Tim Eaton

Meet the author

Tim Eaton
Tim Eaton is a senior research fellow in the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House. His research focuses on the political economy of conflict in the MENA region and on that of the Libyan conflict, in particular. Tim is the lead author of a major 2019 Chatham House report 'Conflict Economies in the Middle East and North Africa' which developed a comparative framework to understand conflict economies in Libya, Iraq, Syria and Yemen and develop targeted policies to reduce economic drivers of conflict. The paper was selected as one of the leading papers by a think-tank in the University of Pennsylvania’s 2020 Go-To Think Tank Index. Tim has engaged extensively with Western policymakers in the development of their policies in the MENA region. His work on the Libyan conflict has seen him work with the UN mission and other stakeholders to develop an economic track of political negotiations. Tim also leads the training of officers in political economy analysis at the UN Department of Peacebuilding and Political Affairs. Prior to joining Chatham House, he worked for BBC Media Action, BBC’s international development charity, on projects in Iraq, Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. In Libya, Tim helped to set up and manage BBC Media Action’s bureau from 2013 until 2014. He is a regular contributor to academia and the media, having written a number of journal articles and book chapters, as well as contributing to The Washington Post, BBC, Newsweek, CNN, War on the Rocks and the New Statesman, among others. Tim was awarded the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies Departmental Scholarship to undertake his MA in Middle East politics at Exeter University. He also holds a BA in history from Nottingham University and a diploma in Arabic from SOAS and the University of Damascus. He is currently a PhD candidate at Kings College London’s Department of War Studies.

Writes in:

Conflict & violence, Libya, Recent, Sahel,

North Africa

Tim Eaton is a senior research fellow in the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House. His research focuses on the political economy of conflict in the MENA region and on that of the Libyan conflict, in particular. Tim is the lead author of a major 2019 Chatham House report ‘Conflict Economies in the Middle East and North Africa’ which developed a comparative framework to understand conflict economies in Libya, Iraq, Syria and Yemen and develop targeted policies to reduce economic drivers of conflict. The paper was selected as one of the leading papers by a think-tank in the University of Pennsylvania’s 2020 Go-To Think Tank Index. Tim has engaged extensively with Western policymakers in the development of their policies in the MENA region. His work on the Libyan conflict has seen him work with the UN mission and other stakeholders to develop an economic track of political negotiations. Tim also leads the training of officers in political economy analysis at the UN Department of Peacebuilding and Political Affairs. Prior to joining Chatham House, he worked for BBC Media Action, BBC’s international development charity, on projects in Iraq, Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. In Libya, Tim helped to set up and manage BBC Media Action’s bureau from 2013 until 2014. He is a regular contributor to academia and the media, having written a number of journal articles and book chapters, as well as contributing to The Washington Post, BBC, Newsweek, CNN, War on the Rocks and the New Statesman, among others. Tim was awarded the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies Departmental Scholarship to undertake his MA in Middle East politics at Exeter University. He also holds a BA in history from Nottingham University and a diploma in Arabic from SOAS and the University of Damascus. He is currently a PhD candidate at Kings College London’s Department of War Studies.