About the center
MIRSAD is an independent Syrian center for opinion polling and public policy research. We measure twenty national indicators across Syria's fourteen governorates and publish every figure with its sample and margin of error. First wave: Q1 2027.
What we do
- We run regular public-opinion surveys across the fourteen governorates with representative samples.
- We measure twenty indicators with fixed definitions — among them trust in institutions, prices and the poverty line, sense of safety, satisfaction with services, and intention to return.
- We publish every figure with its methodology: sample size and design, margin of error, and fieldwork dates.
- We analyse the results in short policy papers, then measure again later to see what changed.
Why
Most research centers analyse without measuring, and few of those that measure go on to analyse in depth. We do both, with a published methodology.
For whom
Researchers and academics, the media, civil society, and public, private and international institutions. Results are published to everyone at the same time.
When are the first results due?
The first wave of the Syrian Barometer: Q1 2027. Its protocol was published before fieldwork under a permanent identifier: doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22559474.
How we protect our independence
| Funding | Self-funded at founding. Every funder is disclosed as soon as an agreement is signed, and an audited financial report is published each year. No single funder may exceed 40% of any one year’s budget; if one does, we publish the reason and the plan to diversify. |
|---|---|
| Results | No one — the founder included — sees a result before the public does, and no one changes a number. |
| Board of trustees | Trustees may not hold a governmental, party or parliamentary post, and the founder does not chair the board. |
| Review | An independent scientific committee audits our work in public whenever it is challenged. |
| Corrections | Every error is corrected in public in the corrections log. |
What we don’t do: we do not monitor individuals · we publish no individual-level data · no figure without its methodology · we never compare two different questions.
Data: aggregated and open under CC BY 4.0 with attribution. Microdata and codebooks are published within twelve months of the results.
Who runs the center?
Dr. Mustafa Yakoub founded MIRSAD in 2026, self-funded; he is its Director General and currently its only declared executive officer. The board of trustees and the scientific review committee are being formed, and their members will be announced with the first wave.
Legal status: the center’s registration and legal personality will be published here as soon as they are complete.
Funding ledger
We publish this table from day one rather than after the first grant — transparency is a mechanism in place, not a promise deferred. It is updated within a month of any agreement.
| Year | Funder | Purpose | Amount | Share of budget |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | The founder (self-funded) | Founding · website · technical infrastructure | In kind — own labour and infrastructure | 100% |
| 2026 | No external funder to date — no grant sought and none signed. |
Last updated: 5 September 2026. Spotted an error, or a contract we failed to list? Write to us and we will correct it in public.
The name
In Arabic, mirṣād is the place one watches from.