Prof. Gerd Nonneman was born in Flanders and educated at Ghent University (Belgium) in Oriental Philology (Arabic) and, at postgraduate level, in Development Studies. Professor Nonneman subsequently worked in the commercial sector in Iraq for a number of years during the 1980s, before returning to academia and further studies - including a doctorate in Middle East Politics at Exeter University. After teaching Middle East politics and political economy at Manchester and Exeter Universities, and a spell as Visiting Professor at the International University of Japan, he taught International Relations and Middle East Politics at Lancaster University from 1993 to 2007, returning to Exeter, in the summer of 2007 to take up his present position as Al-Qasimi Professor of Gulf Studies. He was a member of the UK’s 2001 national Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) panel on Middle Eastern Studies, and served as Executive Director of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES), 1998-2002. He is also an associate Fellow of the Middle East Programme at Chatham House (Royal Institute of International Affairs), serving as the Programme’s specialist on the Arab Gulf states. Alongside his academic work, Prof. Nonneman has written for specialist political and economic analysis publications such as the Economist Intelligence Unit and acted as a consultant to or worked with a range of companies, national and international official institutions including the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, foreign ministries in Europe and elsewhere, the European Commission, and various NGOs - ranging from Amnesty International to the Bertelsmann Foundation.