Abu Dhabi think tank ranked in world top 10

ABU DHABI // An Abu Dhabi think tank has been ranked in the top 10 best new analysis institutes in the world, it was announced yesterday.

Trends Research and Advisory was established in August 2014 by Dr Ahmed Al Hamli to advance knowledge and understanding of security.

From its inception, it has been building a global network of researchers, practitioners and analysts, and formed partnerships with other leading think tanks and research centres.

The institute is one of almost 7,000 studied for the 2016 Go To Global Think Tank Index by the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania.

They included 405 in the Middle East and North Africa, of which seven are in the UAE.

Dr Ahmed Al Hamli expressed great pride in the recognition and attributed the success to the people working within the Trends network and the research and analysis it produces.

In the past six months, the think tank has provided expert evidence in two official government inquiries – a UK parliamentary inquiry about the change in the nature of power in the Middle East, and a contribution to a study by the French senate on causes of radicalisation and responses.

The index is created through a process of review and recognition with more than 4,750 journalists, policymakers, donors, and subject specialists.

It assembles expert panels to evaluate information received before coming to its rankings.

James McGann, the report’s author, said the selection process and international expert panels, “enabled us to create the most authoritative list of high-performance think tanks in the world”.