Syria in Transition: What Comes Next?

Professor Owen Greene is a distinguished scholar in International Security and Development at the University of Bradford. With a prolific career spanning over two decades, he has authored or co-authored nine books and more than 240 research articles, reports, and chapters, and has edited over 15 volumes.

Dr H. A. Hellyer, an internationally recognised expert on geopolitics and security studies in the Middle East and Europe, has operated at the nexus of government policy and think-tanks for the past 20 years. He currently serves as Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, and Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, following prolonged tenures at Brookings and Carnegie. Formerly Deputy Convenor of the UK Government’s Taskforce on radicalisation, Dr Hellyer also served in the UK Foreign Office and held positions in Harvard and Cambridge universities. Dr Hellyer is the author of 10 books, 100s of op-ed articles and regularly consulted by media for his expertise. With heritage in England, Egypt, Sudan, the UAE & Morocco, Dr Hellyer lives & works in London, the Middle East, & Washington DC.

Salman Shaikh is the Founder and CEO of The Shaikh Group (TSG), a specialised peace-building organisation dedicated to mitigating and resolving violent conflict, with a focus on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Shaikh has extensive experience leading mediation and Track II diplomacy initiatives with local actors, governments, and key international actors – with a focus on Syria, the broader Levant, the Gulf region and Iran. Before establishing TSG, Shaikh was the director of the Brookings Institution’s Doha Center, where his research focused on conflict resolution, domestic policy, and geopolitics of the Middle East. Shaikh previously worked the United Nations in a number of offices. Shaikh also served as director for policy and research in the private office of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bin Nasser al-Missned, the Consort of the former Emir of the State of Qatar.

Paul Rogers is Emeritus Professor of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford, and an Honorary Fellow of the UK Defence Academy. He is a biologist by original training, lecturing at Imperial College and also working in tropical crop research in East Africa. From later lecturing in environmental science, he moved to Bradford in 1979 and has worked primarily on the changing causes of international conflict, especially in relation to political violence. A fourth edition of his book, Losing Control: Global Security in the 21st Century, was published by Pluto Press last July.