Simon Mabon is Professor of International Politics at Lancaster University. He is Director of SEPAD (the Sectarianism, Proxies and De-Sectarianization Project) which aims to trace the emergence and development of sectarian animosity in global politics. He has previously published Saudi Arabia and Iran: Soft Power Rivalry in the Middle East (2013), The Origins of ISIS (2016, co-author) and Houses Built on Sand (2020), along with several other edited collections. In 2016/17 Mabon served as academic advisor to the House of Lords International Relations Committee's inquiry into the UK's relationship with the Middle East.
