Dr Maria Gloria Polimeno, PhD (Exeter), FRSA, is an interdisciplinary political scientist of the Middle East. She is Research Fellow at the SOAS Middle East Institute. In 2025, she was admitted to the Economic and Social Research Council Peer-Review College, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). In 2025, she was selected as Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science in the Department of International Relations (International Political Economy Cluster). She lectured in politics and international relations at the University of York and held lecturing, research and teaching positions at the University of Exeter, SOAS, Queen Mary University, and the University of Cambridge. In addition, she has been the Egypt and Tunisia country expert in the ERC-founded V-Dem project, led by the University of Gothenburg, and the ERC-funded DEMED project, led by the University of Glasgow, as well as the Middle East expert in the GLOBALCIT programme at the European University Institute.