Institute for Strategic Dialogue

ISD, 48 Charles Street, London

The Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) brings together a range of the elite policy planning activites of Lord Weidenfeld. All but one of its trustees (Helena Kennedy) have connections with the banking and finance sector including with hedge funds. The Institute, however, focuses much of its activities on the question of Islam and its role in Western societies and on defence and intelligence matters. The Institute provides the home for a number of Weidenfeld's other initiatives, such as the Club of Three.

Programmes

The Institute for Strategic Dialogue operates a series of programmes, covering five main areas: Civil Society Networks, Research & Insight, Communication & Technology, Education and Policy & Advisory.

Grassroots Networks

Against Violent Extremism (AVE)

Against Violent Extremism was devised and launched by Google Ideas at the Summit Against Violent Extremism in Dublin in 2011. It is managed by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) and is a unique private sector partnership between ISD, Google Ideas, the Gen Next Foundation and rehabstudio. The programme aims to empower former extremists and survivors of extremism in order for them to work together to counter extremist narratives.

website: http://www.againstviolentextremism.org/

Innovation Fund

The Innovation Fund to Counter Hate and Extremism was launched in late 2017. Over the course of 2018, ISD managed this first-of-its-kind pilot programme, funded and supported by Google.org, and helped deliver innovative solutions to hate and extremism across the UK.

Youth Civil Activism Network (YouthCAN)

Youth Civil Activism Network (YouthCAN) is a global youth network dedicated to countering extremism, polarisation and hate speech. YouthCAN operates in more than 130 countries. In 2017, YouthCAN partnered with another ISD project – Strong Cities Network (SCN) – to develop the Young Cities project, funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

website: https://www.youthcan.net/

Women and Extremism (WaE)

Women and Extremism (WaE) facilitates an active network of female policy-makers, academics and activists to address the phenomenon of women in extremism.

Research & Insight

Digital Research Unit

The Digital Research Unit combines ISD’s expertise and suite of data analytics capabilities to map and analyse networks promoting polarising and extremist content across fringe platforms, large platforms and media ecosystems online.

Primary research & datasets

ISD is one of the world’s leading think tanks in the construction and analysis of primary datasets, including the largest database of social media profiles of women who have travelled from the West to support ISIS and their affiliates in Syria, Iraq and Libya, and the world’s largest database of those who travel to conflict zones to fight against ISIS. ISD was also a lead partner in the construction of Professor Jytte Klausen’s Western Jihadism Project, and in partnership with RUSI, Chatham House and Leiden University, constructed a database that details all of the lone actor terrorist incidents that have taken place in Europe since 2000. This dataset contains over 70 variables, including biographic information, on a group of 120 perpetrators.

Digital Analysis

ISD and its strategic technology partners design tools and dashboards that are tailored to the challenge of understanding extremist movements and measuring the impact of strategic communications and interventions. ISD has formed key strategic partnerships with the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media (CASM) at the think tank Demos and the New York-based network mapping specialists Graphika.

Monitoring & evaluation

ISD’s research team design and implement robust impact assessment strategies for offline education programmes, as well as online campaigns and interventions. ISD also seek to provide guidance to civil society organisations for how they can design and measure the impact of their campaigns.

Education

Extreme Dialogue

Extreme Dialogue centres on a series of short films telling the first-hand stories of former extremists and survivors of extremism from across Europe and Canada. Funded by Public Safety Canada via the Kanishka Project, and co-funded by the Prevention of and Fight against Crime Programme of the European Union, Extreme Dialogue has brought together partners the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, film-makers Duckrabbit, and the educational charity Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace.

website: https://extremedialogue.org/

Digital Resilience

ISD’s Digital Resilience project aims to help young people build resilience to extremist grooming and propaganda on social media, through the development and delivery of engaging educational workshops delivered in schools.

Be Internet Citizens

ISD's Be Internet Citizen programme aims to increase young people’s digital resilience and citizenship skills by empowering them to stay safe online, as well as develop and build the norms and behaviour that can help to create positive and pro-social online communities. It covers topics such as fake news, filter bubbles, ‘us’ vs ‘them’ argument and scapegoating.

website: https://internetcitizens.withyoutube.com/

Young Digital Leaders

Through interactive workshops, Young Digital Leaders teaches young people aged 12-15 to be critical consumers of information online, respectful and effective communicators online. Young Digital Leaders is a programme designed and delivered by Google (Brussels) and ISD.

Communications & Technology

Campaign Toolkit

A collaboration between ISD and the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT), the Campaign Toolkit is a free resource for individuals and organisations eager to learn more about online and offline campaigning for social good and community cohesion.

website: https://www.campaigntoolkit.org/

Online Civil Courage Initiative

Launched in January 2016, the Online Civil Courage Initiative aims to "promote the civil courage displayed by organisations and grassroots activists carrying out valuable counterspeech work online." It is a European initiative, founded by Facebook to challenge online hate speech and extremism.

On 23 June 2017 Facebook launched the Online Civil Courage Initiative (OCCI) in the UK, in partnership with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. This follows OCCI launches in Germany in January 2016 and France in March 2017.

facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/OnlineCivilCourage/

One to One

Using digital tools which utilise publicly available information, ISD's One to One programme maps and locates users expressing extremist sentiment online. Following identification, ISD 'intervention providers' engage in constructive dialogue online with these individuals, offering a positive alternative and deterring them from joining violent extremist groups.

Collaborating with Google.org to empower civil society

ISD has collaborated with Google.org through the Google.org and ISD Innovation Fund (2017-2018) and the Google.org Impact Challenge on Safety (2019-2020).

Policy & Government Advisory

Strong Cities Network

Launched at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015, ISD’s Strong Cities Network (SCN) is a global network of mayors, policy-makers, and practitioners. Comprising of more than 130 cities the programme aims to build "collaboration between mayors, political actors and frontline teams to tackle polarisation, hate and violence in local communities in every major global region."

website: https://strongcitiesnetwork.org/en/

Policy Planners Network

The Policy Planners Network (PPN) is an intergovernmental network set up in 2008 and facilitated by ISD. The PPN aims to counter extremism through the sharing of information amongst its members. The PPN Network includes representation from 12 government agencies from the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Spain, Finland, Norway and Victoria State (Australia). The network also cooperates with the European Commission and the Counter-terrorism Coordinator (CTC) at the Council of the EU.

People

Trustees, 2009

Lord Weidenfeld - President | Michael Lewis - Chairman | Professor Peter Baldwin | Stuart Fiertz CFA, CAIA (Club of Three Treasurer) | Sir Ronald Grierson | General the Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank GCB LVO OBE | Helena Kennedy QC | J. Adair Turner | Pierre Keller | Francis Finlay | The Lord Simon of Highbury CBE

Trustees, 2012

Lord Weidenfeld - President | Michael Lewis - Chairman | Professor Peter Baldwin | Stuart Fiertz CFA, CAIA (Club of Three Treasurer) | Sir Ronald Grierson | General the Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank GCB LVO OBE | Helena Kennedy QC | J. Adair Turner | Pierre Keller | Francis Finlay | The Lord Simon of Highbury CBE | Prof. Dr. h.c. Roland Berger | Mathias Döpfner | André Hoffmann | Baroness Rawlings

Board and Advisors, 2019

ISD Board

Professor Peter Baldwin | Prof Dr Roland Berger | Mark Bergman | Dr Mathias Döpfner | Stuart Fiertz (Treasurer) | Francis Finlay | Field Marshall the Lord Charles Guthrie | Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg | Sasha Havlicek (CEO) | Jim Hoagland | Baroness Helena Kennedy QC | Dr. Serra Kidar | John Kremer | Michael Lewis (Chairman) | Shirley Lord Rosenthal | Lynn Nesbit | Farah Pandith | Baroness Patricia Rawlings | Carol Saper | Lawrence Saper | Gil Shiva

International Advisory Board

Timothy Garton Ash | Richard Barrett CMG OBE | Field Marshall the Lord Charles Guthrie | Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg | Dr August Hanning | Wolfgang Ischinger | Baroness Pauline Neville-Jones | Ana Palacio | Hella Pick | Jonathan Powell | Louis Schweitzer | Lord Adair Turner (Chairman, Policy Board)

Leitender Berator

Richard Barrett CMG OBE | Dr. August Hanning | Dilwar Hussain | Jytte Klausen | Baroness Pauline Neville-Jones | Hella Pick | Magnus Ranstorp