A Palestinian-Jordanian expert on the Middle East, Riad has for over four decades trained, advised, lectured, and researched on a wide variety of topics in or on the region and its periphery, including migration, political asylum, refugees, and human rights, inter alia, publishing on many of them and others, as well as making media appearances. He has also appeared as court witness or made expert submissions on cases involving various countries of the region on the above and other topics. His mother tongue is Arabic, and he is also fluent in English, with a strong knowledge of French.