


Orient Research Center - DC
Trusted Media Briefing, Empowered by Proprietary Artificial Intelligence Back-end
OUR MISSION
DEMYSTIFY MEDIA
Orient Research Center - DC mission is to improve understanding of scattered data throughout the complex media landscape. Our experts have a deep understanding of international relations, as well as the strategic and economic situation in the United States and the Middle East.
BE CLEAR & COMPREHENSIVE
As a consultancy, ORC-DC produces risk assessments and economic briefings. Services and reports include thorough cost-benefit assessments, geostrategic white papers, and geoeconomic insights.
BRING CUTTING-EDGE AI
ORC-DC leverages a proprietary, state-of-the-art technology that condenses enormous quantities of data from a wide variety of sources, including news articles, social media, and research papers.
EDUCATE
ORC-DC is proud to facilitate a training program between think tanks and top universities to help mold the next generation of specialists in international relations, specifically between the United States and the Middle East.
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OUR VISION
ORC aims to be the premier provider of unbiased media assessments of the Middle East and North Africa. Our guiding principles are innovation and dependable, balanced reporting. To execute our mission, Orient Research Center - DC uses a proprietary, state-of-the-art technology that is capable of crunching mass quantities of news and other media on a vast scale. Using this system, ORC-DC provides trusted, impartial summaries and data analyses that businesses can leverage to improve their products.
Founded in January 2016, Orient Research Center - DC is an independent media consultancy firm based in Washington, DC. Through its state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI) platform, ORC-DC produces daily, weekly, and monthly briefings based on the most relevant and consequential articles, reports, and publications from media outlets, research organizations, think tanks, social media, and more. ORC-DC's unparalleled AI tool is the basis for the most efficient, comprehensive media analysis possible, which can be utilized in a wide array of sectors, including risk assessment, consulting, and politics.
ABOUT US
WHY WE'RE DIFFERENT
Orient Research Center - DC
With a wide range of professional experience in the private and public sectors as well as on-the-ground experience in the Middle East, our team is comprised of experts who understand the US and the regional media landscape as well as existing and emerging technologies.
ORC-DC prides itself on being:
- Arabic-speakers with a diversity of experiences
- Worldly, tech-savvy, and well-connected
- Resourceful, nuanced, and forward-thinking

OUR TEAM

Kate Papenberg
Senior Editor
Kate Papenberg is a Senior Editor. Prior to joining Orient Research Center - DC, Kate was an active-duty member of the United States Air Force having spent time in Afghanistan, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, and the UAE, among other locales over the course of 10 years. She then took on private-sector roles within GE’s Oil and Gas division as well as Amazon.com. She is currently working with the US State Department’s EducationUSA initiative in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and Minsk, Belarus. She has an MS in logistics managements alongside an MBA from the UK and a BS in foreign area studies, which she earned with a concentration in Russian.

Dr. Samir Altaqi
Founder / Managing Partner
Since 2010, Dr. Samir al-Taqi has served as the General Director of Orient Research Centre (ORC), an independent think-tank focused on strategic and political studies in the Gulf and the Middle East based in Dubai, U.A.E. From 2005 until 2010, al-Taqi was the director of the Orient Centre for International Studies in Damascus, affiliated at the time with the Syrian Foreign Ministry until the center was shut down by the Syrian government. A cardiothoracic surgeon by profession, al-Taqi served as the Head of Medical Services at the Health Department in the Governorate of Aleppo, supervising and auditing the operation of all hospitals in the governorate. In the early 2000s, he consulted on health issues for the Syrian Ministry of Health, as well as Syrian Prime Minister Muhammad Naji al-Otari. From 1994-1998, Dr. al-Taqi served one term as a member of the Syrian Parliament. Al-Taqi was an academic fellow at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, from 2010 until 2011. He has written and presented extensively on the Syrian state’s structure and decision-making apparatus; political and strategic problems in the Middle East; and international relations. Dr. al-Taqi is a graduate of the University of Aleppo, Faculty of Medicine

Nadin Samaan
Managing Director
Nadin Samaan is the Managing Director of the Insight Advisory Group. Prior to joining IAG, Nadin held several academic, managerial and consultancy positions at UNICEF and Kalamoon University. She served as a Nutrition Officer at UNICEF - Syria office, where she worked on the nutrition emergency response in the drought affected areas in Syria and during the war crisis. Nadin provided the technical support to disseminate the first National Nutrition Strategy in Syria and expand the Nutrition Surveillance System in the country. She worked on assessing the nutritional needs for refugees in the USA as part of Summit County Public Health department’s efforts to improve minority health in Ohio. Nadin’s academic experience drives the IAG research toward analytical academic research, which empowers the Group’s achievements. She holds an International Diploma in Humanitarian Assistance from Fordham University-New York in addition to a Bachelor Degree in Dietetics from University of Akron - Ohio and a Bachelor Degree in Human Nutrition from the University of Kalamoon.
OUR ADDRESS
CONTACT
INSIGHT ADVISORY GROUP
440 Monticello Ave Ste 1802, PMB 75011
Norfolk, Virginia 23510-2670
Email: info@insightadvisory.org
Telephone: (202) 792-7026
For any general inquiries, please use the below form: