Dr. Mark C Thompson

GRM 2022 Workshop: The Dimensions of Saudi Arabia’s Soft Power

GRM 2021 Workshop: Saudi Youth ‘Policy Relevance’: Dilemmas, Challenges, Opportunities

GRM 2019 Workshop: Domestic Policy Making and Governance in Saudi Arabia

GRM 2015 Workshop: Building an Institutional Process of Socio-Politics in the Gulf

Senior Research Fellow - King Faisal Centre for Research and Islamic Studies

Dr. Mark C. Thompson is Senior Associate Fellow at King Faisal Center for Research & Islamic Studies in Riyadh. Mark has lived and worked in Saudi Arabia since 2001 for diverse institutions such as Saudi Arabian Airlines, the Saudi Arabian National Guard, and Prince Sultan University. Mark holds a Ph.D. from the Institute of Arab & Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, UK. His principal research areas are Saudi sociopolitical development and societal transformation and he has published on topics such as Saudi youth issues and challenges facing Saudi women leaders in publications such as the 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. In addition, he published a book with I.B. Tauris “Saudi Arabia and the Path to Political Change: National Dialogue and Civil Society” (2014). Mark is also the co-editor of the IB Tauris book entitled “Policy-Making in the GCC: State, Citizens and Institutions” (2017) with Dr. Neil Quilliam from Chatham House based on their Gulf Research Meeting workshop in 2015 as well as providing chapters on Saudi Arabia for edited books such as “Public Brain Power: Civil Society and Resource Management” Palgrave Macmillan (2017). In September 2019 Mark published his Cambridge University Press book “Being Young Male and Saudi: Identity and Politics in a Globalized Kingdom” about societal issues and change from the perspective of young Saudi men. He also has another forthcoming co-edited book with Dr. Neil Quilliam "Domestic Policy Making and Governance in Saudi Arabia". Additionally, Mark collaborates with different Saudi institutions such as the Misk Foundation and makes numerous presentations at international conferences, workshops and seminars every year.