The King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies (KFCRIS) is conducting a visitor fellow’s program to build cultural bridges between communities and promote understanding about Saudi Arabia.

KFCRIS is also helping research scholars fine-tune the balance for a better understanding of Islam and the Muslim world.

“Saudi Arabia is a place of interest for many foreign researchers and as such, our mission is to help independent scholars in their research process,” said Eman Al-Hussein, a research fellow at the KFCRIS yesterday.

The Islamic studies center has been conducting visitor fellow’s programs since 2000, specifically in the fields of humanities, anthropology and politics, she said. The program is open to independent scholars from around the world and has hosted more than 200 researches from countries such as the US, Russia, Italy and France.

“We take care of everything, from visa issuance, processing and organizing to arranging researchers’ visits and meetings. We provide extensive facilities to the researchers.”

“The center’s connection with the fellows will remain even after research is complete to maximize benefit from this liaison. Their studies will be added to the center’s library and will be made available to other researchers,” she added.

Spelling out the vision, Al-Hussein said, “We are also considering a future plan to closely study the research itself to know how Saudi is being studied.” She said that researchers give a presentation on their findings to staff at the center and the some of these fellows publish their study after they have visited the Kingdom.

Nadav Samin, a fellow who benefited from the Fellow Visitor Program, said, “The team at the research center, led by Dr. Yahya bin Junaid, are of tremendous help in facilitating research in Saudi history. The center provides valuable support for foreign researchers.” Established in 1983, the KFCRIS is based in Riyadh. The center is an independent, not-for-profit institution financed by the King Faisal Foundation, one of the largest philanthropic foundations in the world.