Currently, Kurdistan Institution for Strategic Studies and Scientific Research (KISSR) is run by Professor Dr Polla Khanaqa.

Professor Khanaqa is a full Professor in Kurdistan Institution for Strategic Studies and Scientific Research, scientist with experiences as a University lecturer and with management experiences, and competences in the field of higher education and scientific research.

Professor Polla Khanaqa was born in Kirkuk-Kurdistan but left in 1979 to Germany. He pursued his education in Germany and he obtained a Ph.D. in the field of Geology at the Georg-August University of Göttingen in 1997. Five years after completing his Ph.D., Professor Khanaqa obtained his post-doctorate at the same University. Then, Professor Khanaqa established Kurdistan Technology and Research Centres with the support of the KRG’s Prime Minister Omar Fatah, and Dr. Akhtar Najmaddin, the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, in Kurdistan Region of Iraq in 2005. After that, he established the Kurdistan Institution for Strategic Studies Scientific Research as the first research institution in the Kurdistan Region in 2005. He is currently the President of KISSR as well as a University lecturer.