Taylor Pearson

Profile

I am an early career researcher and PhD student in the School of Politics and International Studies at the University of Leeds. My academic journey thus far has been shaped by a mixture of professional and personal experiences combined with a passion for educational disciplines that seeks to explain how the world and its people coexist, develop, and clash with each other. I obtained a BA in History at Royal Holloway, University of London (2013-2016), whereupon graduation I pursued roles in estate agency as well as working with the Department of Education as a University promoter for Northwest England.

I then spent several transformative years living and working in the Middle East, including in the Arabian Gulf and Iraq, cultivating a deep commitment to understanding the region’s complex political landscapes and historical trajectories. I brought this experience back to the UK to pursue a career in teaching via a PGCE qualification at The University of Manchester (2020-2021), teaching History, Politics and other Humanities-related subjects in multiple educational settings. However, my time in the Middle East encouraged me to return to academia, completing a MSc in Middle Eastern Politics at SOAS, University of London (2024-2025) with a distinction award. During this time, I was able to immerse myself into critical discourses on colonialism, orientalism, ethnonationalism, and sectarianism, exploring how these concepts have shaped the region historically and continue to influence contemporary power structures and conflicts. My dissertation during my MSc examined the Kurdish Regional Government of Iraq and its clandestine relationship with Israel, particularly their shared views on ethnonationalism, and its implications for Kurdish independence in Iraq. I continue to develop my Arabic langauge proficiency, with knowledge and experiences of the varied dialects throughout Arabic-speaking countries. I am currently a seminar leader for International Politics within the School of Politics and International Studies and a temporary module leader in contemporary Middle Eastern Politics in the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies.

Research interests

My projects centre on exploring how the United Arab Emirates (UAE’s) episode of foreign policy in Yemen can be understood through a genealogical lens via investigating British colonial governance in the region in the Mid-20th century. The investigative element of my project seeks to unearth the interplay and intentions of the UAE and their political agendas, which whilst often appearing well-intentioned, are however steeped in controversy and are based on an extractive agenda. I am utilizing the case of UAE interventionism in Yemen from 2011-2025 as my research focus as a way of developing a nuanced way of understanding UAE foreign policy via a historical cross-examination with British colonial policy and legacies in Yemen and the wider Arabian Gulf region in the mid-20th century. My research aims to uncover how notions of power synonymous to historic British imperial governance in the Arabian Gulf can be seen to be transformed, reproduced and recultivated across time by the UAE through its own interventionism within Yemen.

The significance of this research project lies in arguing that the conflict and humanitarian crisis in Yemen has been perpetuated by the intervention of external actors. It is under this motivation that I aim to use the concept of genealogy to examine how the episode of UAE intervention can be better understood through examining historic episodes of foreign intervention of British colonial governance in Southwest Arabia, alongside how the British also envisaged and nurtured the creation of the UAE. In this pursuit, I am hoping my research will provide a framework for understanding UAE foreign policy initiatives and trajectories throughout the Middle East and beyond.

Research Groups and Institutes

• Centre for Global Security Challenges (University of Leeds)
• The British-Yemeni Society
• Chatham House
• LSE Middle East Institute
• The Sanaa Research Centre
• British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES)

Qualifications

• MSc Middle East Politics, SOAS
• PGCE Secondary History and Humanities, University of Manchester
• BA History, Royal Holloway, University of London
• Level 5 TEFL Qualification 140 hours (Cambridge TEFL)