Public statistics & revisions
What did an indicator mean, which population did it cover, and what was knowable at the time?
& Evidence LabWork with the Lab
Public-interest data infrastructure for the MENA region
Evidence for a regionmeasured in fragments.
We build traceable datasets, reproducible research software and methods capacity for questions that matter across the Middle East and North Africa.
Evidence protocol / 001Open by default
01CaptureSource + retrieval time
02DefineEntity + period + unit
03VersionVintage + revision
04AuditRights + tests + review
05ReleaseData + code + citation
Two-flagship completion freeze · August 2026
2active flagship outputs
48Observatory release rows
176/400numeric firm-years
0independent reproductions yet
01
About the Lab
Data is not evidence until its history survives with it.
The MENA Open Data & Evidence Lab is an independent research initiative building public infrastructure around hard-to-use regional economic data.
Our work sits between research, data engineering and public-interest technology. We preserve source definitions, revisions, rights and uncertainty so a number can be traced back to what was actually published—and what it can responsibly support.
02
Research
Questions with regional consequence.
Our agenda begins where available data stops being straightforward: at revisions, shifting definitions, incomplete coverage and institutional context.
Firms, AI & labor
How do technology claims translate into operational adoption, organizational change and employment outcomes?
Prices, stress & narratives
How can economic stress be measured without collapsing unlike periods, places and lived conditions into one misleading score?
Methods & replication
Which empirical claims survive reproduction, alternative specifications and transparent failure tests?
03
Data & Software
Infrastructure with receipts.
New project starts are frozen while two flagships move through public release gates. Each carries data, code, methodology, provenance, limitations, validation and an outside-audit handoff.
01
Economic Narrative & Market Stress Observatory
A six-month, five-country price-data release candidate built from official publications. Structural breaks and regional exceptions remain explicit, and no composite stress index is released while comparability is unresolved.
48 release rows30 primary + 18 regional30 official releases
02
MENA Firm AI & Labor Adjustment
A source-bound 50-firm panel that separates AI disclosure from operational adoption and keeps changing employment definitions visible before any causal estimate is allowed to run.
176 / 400 numeric firm-years38 / 50 firms covered168 / 176 source hashes
04
People
A real roster, not an inflated headcount.
People are listed by verified role and public contribution. Contributor and collaborator profiles are added with their consent when work enters the public record.
LA
Founder & Research Director
Layan Oraidi
Researcher and data builder working across empirical economics, financial markets, causal inference and reproducible research systems. Recipient of the 2026 Charles H. Dow Award.
Contributors · 0 accepted
Bounded roles are open
Accepted contributions will be credited in project records and added here with consent. Current tasks include source auditing, second coding and blind reproduction.
Research collaborators · 0 confirmed
No implied affiliations
Collaborators will be named only after scope, role and public attribution are confirmed. See open tasks
05
Workshops
Methods capacity
Methods you can rerun, not lectures you forget.
Each Lab workshop is designed around a complete research object: source files, code, decisions, tests, exercises and a reusable answer key.
Workshop 001Scheduled · not yet delivered
Reproduce an Economics Result from Raw Data
A 90-minute working session that moves from raw source files to a checked result, then makes every transformation and judgment inspectable.
Slides readyNotebook readyExercise readyAnswer key readyDelivery record pending
23 August 2026 · 18:00–19:30 Amman · onlineOpen materials
06
Open Science
Open is an operating standard, not a badge.
01
Version data and document revisions
02
Publish methods, code and machine-readable results
03
Separate observed, derived and synthetic records
04
Keep rights and licensing attached to sources
05
Maintain correction and contribution routes
06
Report nulls, failures and validation limits
07
Partners & Memberships
Regional by design. Precise about relationships.
The Lab distinguishes active membership processes, public collaborations and prospective relationships. No logo or institutional name is used to imply an agreement that has not been formalized.
Membership application in progress · August 2026
FORM
Forum for Open Research in MENA
An application to join FORM’s regional Open Science community is in progress. The Lab does not claim membership, partnership or FORM endorsement unless and until FORM confirms it publicly.
About FORMPartnership register
No institutional partners publicly announced yet.
We publish an organization only after scope, responsibility and attribution are confirmed. Current collaboration routes include dataset co-development, independent validation and workshop hosting.
Discuss collaborationInstitutional materials
About the Lab · one-page profile DOCX ↓Institutional logo SVG ↓Institutional logo PNG ↓
Research · data · training · collaboration