Welcome to the Institute for Strategic Dialogue

The Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) is an independent think-tank working with leaders in government, media and the private sector. Through its educational, policy and cultural programmes it works to challenge long-range threats to international and communal peace and to enhance Europe's capacity to act strategically in the global arena.

Highlights

New Weidenfeld Scholarships Awarded

Thirty-one scholars hailing from 20 countries and studying in 18 different departments will make up the 2009-2010 cohort of Weidenfeld Scholars. The Weidenfeld Scholarships continue to attract ever increasing numbers of applications from a wide-range of countries spanning Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Russia, the Middle East, and North Africa including Azerbaijan, Croatia, Egypt, Morocco, Turkey and Ukraine among others. This year, a total of 800 applicants  to Oxford University and the Weidenfeld Scholarships were narrowed down to a dynamic group of 53 candidates who were invited to Egrove Park to be interviewed during the third Weidenfeld Scholarship Selection Weekend. More

Commentary 

"One could argue that without NATO's show of Western unity, the Berlin Wall may not have fallen as soon as it did. Yet with the Soviet Union receding in memory, it is a wonder that NATO still exists", Mark Medish, ISD Senior Advisor, commented on the NATO's 60th Anniversary in the International Herald Tribune.  More

Event

Youssef Ziedan received the International Prize for Arabic Fiction for his novel Azazeel (Beelzebub). This prize, which increasingly is referred to as the Arabic Booker, was launched in April 2007 by ISD in partnership with the Booker Prize Foundation and the Emirates Foundation. More

In Focus

ISD is delighted that Jonathan Powell, former Chief of Staff to Tony Blair and the principal negotiator on Northern Ireland from 1997 to 2007, has joined us as Senior Advisor.  More