Faris Al-Sulayman is a Research Fellow at KFCRIS. He joined KFCRIS in July 2017. Before joining KFCRIS, he was a GCC Analyst at Arabia Monitor in London, and also held research posts at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C. and Georgetown University. He obtained his M.Sc. in Comparative Politics from London School of Economics (LSE), and B.Sc. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. He is also a Co-Founder and Executive Director of Haala Energy, a solar installer and developer working at the commercial and industrial scale in Saudi Arabia. He is currently a PhD candidate at LSE.

Publications at KFCRIS

“Rethinking State Capitalism in the Gulf States: Insights from the China-focused Literature,” Special Report, 2021.

"State-Business Relations in the Reform Era: Growing Pressures and Diverging Economic Policy Agendas," Special Report, 2018.

“Distributed Renewables and the Shaping of the New Saudi Economy,” Commentary, 2017.

Major Works

"How Can Saudi Arabia Better Coordinate Divergent Economic Reform Agendas?,” in Mark C. Thompson and Neil Quilliam (eds.), Governance and Domestic Policymaking in Saudi Arabia: Transforming Society, Economics, Politics and Culture, London: Bloomsbury, 2022 (Co-authored with Makio Yamada).

"The Rise of Renewables in the Gulf States: Is the ‘Rentier Effect’ Still Holding Back the Energy Transition?," in Robin Mills and Li-Chen Sim (ed.) Low Carbon Energy in the Middle East and North Africa, Palgrave Macmillan, 2021.

"‘Reform Dissonance’ in the Modern Rentier State: How Are Divergent Economic Agendas Affecting State-Business Relations in Saudi Arabia?," British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 2020.

"State Business Relations and the New Economic Agenda in Saudi Arabia," Issue Brief (Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy), 2018.

"The Green Finance Gap in the Kingdom," Gulf Affairs, 2018. (Co-authored with Rowan Jandu)

“The Obstacles Facing Renewables in the Gulf,” Gulf Affairs, 2016.