Future for Advanced Research and Studies (FARAS) is an independent think tank founded in April 2014 in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. FARAS seeks to enrich public dialogue, support decision making, and enhance academic research concerned with unexpected trends and currents, based on current state of events and instability in the MENA region. The overarching goal of FARAS is to help ward off "future shocks" pertaining to these trends. In this context, FARAS monitors and analyzes trends that shape the future, especially non-traditional ideas and emerging phenomena that effect global politics, specifically within the Gulf Region.