Dubai Abulhoul

Policy & International Affairs

In 2021, Dubai Abulhoul founded Fiker Institute, a think tank based in Dubai that serves as a platform to advance two-way dialogue between the Arab world and the rest of the international community. She believes that for far too long, the world has always had an opinion about the Middle East, and that it’s now time for the Middle East to have an opinion about the world. Fiker Institute's areas of research focus include, but are not limited to, decolonization, diplomacy, climate change, gender equality, and the future of multilateralism.

Dubai’s policy work has been recognized by key platforms globally including the Rome Med Dialogues and the World Economic Forum. In 2022, she was invited by French President Emmanuel Macron to share a stage with him at the Paris Peace Forum and to openly debate universalism in the face of war alongside the President of Argentina and the Prime Minister of Albania. She serves as a member on several boards, including the World Economic Forum’s Global Council on the Future of Geopolitics and the COP28 President’s Advisory Board.

Prior to founding Fiker Institute, Dubai worked as part of a 9-person commission to advise the next UN Secretary General on the future of the United Nations, led by former British Ambassador Thomas Fletcher. She was the lead strategist in the following three chapters: the Secretary General’s use of social media, civil society engagement at the UN, and incorporating technology in humanitarian aid relief efforts. She also gained experience as a political analyst at the UAE’s Embassy in Washington and as an international relations researcher at the UAE’s Permanent Mission to the UN. Additionally, she served as a diplomat at the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs between 2018 and 2021.

Education

As a Rhodes Scholar, Dubai graduated from the University of Oxford with a Master’s degree in Diplomacy & Global Governance, where she specialized in the management of diplomatic crises, international law, and soft power. She completed her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Literature at New York University Abu Dhabi, where her research focused on women’s political participation in the United Arab Emirates.

Literature & Culture

Dubai Abulhoul currently serves as a Trustee of the Emirates Literature Foundation, which is chaired by HH Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum. She is also a writer and a published author, and has contributed regularly to different outlets including The National and The Gulf Today. Dubai’s list of literary works include a science fiction novel she published when she was a high school student, and more recently, a series of six children’s books which aim to preserve and document the narratives of key figures in Emirati folklore and heritage, which have only been passed down verbally from one generation to another. Two of the children’s books have been translated to Italian. Over the years, Dubai has participated as an author in the UAE’s official delegation at multiple book fairs around the world, including in South Korea, France, and Italy. In 2016, Dubai was recognized as one of the 100 Most Influential Emiratis in Literature by the UAE’s Prime Minister’s Office as part of the Year of Reading.