Abdulkhaleq Abdulla is a professor of political science at Emirates University and the lead author of the Arab Knowledge Report 2008. He was a member of the Dubai Cultural Council, the general co-ordinator of the Gulf Development Forum, director of the research center at AlKhaleej newspaper, editor of the Gulf Strategic Report, editor of the Journal of Social Affairs, and a member of the Global Agenda Council on Population Growth in 2008 and 2009. He is the recipient of the Cultural Personality of the Year 2005 award and the Taryam Omran Intellectual Pioneer 2010 award.

 Professor Abdulla holds a PhD in political science from Georgetown University and an MA from the American University in Washington, DC. He was a Fulbright Scholar and a visiting professor at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University. He has attended seminars and lectured in universities and research centres around the world. Professor Abdulla is a frequent commentator in the media on current Arab and Gulf affairs. His research interests include issues of political changes in the Gulf and the Arab world, Gulf security, contemporary issues concerning the Arab Gulf states and international relations. Professor Abdulla is the author of several books, most recently “Narrative of Politics” and “The Gulf Regional System”. He has written more than 30 articles; the latest is "Sociopolitical Issues of the Arab Gulf Moment", published by the London School of Economics in 2010.