The National Academy of Development and Strategy (NADS) at Renmin University of China (RUC), also known as “RUC NADS”, is a new-type university-affiliated think tank with Chinese characteristics established by pooling the university’s full resources. NADS is currently chaired by Zhang Donggang, Secretary of the CPC RUC Committee, and its Dean is Lin Shangli, former President of RUC. In 2015, NADS was selected as one of the first pilot units of the “National High-end Think Tanks” program and ranked among the world’s top 100 think tanks. In early 2018, it topped the list of China's Top 100 University Think Tanks. In 2019, it was placed in the first-tier group in the comprehensive evaluation of national high-end think tanks, making it the only university-affiliated think tank to achieve this distinction.

NADS is committed to building a world-class think tank platform featuring "new platforms and extensive network, interdisciplinary integration, cross-disciplinary collaboration, innovation promotion, and high-quality output". Focusing on four core research areas — Economic Governance and Economic Development, Political Governance and Rule of Law, Social Governance and Social Innovation, and Public Diplomacy and International Relations — NADS pools high-quality resources from the university’s first-class disciplines. It has achieved remarkable results in infrastructure development, policy consultation, public diplomacy, theoretical innovation, public opinion guidance, and internal governance. With the goal of becoming "a leading new-type university think tank with Chinese characteristics", NADS is deeply rooted in China, firmly serves national strategies, upholds its mission of the times, and strives to develop into a world-class university think tank with global influence.