NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
xi
the Gulf. Dr. Luomi holds a Ph.D. degree in Middle East Politics from
Durham University. Previously, she has worked as Research Associate at
the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, Post-Doctoral Fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for International and Regional Studies and
Researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. As part of a
team of thematic experts, she provides independent on-site reporting from
UN climate change negotiations and has written hundreds of news stories
on the global governance of sustainable development for the International
Institute for Sustainable Development. Dr. Luomi’s research publications
include a broad range of working and briefing papers, academic journal
articles, essays, books, and book chapters.
Paasha Mahdavi is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of Power Grab
(Cambridge University Press, 2020), which shows how leaders maintain their grip on power by seizing control of oil, metals, and minerals
production. His research on energy governance and political economy
has appeared in top political science and general interest journals, and
has received media attention from The Financial Times, The Wall Street
Journal, and The Washington Post. Mahdavi earned his B.A. in Economics
from Columbia University, M.A. in International Policy from Stanford
University, and M.S. in Statistics and Ph.D. in Political Science from
UCLA. He has held fellowships at the Initiative for Sustainable Energy
Policy, the Payne Institute, and the World Economic Forum, and is a
Term Member at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Robin Mills established Qamar Energy in 2015 to meet the need for
regionally based Middle East energy insight. He is an expert on energy
strategy and economics. Prior to this, he led major consulting assignments for the EU in Iraq, and for a variety of international oil companies
on Middle East business development, integrated gas and power generation and renewable energy. Robin worked for a decade for Shell, concentrating on new business development in the Middle East. He subsequently
worked for six years with Dubai Holding and the Emirates National Oil
Company (ENOC), where he advanced business development efforts in
the Middle East energy sector. He is a Fellow at the Columbia University
Center on Global Energy Policy, and Senior Fellow of the Iraq Energy
Institute, spent two years as the Non-Resident Fellow for Energy at the
Brookings Doha Center, is columnist on energy and environment at The
National and Bloomberg, and the author of the influential report on
xi
the Gulf. Dr. Luomi holds a Ph.D. degree in Middle East Politics from
Durham University. Previously, she has worked as Research Associate at
the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, Post-Doctoral Fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for International and Regional Studies and
Researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. As part of a
team of thematic experts, she provides independent on-site reporting from
UN climate change negotiations and has written hundreds of news stories
on the global governance of sustainable development for the International
Institute for Sustainable Development. Dr. Luomi’s research publications
include a broad range of working and briefing papers, academic journal
articles, essays, books, and book chapters.
Paasha Mahdavi is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of Power Grab
(Cambridge University Press, 2020), which shows how leaders maintain their grip on power by seizing control of oil, metals, and minerals
production. His research on energy governance and political economy
has appeared in top political science and general interest journals, and
has received media attention from The Financial Times, The Wall Street
Journal, and The Washington Post. Mahdavi earned his B.A. in Economics
from Columbia University, M.A. in International Policy from Stanford
University, and M.S. in Statistics and Ph.D. in Political Science from
UCLA. He has held fellowships at the Initiative for Sustainable Energy
Policy, the Payne Institute, and the World Economic Forum, and is a
Term Member at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Robin Mills established Qamar Energy in 2015 to meet the need for
regionally based Middle East energy insight. He is an expert on energy
strategy and economics. Prior to this, he led major consulting assignments for the EU in Iraq, and for a variety of international oil companies
on Middle East business development, integrated gas and power generation and renewable energy. Robin worked for a decade for Shell, concentrating on new business development in the Middle East. He subsequently
worked for six years with Dubai Holding and the Emirates National Oil
Company (ENOC), where he advanced business development efforts in
the Middle East energy sector. He is a Fellow at the Columbia University
Center on Global Energy Policy, and Senior Fellow of the Iraq Energy
Institute, spent two years as the Non-Resident Fellow for Energy at the
Brookings Doha Center, is columnist on energy and environment at The
National and Bloomberg, and the author of the influential report on