Sebastian Sons, M.A., studied Islamic Studies, History and Political Sciences in Berlin and Damascus. Prior to that, he was trained as journalist in print, TV and radio media at the Berlin School of Journalism. After finishing his studies, he worked as the Head of Research Unit and Editor in Chief of the scholarly magazine “Orient” at the German Orient-Institute from 2009-2014 and as a project researcher at the Program Near East and North Africa at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) in Berlin. At the moment, he is Associate Fellow at the DGAP and is finishing his Ph.D. thesis on “labor migration from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia”. He publishes regularly on Saudi Arabia’s societal transformation, foreign and domestic policy and has published the book “Built on Sand. Saudi Arabia – A Problematic Ally” in November 2016 in German. In 2008, he firstly visited Saudi Arabia. Since then, he frequently travels to the Kingdom.