In January 2013 Professor Suleiman signed a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ in with Abdelkrim Benani of the Moroccan British Society and Martin Rose from the British Council in Morocco. The Memorandum formalises our commitment to strengthening academic ties between the UK and Morocco through a series of academic conferences to be held in both countries. In March a party of Cambridge academics were joined by scholars from around the world at the American University of Sharjah, UAE, to explore ‘Perspectives on Middle Eastern Studies’. Across ten panels, scholars participated from the United States, Bosnia, Israel, China, the United Kingdom and throughout the Middle East, highlighting the success of the Centre’s ‘Cambridge in…’ programme in drawing together an international network of scholars working on the Middle East. A highlight of the year was the publication of the Narratives of Conversion to Islam in Britain: Female Perspectives report in May 2013. The report received major coverage in all the UK’s broadsheet newspapers and I am delighted that to date (October 2013) it has been downloaded over fifty thousand times – and rising.