Invited speaker on great power rivalry in the MENA region at “Diplomacy, Conflicts, and Great Power Rivalry” webinar co-organized by Diş Politika Institute (Foreign Policy Institute) Turkey, and the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Ankara, 21 November 2025.
Invited speaker on the topic of Gulf security at the 1.5 track dialogue: “China and the Middle East Amid Global Power Shifts”, Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy, 18 November 2025.
Invited speaker on the topic of Gulf security for the Finnish business community/Finnish Institute in the Middle East, Helsinki, 29 October 2025.
Lecture: “Gulf Security in Flux: Power, Personalities, and Prospects”, University of Helsinki, 28 October 2025.
Invited speaker on the Abraham Accords and Regional Integration at “MENA in Flux: Global Competition, Regional Integration, and Security Futures,” Chatham House, London, 14 October 2025.
Conference presentation: “Regionalism and Power: ‘Regional Security Complex Theory’ and the Expansion of the ‘Security Regime’ in the Middle East?’ ISA Virtual Conference 2025, 1 August 2025.
Invited speaker on the topic: “State Capitalism and Vision 2040 in Oman: A Comparative Study of UK, Saudi and UAE Trade and Investment Patterns and Other National Interests”, part of the project “State Capitalism in the Middle East”, University of Amsterdam, 8-9 April 2025.
Co-convener of the panel “Securing the Future: The GCC States’ Endeavours in Defence Industry, Warfare Technologies and Policy”, Gulf Research Meeting, University of Cambridge, 9-11 July 2024.
Invited speaker on West Asia in the workshop “Regions and Security Complexes in the Indo-Pacific”, part of the project “The Contested Geopolitics and Geo-economics of the Indian Ocean: An Inter-Regional and Multidisciplinary Study of a Core Region in Twenty-First Century Global Politics”, funded by the Chair of the State of Qatar for Islamic Area Studies initiative, Waseda University, Tokyo. 15-17 June 2024.
Invited presentation on US policy in the Mediterranean in the workshop “Changing Geopolitics of Mediterranean Security”, Middle East Council, Istanbul, 13 May 2024.
Invited presentation: “Saudi Arabia’s Civil Nuclear Program: Power, Non-Proliferation and US Mideast Policy”, Gulf Studies Symposium, Georgetown University, 4 March 2024.
Co-convener of the panel “Perspectives on Hard Security in the Gulf”, Gulf Research Meeting, University of Cambridge, 10-13 July 2023.
Book launch: Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates: Foreign Policy and Strategic Alliances in an Uncertain World. King’s College London. 10 July 2023.
Invited presentation: “UAE’s Socioeconomic Development and Future Prospects”, Islamabad Policy Research Institute/WorldEcho News Joint Seminar – “Developments in the Middle East: Lessons and Opportunities for Pakistan”, 7 June 2023.
Invited presentation: “The War in Ukraine and its Geopolitical Impact in the Middle East”, Tower Center for the Study of Public Policy and International Affairs, Southern Methodist University (SMU), Dallas, Texas, 25 October 2022.
Invited presentation: “The War in Ukraine and its Geopolitical Impact in the Middle East”, Institute of Global and Strategic Studies, Universitas Islam Indonesia, 11 October 2022.
Invited presentation: “Foreign Policy Analysis in the Middle East: Leadership, Threat Perception and Intervention”, BISA Foreign Policy Working Group, 7 October 2021.
Discussant, ‘U.S. Foreign Policy in the Age of Trump’, International Studies Association virtual meeting, 9 April 2021.
Invited presentation: “Encirclement, Insecurity and Strategic Depth: The Case of the IRGC in Syria”, SEPAD work in progress meeting, 19 October 2020.
“The Shape and Form of De-escalation Measures Targeting Saudi – Iranian Rivalry and Proxy Conflicts in the Middle East”, 1st Area Studies Conference, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 10-11 July 2019.
Invited presentation and discussion at the Institute of West Asian and African Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, 9 July 2019.
“Structural Reform and Political Consolidation: the Pathway to Modernization in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia”, The Institute for the Transregional Study of the Contemporary Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia, Princeton University, 11 April 2019.
“Structural Reform and Political Consolidation: the Pathway to Modernization in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia”, paper for the workshop “Challenged by the Decreased Price of Oil: Adjustment Policies in the Arab Gulf and Beyond since 2014”, Beirut, Lebanon. 14-15 March 2019. Hosted by the Lebanese Oil and Gas Initiative (LOGI) and the German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA).
“Reformulating UK – European Relations After Brexit: Implications for the MENA Region”, Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University, 13 November 2018.
Participant, “The role of Russia in the MENA region”, organised by Instituto per gli studi di politica internationale (ISPI) in the framework of the EuroMeSCo project, Milan, 12 October 2018.
“Structure vs. Agency in the Middle East: The Case of the Gulf States and the Trump Administration”, at the Middle East Congress on Politics and Society, Sakarya University, Turkey, October 2018
“Arab – Israeli Conflict”, AUC Executive Education lecture for visiting undergraduate students from Tsinghua University, January 2018
“Iranian Policy in Syria”, Graduate School of International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Seoul, November 2017
“Iranian Policy in Syria”, School of International Service, American University, Washington D.C., November 2017
“China and the Middle East (with special reference to Saudi Arabia and Iran)”, Higher School of Economics, National Research University, Moscow, October 2017
Comments on Iran and Saudi Arabia at event sponsored by Tusiad and Bogazici University, Istanbul, September 2017
“Qatar and the UAE: Small State Aspirations to Middle Powerhood”, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University, September 2017
Various events at the EU Mission in Cairo 2016-17
“Saudi Policy in Africa”, Regional Ministry of Defence Conference, Embassy of the Netherlands, Cairo, February 2017
“Middle Powers After the Arab Uprisings”, Center for International and Regional Studies, Georgetown University Qatar, January and August 2017
“Iranian Policy in Syria”, Changing Character of War Programme, University of Oxford, November 2016
Muslim Minority – State Relations book launch, Middle East Studies Center, American University in Cairo, October 2016.
Muslim Minority – State Relations book launch, Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies, George Mason University, Washington D.C., February 2016.
Muslim Minority – State Relations book launch, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Christian – Muslim Understanding, Georgetown University, Washington D.C., February 2016. Watch the video on youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Myxfk-Qov5c
UAE Foreign Policy, Middle East Centre, London School of Economics, October 2015.
Chinese, British and Turkish Policies in Sub-Sahara Africa, Centre for International Studies, London School of Economics, January 2015.
Dr Robert Mason FRSA FHEA 