Value of scientific research highly recognized in Bahrain
Manama, May 4 (BNA): Dr. Hamad Ebrahim Al Abdullah, Executive Director of Bahrain Center for Strategic, International and Energy Studies "Derasat", has attributed the center's achievements to the free intellectual climate established by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and supported by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Prime Minister.
Such a free and open climate has enhanced intellect in decision-making, institutionalized research work, and consolidated knowledge based on scientific and practical methods and approaches, Dr. Al Abdullah said in his virtual lecture “Research and Studies, the Bases for Comprehensive Development”, delivered as part of political awareness program hosted by the Bahrain Institute for Political Development.
Highlighting the history of Derasat, Dr. Al Abdullah said that it was launched by HM the King in 2009 to contribute to supporting decision-making, strengthening national achievements and boosting the Bahrain of the future, he added.
Under the auspices of HM the King, Derasat has become a clear expression of the advanced status of scientific and academic research in Bahrain.
Spotlighting its achievements, Dr. Al Abdullah said that Derasat has been issuing books, studies, periodicals and research reports in line with local and regional developments and serving Bahrain's higher interests.
Derasat's successes have strengthened its status and reputation and have empowered it recently to achieve an advanced placement on the 2020 Global Go-To Think Tank Index among more than 6,500 organizations ranked annually by the University of Pennsylvania’s Think-Tank and Civil Societies Program.
Derasat was added to the TTCSP Index in 2018, placed at 42nd regionally; it made it to 31st place in 2019 and 23rd place in 2020, making a 19-place advancement in two years among 500 regional research centers and think-tanks.
Dr. Al Abdullah stressed that the world, over the last few decades, has become increasingly interested in centers of studies and research that have now exceeded 7,000 worldwide.
These centers are not merely "reservoirs of thought" and they are also major actors in supporting decision-makers with sound opinion, advice and analysis of challenges while offering recommendations on how to confront them effectively.
Some centers have taken steps that are more advanced by paying greater attention to strategic studies and to linking events from a deep perspective that identifies the effects that regional and global developments may have on the security and interests of states. They are also increasingly interested in forward-looking studies that include developing future scenarios for major transformations and the most appropriate ways to deal with them.
Bahrain presents a unique model to be emulated in tolerance and coexistence among religions and such a status deserves to be introduced to the world, a mission that centers of studies and similar institutions undertake in a scientific and systematic way, he said.
