Directors and administrative officers from six academic institutions met in London for the first Alwaleed bin Talal Centers Meeting on March 19, 2009. In recent years, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal has donated generously to establish four Islamic Studies centers at Harvard and Georgetown Universities in the United States and the Universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh in the United Kingdom. He has also established two American Studies centers at the American University of Cairo and the American University in Beirut.

The Centers Meeting offered an important opportunity for the directors and administrators to meet one another and formulate plans for increased collaboration between centers and programs in their own universities, across their respective countries, and internationally. Attendees included Dr. John Esposito, Dr. John Voll, and Ms. Alexa Poletto of Georgetown University, Dr. Roy Mottahedeh and Mr. Clifford Gardner of Harvard University, Dr. Yasir Suleiman of the University of Cambridge, Dr. Hugh Goddard and Dr. Carole Hillenbrand of the University of Edinburgh, Dr. Patrick McGreevy of the American University in Beirut, Dr. Jerry Leach of the American University in Cairo, Ms. Muna AbuSulayman and Ms. Aysha Al-Kusayr of the Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation, and center advisors Dr. Anas al-Shaikh-Ali, Dr. Charles Butterworth, Dr. Jeremy Henzell-Thomas, and Mr. Omer Totonji.