Simon Mabon is a senior lecturer in international relations at Lancaster University, where he is also the director of the Richardson Institute, the United Kingdom’s oldest peace and conflict research center. Mabon serves as the director of the Carnegie-funded Sectarianism, Proxies and De-sectarianisation project. Mabon’s research focuses on the impact of the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran on states, identities, and communities across the Middle East, where he also examines the contestation of sovereign power across the region between rulers and ruled, biopolitics, and resistance. Mabon is the author of many publications and his latest book, The Struggle for Supremacy in the Middle East, was published in March 2023. Prior to joining Lancaster University, Mabon completed his PhD at the University of Leeds.