Keanen is a former Konrad Adenauer Foundation Scholar at SAIIA who worked under the African Governance and Diplomacy Programme. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree with majors in Politics and Sociology and an Honours Degree in Political Studies from the University of the Western Cape. His Honours research focused on Arab-Israeli normalisation, the ‘Abraham Accords’ and the promise by the Trump administration to allow the United Arab Emirates to acquire the United States made F-35 fighter jet. He is currently a master’s candidate in International Relations at the University of the Witwatersrand.