Mahdi Ghuloom is a Bahraini researcher and a Junior Fellow in Geopolitics at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) Middle East in Dubai, where he focuses on the Arab Gulf States, examining their economic competitiveness, political institutions, and diplomacy. He has three years of economic policy research within the Bahraini government (mainly at the Bahrain Economic Development Board with a short term at the Prime Minister’s Office), one year of political risk analysis in a security consultancy (Le Beck International), leading to his current think tank role, which he began in February 2025.

Mahdi holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Politics from the University of Essex, a master’s in Policy Analytics from the University of Exeter (where he was awarded the Department’s Excellence Scholarship in recognition of his quantitative expertise), as well as a second master’s in Practical Ethics from St Cross College, University of Oxford, focusing on ethical dilemmas in political contexts at the Uehiro Oxford Institute.