Nawaf Obaid, a prominent analyst of his native Saudi Arabia and the wider Arab world, has been named a visiting fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS). Starting Sept. 1, Obaid will work with the Belfer Center’s Middle East Initiative, continuing his research and writing with a focus on Saudi perspectives on strategic developments in the region.

“Nawaf Obaid will bring to HKS and the Belfer Center an experienced and sophisticated sense of Saudi and Gulf politics at a critical time for the Middle East,” said Graham Allison, director of the Belfer Center.

Currently, Obaid is a counselor to both Prince Mohammad bin Nawaf, Saudi ambassador to the United Kingdom, and Prince Turki Al Faisal, who served as Saudi ambassador to the United States and was the longtime director of Saudi Arabia’s intelligence service. Obaid is pursuing a doctoral degree in war studies at London University, and he earned a master’s degree in public policy at HKS in 1998.