Dr. Ranj Alaaldin is a foreign policy specialist with over 20 years of experience covering international security, security sector reforms, hybrid warfare, UK foreign policy, good governance, track II diplomacy and public sector reforms. He obtained his PhD at the London School of Economics and Political Science and has held positions and fellowships at Columbia University, King's College London, the Brookings Institution, the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, Oxford University and the World Bank. In 2017, Dr. Alaaldin was awarded $400,000 by the Carnegie Corporation of New York to develop and co-direct a project focused on armed groups in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Yemen. He is the Director of the Middle East Peace & Security Forum, a leading regional forum dedicated to peace and stability in the Middle East and has presented his work at the World Bank, the House of Commons and the Foreign Affairs Committee. He has published in academic journals, has written for the Telegraph, Conservative Home, the New York Times, Washington Post and the Wall Street and is the author of a forthcoming book on Iran’s proxies in the Middle East.