TRENDS Research & Advisory will host the Fifth Annual Forum on Political Islam — Shared Patterns of Violence: Contemporary Approaches to Ideologically Driven Extremism — on Tuesday, September 16, 2025, at the Fairmont Bab Al Bahr Hotel in Abu Dhabi. The forum will examine the shared patterns of violence across extremist movements of different religious, nationalist, and racist orientations, with a focus on developing scientific and practical approaches to confront this phenomenon.

Hamad Al-Hosani, Researcher and Director of the Political Islam Department at TRENDS, stated that the opening ceremony will feature a welcoming address by Dr. Mohammed Abdullah Al-Ali, CEO of TRENDS Research & Advisory, followed by keynote speeches by several distinguished figures, including Rt. Hon. Sir Liam Fox, Chairman of the UK Abraham Accords Group, and H.E. Dr. Khalifa Mubarak Al Dhaheri, Chancellor of Mohamed Bin Zayed University for Humanities. The ceremony will also announce the winner of the TRENDS Global Award for Combating Terrorism and Extremism.

He added that the high-level opening session will address the theme From Islamism to Far-Right Extremism: How Violence Unites Different Currents. The program also includes four main sessions covering Tracing the Origins of Extremisms, Deconstructing the Foundational Ideas of Extremisms, New Approaches to Combating Extremisms: Global Experiences, and Community Discussions on Shared Patterns of Violence. These discussions will bring together a distinguished group of researchers, experts, and media professionals.

Al-Hosani highlighted that the forum’s participants will include decision-makers and academics worldwide, including experts from the UAE, the UK, the United States, Canada, France, Italy, India, Indonesia, Portugal, Poland, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. This will give the discussions an international, multidimensional, and interdisciplinary character.

On this occasion, Dr. Mohammed Abdullah Al-Ali, CEO of TRENDS Research & Advisory, stated: “The Fifth Annual Forum on Political Islam comes at a critical juncture in which the world is witnessing the rise of ideological extremism, now posing a shared threat to international security and stability regardless of its religious, national, or ideological roots. Through this forum, TRENDS seeks to shed light on the commonalities among these movements and reveal the mechanisms that make violence a unifying language despite their differing references.”

“Hosting such diversity of experts from around the globe reflects TRENDS’ belief in the importance of cross-cultural dialogue and underscores its mission to build knowledge bridges that enhance societies’ ability to understand complex phenomena and to formulate more comprehensive and effective responses to the challenges facing humanity as a whole,” he added.

Dr. Al-Ali further noted that organizing the forum reflects TRENDS’ commitment to its mission as an independent research center dedicated to producing rigorous scientific knowledge and providing strategic insights that support decision-makers in adopting realistic and practical policies to confront global risks—chief among them extremism, which threatens social cohesion and international peace.

The conference is held with media and strategic partnerships involving media organizations and public and private companies.