This report combines poverty data and economic analysis to inform debate on policy priorities for poverty reduction and food security in light of the "Arab Awakening". It argues for national dialogues and joint economic development strategies in the region, with sound laws and accountable politicians who accept democratic values.

The report suggests that poverty and income inequality in the Arab world are higher than previously thought. It introduces a new welfare measure of food insecurity at the national level and in households, which is used to classify countries into five risk groups. It also presents analyses showing that unlike other regions, poor people in Arab countries benefit more from growth in the manufacturing and service sector, rather than agriculture; and that high levels of public spending — particularly in education — do not stimulate growth as much as in other regions.

The report highlights three policy recommendations: improving data and capacity to provide evidence for decision-making; fostering growth that enhances food security; and improving the efficiency of public spending.

This briefing paper, published by the Royal Society and part of its Atlas of Islamic-World Science and Innovation project, summarises recent scientific and technological advances across the Islamic world and draws attention to the barriers to further and faster progress.

The authors present case studies of successful projects in Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia and examine the role of women in science in the Islamic world, and the effects of governance, policy and the media.

In this Nature article, three members of the Royal Society call for an advisory group and a network of international laboratories to lay the groundwork for nuclear disarmament and international collaboration. Scientific collaboration has already helped nuclear negotiations, say the authors. But now, the technology needed to support disarmament must be developed.

This report summarises the evidence and main conclusions from a two-day meeting on science diplomacy, hosted by the Royal Society in partnership with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in June 2009.

The report explains the 'three dimensions of science diplomacy' and explores topics such as the soft power of science and practical barriers to scientific exchange. It also presents two case studies of science diplomacy, including how large science collaborations are being used to improve relations with the Islamic world.

In this Science article, US-based scientists Kristin M. Lord and Vaughan C. Turekian argue that science diplomacy is critical to US efforts to build positive relationships with foreign societies. They outline roles for US scientists to play — from acting as goodwill ambassadors to collaborating with colleagues overseas. And they highlight the importance of nongovernmental scientific organisations as conduits to foreign societies.

Writing in Cell, Nina Fedoroff, science and technology advisor to the US Secretary of State, calls on all US scientists and engineers to build partnerships with developing countries and improve the economic and educational opportunities within these nations. Scientists have a pivotal role to play in decreasing the disparities between rich and poor, she says.

These selected proceedings from a regional research seminar in Morocco, hosted by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), examine the state of higher education in Arab states. They highlight the impact of globalisation on local systems and discuss the role of funding agencies in supporting them.

The authors tackle a range of issues including the nature and extent of the 'knowledge gap' in Arab societies, current funding patterns and implications for future support, and the effects of international agreements such as the General Agreement on Trade in Services. Munir Bashshur, member of UNESCO's regional scientific committee for Arab states, presents a summary report of the conference, in both English and Arabic.

This report, prepared for the UNESCO Cairo Office, presents data and information on higher education systems in 21 Arab states over a five-year period (1992–1996). It is an update of a previous study published in 1995

Data presented includes the number of institutions, enrolment, structure and financing of higher education systems in these countries. The study also covers the growing participation of private and non-profit sectors in higher education delivery. It highlights a number of challenges faced by the higher education systems in the Arab world, including the growing role of private sector, issues in quality, demand for more diversified university programmes, and the growing importance and participation of universities in R&D systems.

This study was prepared for the UNESCO Cairo Office. The key objective was to collect a wide array of data and statistics on R&D systems across the Arab states.

The study was motivated by the attempts of several Arab countries to balance the need to invest in R&D systems with their rapidly depleting resources during the 1990s.

These attempts focused on: diversifying the funding base of R&D activities; maximising linkages between industry and business enterprises and R&D performing institutions; optimising the relevance of R&D activities to client demand; increasing competitiveness among institutions for funds; and institutionalising R&D activities as an economic operation.

The study provides data on the organisation of R&D systems, R&D performing units, trends and levels of funding, full-time researchers, and R&D disparities between Arab countries.

This document provides important — and rare — background data on R&D systems across an important sub-section of the OIC member states and may be valuable for science, technology and innovation policy-makers from these countries seeking to better understand the structure and contribution of R&D in their economies.

This study provides a framework and guidelines for the design, development and implementation of strategies to build an integrated knowledge society and knowledge-based economies in Arab countries, in accordance with the goals of the World Summit on the Information Society.

The study asks what exactly a knowledge society or knowledge economy is. It provides an overview of the analytical tools needed to create a knowledge strategy and makes recommendations as to how strategies might be best implemented. Lebanon and Yemen are presented as case studies, comparing and contrasting their experiences of crafting and implementing their own strategies.

The authors conclude that "moving towards the knowledge society means adopting customs and attitudes that value knowledge as a personal asset, an organisational resource and an economic prerequisite. The region must start moving into intellectual capital leverage, and must strive to create, disseminate, share and make such capital more productive."

This Arab Human Development Report (AHDR) focuses on the challenge of building a knowledge society in the Arab world.

AHDRs have been fairly successful in creating not only dialogue and debate on important socioeconomic and political issues within the region but also catalysing policymakers across Arab countries to improve the state of the Arab world.

This report tackles several important issues relevant to knowledge creation, dissemination and utilisation in the Arab world. It addresses the state of current knowledge in Arab countries; the conceptual linkage between knowledge creation and economic development; the production, dissemination, and measurement of knowledge capital; and the socioeconomic, cultural and political aspects of knowledge creation and use specific to Arab countries, including the role of science and technology.

It presents a five-pillar strategic vision for creating an Arab knowledge society including disseminating high-quality education and building scientific research and development capacity science, and keeping abreast with the information age.

The report is especially valuable for policymakers associated with education, science, technology and innovation realms.

This paper is based on the premise that all countries, especially under-developed ones, need to invest in science and technology (S&T).

It describes and compares Arab countries in the Gulf and Mediterranean regions with others around the world and finds that that neither the Gulf nor the Mediterranean countries investigated possess sufficient human or financial resources to enhance S&T performance.

The paper finds that the role of the private sector in research and development is non-existent and that high scores of Gulf countries on gross domestic product and human development indices do not necessarily translate into high scores in S&T indicators.

The paper also finds a lack of cooperation within and between Gulf and Mediterranean countries and the rest of the Arab world. However, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia show active scientific cooperation with the international community, particularly with countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, notably France. The study suggests geographical proximity, rather than social proximity alone, may also spur S&T collaboration.

The paper is useful for S&T policymakers in OIC countries, Arab countries in particular.

This study outlines the findings of the 2003 TIMSS for the participating Arab countries, namely, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian National Authority, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Tunisia. TIMSS is a study of cross-national achievement in mathematics and sciences for fourth and eighth grade students since 1959.

The report provides useful data on each of the participating countries, and compares Arab and international average scores. It includes data on average achievement scores, resource availability, access to computers, the number of curriculum hours designated, teacher characteristics and credentials, and classroom characteristics and instruction quality.

The study finds that while most Arab countries lag behind the international averages, a few have made progress since the last exercise in 1999. It also highlights interesting aspects of this difference and suggests measures to improve student achievement. The document is especially useful for educators in Muslim countries seeking credible data and analysis on student achievement.