Prof Jackson, Prof Al Misnad, Prof Hanlon and Dr Al-Emadi

ANN ARBOR—The University of Michigan Institute for Social Research renewed its partnership agreement with Qatar University’s Social and Economic Survey Research Institute Nov. 3 in Ann Arbor.

The agreement expands on a 2008 partnership to develop SESRI’s capacity as a leading social science research organization in Qatar and a key contributor to social science research in the Gulf.

Qatar University President Sheikha Abdulla Al-Misnad and U-M Provost Philip Hanlon signed the agreement, with SESRI Director Darwish Al-Emadi and ISR Director James Jackson looking on.

Also attending the signing ceremony were Susan Ziadeh, U.S. ambassador to Qatar; Humaid Al-Midfaa, QU vice president; Mazen Hasna, QU acting VP for academic affairs; Saif Al-Sowaidi QU VP for institutional planning and development; Nancy Burns, director of the ISR Center for Political Studies; and several SESRI faculty and students, and staff members of the U.S. embassy in Qatar.

“In continuing this collaboration with ISR, we will benefit further from the experience of working with a premier research university known for its wealth of social science research and teaching experience,” Al-Emadi said.

“All of us at the U-M have consistently found our collaboration with SESRI not only enjoyable but also deeply rewarding,” said Mark Tessler, U-M vice provost for international affairs. “In four short years, SESRI has built a fully operational survey research institute that carries out studies of a quality and scope that are unmatched in the Gulf. Inspired and assisted by the ISR, the surveys SESRI conducts are state-of-the-art and consistent with the standards of leading survey research centers anywhere in the world.”

Established in 1949, the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research is the world’s largest academic social science survey and research organization, and a world leader in developing and applying social science methodology, and in educating researchers and students from around the world. ISR conducts some of the most widely cited studies in the nation, including the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers, the American National Election Studies, the Monitoring the Future Study, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, the Health and Retirement Study, the Columbia County Longitudinal Study and the National Survey of Black Americans. ISR researchers also collaborate with social scientists in more than 60 nations on the World Values Surveys and other projects, and the institute has established formal ties with universities in Poland, China and South Africa. ISR is also home to the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, the world’s largest digital social science data archive. For more information, visit the ISR website at www.isr.umich.edu.