middle East Politics at leading UK universities, including Lancaster, Exeter, Durham, Leeds and Bradford. His research and policy engagement spans Iran, the Middle East and regional security, and has included work with the UK Ministry of Defence, NATO, the European Council on Foreign Relations and UNICEF.

Dr Wang Tingyi

Dr Wang is a Research Fellow at the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy in the United Arab Emirates and a Senior Associate Fellow at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Saudi Arabia. His research focuses on Gulf geopolitics, foreign policy dynamics, great-power competition, and the intersections of politics, economics, and technology in the Middle East. Previously, Dr Wang was a Postdoctoral Fellow at St Antony’s College, University of Oxford, a Visiting Research Fellow at Princeton University, and an Assistant Professor at Tsinghua University. Dr Wang has conducted extensive research across the Middle East for over 15 years, particularly in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. He regularly participates in and convenes Track 1.5 and Track 2 dialogues across the Gulf, Europe, and East Asia.

Moderator

Dr Betul Dogan-Akkas

Dr Betul Dogan-Akkas is an Assistant Professor of International Relations and Deputy Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Ankara University, Türkiye. She is a researcher of the Gulf Arab states holding a joint degree PhD in Gulf Studies from Durham University and Qatar University. Dogan-Akkas also covers the involvement of the GCC states in the Yemen war and Turkey-GCC relations.

Registration will close two hours before the event begins.