After leaving GMUK, I sought to take time off teaching and focus solely on research – my own writings as well as commissioned consulting projects. 

Most recently, I remotely served as a consultant for the Energy Policy and Security Program of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut for a research project, ‘Nuclear Power and the Middle East in 2025: Uncertainties and Opportunities,’ funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

The contribution expected on my part was on energy transactions between East Asia and petrostates of the Gulf region, focusing on South Korea’s nuclear exports to the Gulf. From the initial outline drafting in August 2019 to actual research in September and October, then to the final writing process in November, I thoroughly enjoyed the learning experience and working with my coauthors in Beirut.

The policy report is entitled,  ‘A Decade Later: South Korea’s Nuclear Energy Exports to the Middle East,’ and is the Middle East Nuclear Energy Monitor 2019 by the American University of Beirut. As of December 2019. The report has been published on January 3, 2020 and is accessible online here.