Umud is a Washington-based senior foreign policy and energy geopolitics advisor and author of US Energy Diplomacy in the Caspian Sea Basin: Changing Trends Since 2001. He has served as a visiting research scholar at the Center for Energy Science and Policy (CESP), an initiative of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, and is an advisor at Gulf State Analytics (GSA), a Washington-based geopolitical risk consultancy.

Umud holds a Ph.D. in International Relations. He comes with extensive expertise and professional experience in global energy market studies, energy security, the geopolitics of climate change, industrial policy for clean energy, as well as foreign policy in the context of climate change and energy transition. His primary research interests lie in energy diplomacy and energy transition, U.S. energy policy, the geopolitics of energy, Iran-Turkey relations, as well as Iran-Russia relations, the Caspian Sea region, Central Asia and the GCC.

He has written about the geopolitics of energy and natural gas, political economy of hydrocarbon states, sustainable cities and mobility, the pace and trajectory of energy transition, the geopolitics of US sanctions against Iran oil exports, and the geopolitics of energy in Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East, Central Asia, and Caspian Sea Region.

Umud has published numerous articles in various journals, including Energy & Environment, Energy Intelligence, Middle East Policy, National Interest, Attaqa, Oil & Gas Journal, Atlantic Council, Gulf International Forum, Jamestown Foundation, Springer, Palgrave Macmillan Publishing, among others. A frequently sought-after expert, he has appeared in international media outlets, such as Aljazeera, Sky News Arabia, Asharq News, Deutsche Welle, ANews, BBC Persian, Iran International TV, and others.