Ebtesam Al-Ketbi is a member of the board of directors of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. She is a founder and president of the Emirates Policy Center and the first Arab woman to lead a think tank. She is a professor of political science at United Arab Emirates University and a member of the Consultative Commission of the Gulf Cooperation Council. She has served in several capacities, including: as the secretary general of the Gulf Development Forum; as a board member of the Association of Political Sciences; as a member of the board of trustees of the Arab Unity Studies Center; as a member of the board of trustees of the Arab Organization for Transparency; as a consultative board member of the Arab Thought Foundation; as a member of the board of trustees of the Arab Council for Social Sciences; and as a member of the core team behind the 2006 Arab Human Development Report, among others. She is a founding member of the Emirates Human Rights Association.

She has published a number of papers including: “The Security Dimensions of Military Relations Between GCC countries and the USA”; “The Global Community and the War on Terrorism: Threat or Opportunity?”; and “Democratic Transformations in GCC Countries. She earned a PhD in political science from Cairo University.