An Emirati writer and researcher specializing in social, political and cultural affairs in the Arab Gulf states.

He is an art expert and collector, founder of the Barjeel Art Foundation since March 2010, treasurer of the American University of Sharjah , instructor of the Modern Art Politics in the Middle East course at the same university, and a research associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London since September 2023.

His articles have been published in several newspapers, including: The Guardian, The Independent, The Financial Times, The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Foreign Policy, and The National.

He was a resident practitioner at the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies at New York University, a fellow at the Berlin Institute for Advanced Study, a lecturer at the Middle East Studies Council at Yale University, an assistant lecturer at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University, a visiting lecturer in the Islamic Civilization and Societies Program at Boston College, a senior lecturer in the Department of Art History and Fine Arts at the American University in Paris, a non-resident fellow at the Dubai School of Government, and an assistant professor at the Higher Colleges of Technology .

He has also taught at Boston College, the Middle East Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Brandeis University, Columbia University , the Paris Institute of Political Studies, and Bard College Berlin.

He also founded "Burjeel Securities Company" and served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the UAE branch of the "Young Arab Leaders Foundation".

Time magazine selected him as one of the "140 best Twitter accounts" for 2011, and in 2018 he ranked 19th in the "Arab Thought Leaders Index" from the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute. Gulf Business magazine also selected him as one of the "100 most powerful Arab figures" for 2013 and 2014.

He holds a Master's degree in Global Banking and Finance from Regent's University London in the United Kingdom (2004), a Bachelor's degree in International Business Administration from the American University in Paris (1998), and is a graduate of the Middle East Leadership Initiative awarded by the Aspen Institute (May 2018).