Elisabeth Kendall is The Mistress [President] of Girton College at the University of Cambridge. She is a world-renowned Arabist, Middle East expert and Yemen specialist, whose current research focuses on Arabic cultural production and non-state armed groups. She has spent significant time in the field, especially in Yemen. She has lectured at government, military and scholarly institutions all around the world and is a frequent contributor to international television and print media. She has authored and edited several works on Arabic and Islamic literature, language, culture and politics and she is currently working on a new book, Rock Stars of Jihad. In 2022, she was elected an Honorary Fellow of Pembroke College Oxford in recognition of her "distinguished academic career as a British Arabist at the top of the field" and awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Glasgow "in recognition of great distinction in the field of Arabic Studies".