Dr Li-Chen Sim is a specialist on hydrocarbon and low carbon energies in the Gulf and wider Middle East and their intersection with international relations. Her research is applied to the political economies of development and foreign policy implications for Gulf-Asia exchanges and Russia-Middle East interactions. Its significance resonates with issues of policy implications and technological innovations.

Her most recently published books include Asian Perceptions of Gulf Security (Routledge, 2023), Low Carbon Energy in the Middle East and North Africa (Palgrave 2021), and External Powers and the Gulf Monarchies (Routledge, 2018). Her articles have appeared in top tier academic journals such as Cambridge Reviews of International Affairs, Energy Research & Social Science, Journal of Contemporary China, Policy Studies, and Asian Security; on forums hosted by the Atlantic Council and Harvard University's Belfer Center; and in popular media like the South China Morning Post and Natural Gas Intelligence.

She is active on the speaking circuit, having been a guest at Chatham House London, Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington DC, Emirates Center for Strategic Studies & Research, foreign Service Institute in Washington DC, INSEAD Abu Dhabi, and Japan's Institute of Energy Economics among others.

With a PhD from Oxford, she is currently an Assistant Professor at Khalifa University in the United Arab Emirates and a non-resident scholar at the US Middle East Institute.