There are few areas of domestic or international public policy where the case for exploration and enquiry is more pressing, where the need for understanding a debate is more urgent. I applaud you on this important initiative.

The issues tackled by ICSR are directly relevant to people in the Middle East and beyond. ICSR will bring access to a range of real professionals, who work day in day out on questions of radicalization and the latest tools used to address this challenge.

There is absolutely no question in my mind that the world needed this. The greater understanding that we have of the reasons a person chooses to travel down this dark road, from political activism to setting a bomb off somewhere, the better we will be able to design strategies to effectively counter it, and the more effective will be our efforts as we focus on root causes rather than the symptoms.

I want to thank King's College London, the University of Pennsylvania... as well as the institutions from Israel and Jordan, who have devoted so much of their lives and attention and focus and energies on making a better world for all of us. Thank you.

When I saw something that is organised in London by four prominent institutions from the United States, Jordan, Israel and the UK, I thought this is a very good idea that they do such work.

When I was in government, I wished that something like ICSR existed. It's extremely important for those of us making the policies to have a forum from which to get independent expert advice and analysis to help with some of the tough questions that you don't have the time to examine in depth.

It is great to see an initiative which translates the wisdom and expertise of the world's leading experts into something that has a real impact.