CONFERENCE SPONSORS
Religions for Peace MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA COUNCIL UNIVERSIDAD COMPLUTENSE Departamento de Derecho Eclesiástico del Estado
G20 INTERFAITH SUMMIT: Religion, Harmony, and Sustainable Development
Religious Freedom and the Unleashing of Social Capital Religion, Social Cohesion, and Economic Factors in Development Finding Economic Synergies through Interfaith Cooperation tepav Max Planck Institute Türkiye Ekonomi Politikalari Araştirma Vak CALIR INTERNATIONAL CENTER The Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey Consejo Argentino para la Libertad Religiosa FOR LAW AND for Social Anthropology RELIGION STUDIES
OSLR www.G20Interfaith.org #G20Interfaith CONFERENCE PROGRAM CONDENSED SCHEDULE
Detailed Schedule for Monday, 16 November 13.00-18.00 REGISTRATION (Mezzanine Foyer) 14.00-15.30 EQUALITY, INCLUSIVENESS, AND NON-DISCRIMINATION (Topkapi Hall) 15.30-16.00 BREAK (Mezzanine Foyer) 16.00-17.30 PARALLEL SESSIONS • Religion, Human Rights, and Development (Mallorca-Sevilla) • Young Scholars: Religion, Harmony, and Sustainable Development (Madrid Hall) 18.00-19.00 RECEPTION (Ballroom-Foyer Area) 19.00-21.00 KEYNOTE DINNER FOR REGISTERED PARTICIPANTS AND INVITED GUESTS (Ballroom)
Detailed Schedule for Tuesday, 17 November 8.00-9.00 REGISTRATION (Topkapi Hall) 9.00-11.00 OPENING PLENARY SESSION: “RELIGION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT” (Topkapi Hall) 11.00-11.30 BREAK 11.30-13.00 PARALLEL SESSIONS • REFUGEE RELIEF AND RELIGION (Topkapi Hall) • RELIGION, PEACE, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES (Madrid Hall) • RELIGION, BUSINESS, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (Valencia-Barcelona) • ISLAMIC FINANCE AND THEORIES OF DEVELOPMENT (Mallorca-Sevilla) 13.00-14.30 LUNCH (PARLIAMENTARY PANEL) FOR REGISTERED PARTICIPANTS AND INVITED GUESTS (Ballroom) 14.30-16.00 PLENARY SESSION: “RELIGION, RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT” (Topkapi Hall) 16.00-16.30 BREAK 16.30-18.00 PARALLEL SESSIONS • RELIGION, AND PRODUCTIVE, DECENT EMPLOYMENT (Topkapi Hall) • RELIGION, QUALITY EDUCATION, AND CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT (Madrid Hall) • RELIGION, HEALTH, AND WELL-BEING (Valencia-Barcelona) • POVERTY ALLEVIATION AND RELIGION (Mallorca-Sevilla) 18.00 FREE EVENING
Detailed Schedule for Wednesday, 18 November 9.00-10.30 PLENARY SESSION: “FAITH PERSPECTIVES ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT” (Topkapi Hall) 10.30-11.00 BREAK 11.00-12.30 PARALLEL SESSIONS • RELIGIOUS HERITAGE PROTECTION (Topkapi Hall) • RELIGION, ENVIRONMENT, AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (Madrid Hall) • NGO PANEL: YOUTH AS ADVOCATES OF SOCIAL AND INTERFAITH COHESION (Topkapi Hall) • REGIONAL PANEL ON RUSSIA AND CENTRAL ASIA I (Mallorca-Sevilla) 12.30-14.00 LUNCH FOR REGISTERED PARTICIPANTS AND INVITED GUESTS (Ballroom) 14.00-15.30 PARALLEL SESSIONS • SPIRITUAL CAPITAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA (Valencia-Barcelona) • WOMEN, FAITH, AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (Madrid Hall) • REGIONAL PANEL ON RUSSIA AND CENTRAL ASIA II (Mallorca-Sevilla) 15.30-16.00 BREAK 16.00-17.30 PARALLEL SESSIONS • HUMANITARIAN AID ORGANIZATIONS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (Topkapi Hall) • DIALOGUE AMONG CIVILIZATIONS (Madrid Hall) • REGIONAL PANEL ON INTERFAITH IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC (Valencia-Barcelona) 18.00-19.30 CONCLUDING DINNER FOR SPEAKERS, MODERATORS, AND INVITED GUESTS (Ballroom) 19.30 BUSES DEPART FOR PERFORMANCE 20.00 WHIRLING DERVISHES PERFORMANCE (Semâ, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Waqf University)
2015 G20 INTERFAITH SUMMIT: Religion, Harmony and Sustainable Development
Istanbul, Turkey 16-18 November 2015
Monday, 16 November 2015
13.00 – 18.00 Registration – Mezzanine Foyer
14.00 – 15.30 Equality, Inclusiveness and Non-Discrimination – Topkapi Hall
Moderator: Jeroen Temperman, Associate Professor of Public International Law, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands
Speakers: Linda Hyökki, Alliance of Civilizations Institute, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Waqf University, Turkey Sarosh Arif, Alliance of Civilizations Institute, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Waqf University, Turkey Fadi Zatari, Alliance of Civilizations Institute, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Waqf University, Turkey
15.30 – 16.00 Break – Mezzanine Foyer
16.00 – 17.30 Parallel Sessions
A – Religion, Human Rights and Development – Mallorca-Sevilla
Moderator: Ana María Célis, Faculty of Law, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile; President, Latin American Consortium for Religious Freedom
Speakers: Cyrus McGoldrick, Alliance of Civilizations Institute, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Waqf University, Turkey Sarah Wood, University of Winnipeg, Canada Jasmin Winter, University of Winnipeg, Canada B – Young Scholars: Religion, Harmony and Sustainable Development – Madrid Hall
Moderator: James T. Christie, Professor of Whole World Ecumenism and Dialogue Theology, University of Winnipeg, Canada
Speakers: Abbas Panakkal, Director of International Relations, Ma’din Academy, India Kat Eghdamian, Researcher, University College London, United Kingdom Eimi Priddis, Lecturer, Zirve University, Turkey Colin Colter, Alliance of Civilizations Institute, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Waqf University, Turkey
18.00 – 19.00 Reception – Ballroom (Foyer Area)
19.00 – 21.00 Keynote Dinner for Registered Participants and Invited Guests – Ballroom
Welcome: Recep Şentürk, Director, Alliance of Civilizations Institute, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Waqf University, Turkey Musa Duman, Rector, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Waqf University, Turkey
Keynote Speakers: Rahmi Yaran, Mufti of Istanbul, introduced by Recep Şentürk Metropolitan Emmanuel, His Eminence, Metropolitan Emmanuel of France, introduced by Elizabeta Kitanovic Heiner Bielefeldt, UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Religion or Belief, introduced by W. Cole Durham David N. Saperstein, UnitedStates Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, United States, introduced by W. Cole Durham Tim Wilson, Human Rights Commissioner of Australia, introduced by Brian J. Adams Tuesday, 17 November 2015
8.00 – 9.00 Registration – Topkapi Hall
9.00 – 11.00 Opening Plenary Session: Religion and Sustainable Development– Topkapi Hall
Moderator: W. Cole Durham, President, International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies, Italy; Susa Young Gates Professor of Law and Director, International Center for Law and Religion Studies, Brigham Young University Law School, United States
Speakers: Katherine Marshall, Professor, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, Georgetown University, United States Recep Şentürk, Director, Alliance of Civilizations Institute, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Waqf University, Turkey Sharon Eubank, Director of Humanitarian Services, LDS Charities, United States Brian J. Grim, President, Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, United States Mohamad Hammour, Chair, Guidance Financial Group, France
11.00 – 11.30 Break
11.30 – 13.00 Parallel Sessions
A – Refugee Relief and Religion – Topkapi Hall
Moderator: Gary B. Doxey, Associate Director, International Center for Law and Religion Studies, Brigham Young University Law School, United States
Speakers: Mehmet Güllüoğlu, Director General, Red Crescent, Turkey Fatih Özer, Prime Ministry Disaster and Emergency Management Authority, Turkey Mehdi Davut, Suriye Nur Derneği, Turkey Mahmut Aytekin, İHH Social and Humanitarian Research Center, Turkey Carmen Asiaín Pereira, Senator, Parliament of Uruguay; President, Latin American Consortium for Freedom of Religion or Belief Jacquie Hughes, Convenor, MA Journalism, Brunel University; Specialist Adviser, House of Lords Communications Committee B – Religion, Peace and Sustainable Communities – Madrid Hall
Moderator: Yannis Ktistakis, Professor of Public International Law, Demokritus University of Thrace; Faculty of Political Science and International Relations, Boğaziçi University, Greece
Speakers: Brett G. Scharffs, Associate Dean for Faculty and Curriculum, Francis R. Kirkham Professor of Law; Associate Director, International Center for Law and Religion Studies, Brigham Young University Law School, United States Elizabeta Kitanović, Executive Secretary for Human Rights, Conference of European Churches, Belgium Mark Hill QC, Honorary Professor, Centre for Law and Religion, Cardiff University, UK; Extraordinary Professor, University of Pretoria, South Africa; Visiting Professor, Dickson Poon Law School, King's College, London H. Knox Thames, Special Advisor for Religious Minorities in the Near East and South/Central Asia, United States Department of State Alberto Quattrucci, Professor and Secretary General of Peoples and Religions, Sant’Egidio Community, Italy
C – Religion, Business and Economic Development – Valencia-Barcelona
Moderator: Frederick W. Axelgard, Alonzo McDonald Family Senior Lecturer and Senior Fellow, Wheatley Institution, Brigham Young University, United States
Speakers: Ram A. Cnaan, Professor and Director, Program for Religion and Social Policy Research, University of Pennsylvania, United States Edmund Newell, Priest, Church of England, Principal, Cumberland Lodge, United Kingdom Önder Küçükural, Assistant Professor, Alliance of Civilizations Institute, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Waqf University, Turkey Erol M. Yarar, President, Turkish Ski Federation; Founding President of MÜSIAD Independent Industrialists and Businessman Association, Turkey
D – Islamic Finance and Theories of Development – Mallorca-Sevilla
Moderator: Mehmet Bulut, President, Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University, Turkey
Speakers: Necdet Şensoy, Chairman, Audit Committee, International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation, Turkey Cüneyt Orman, Advisor, Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey Asad Zaman, Vice Chancellor, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Quaid-i-Azam University, Pakistan Murat Çizakça, Emeritus and Adjunct Professor of Islamic Finance, Luxembourg School of Finance, University of Luxembourg
13.00 – 14.30 Lunch (Parliamentary Panel) for Registered Participants and Invited Guests – Ballroom
Moderator: H. Knox Thames, Special Advisor for Religious Minorities in the Near East and South/Central Asia, U.S. Department of State, United States
Speakers: Aykan Erdemir, Former Member of Parliament, Turkey Leonardo Quintão, Member, House of Representatives, Brazil Talip Küçükçan, Member of Parliament, Turkey Moroni Torgan, Congressman, Member of Congress, Brazil Carmen Asiaín Pereira, Senator, Member of Parliament; President, Latin American Consortium for Freedom of Religion or Belief, Uruguay Selina Doğan, Member, Grand National Assembly of Turkey
14.30 – 16.00 Plenary Session: Religion, Religious Freedom and Economic Development – Topkapi Hall
Moderator: Tahir Mahmood, Founder and Past Chairman, Amity University Institute of Advanced Legal Studies; Past Member, Law Commission of India
Speakers: Faizan Mustafa, Vice-Chancellor, NALSAR University of Law, India Marie-Claire Foblets, Director, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology; The Institute for Social Anthropology, Catholic University of Leuven Pasquale Ferrara, Secretary General, European University Institute, Italy Katrina Lantos Swett, Commissioner, United States Commission for International Religious Freedom
16.00 – 16.30 Break
16.30 – 18.00 Parallel Sessions
A – Religion and Productive, Decent Employment – Topkapi Hall
Moderator: Katayoun Alidadi, Visiting Affiliate Scholar, Rice University; Postdoctoral Researcher Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology
Speakers: Zana Çitak, Department of International Relations, Middle East Technical University, Turkey Stephanos Stavros, Executive Secretary to the European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance, Council of Europe, France Marco Ventura, Professor of Law and Religion, University of Siena, Italy Dedong Wei, Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Deputy Dean, School of Philosophy, Renmin University, China
B – Religion, Quality Education and Cultural Development – Madrid Hall
Moderator: Mehmet Kamil Berse, President, Dersaadet Culture, Literature, and Art Platform, Turkey
Speakers: W. Cole Durham, President, International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies, Italy; Susa Young Gates Professor of Law and Director, International Center for Law and Religion Studies, Brigham Young University Law School Alparslan Açıkgenç, Professor of Civilization Studies, Alliance of Civilizations Institute, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Waqf University, Turkey Şule Albayrak, Faculty of Theology, Marmara University, Istanbul Blandine Chelini-Pont, Professor in History, Law and Religion, Aix- Marseille University, France Ana María Célis, Faculty of Law, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile; President, Latin American Consortium for Religious Freedom
C – Religion, Health and Well-Being – Valencia-Barcelona
Moderator: Juan Navarro Floria, Law Professor, Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina; Past President, Latin American Consortium for Religious Freedom
Speakers: Javier Martínez-Torrón, Professor of Law and Director of the Department of Law and Religion, Complutense University, Spain M. İhsan Karaman, President, Istanbul Medeniyet University; Past President, Turkish Green Crescent Society, Turkey İlhan Ilkılıç, Professor, Chair, Istanbul Medical Faculty, Department of History of Medicine and Ethics, Istanbul University, Turkey Angela Wu Howard, International Legal Fellow, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, United States Tuğba Erkoç, Medeniyet University, Turkey
D – Poverty Alleviation and Religion – Mallorca-Sevilla
Moderator: Mine Yıldırım, Head of Freedom of Belief Initiative, Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Turkey
Speakers: Asher Maoz, Dean, Faculty of Law, Peres Academic Center, Israel Adnan Ertem, Directorate General of Foundations, Turkey Laki Vingas, Former Representative of Minority Religions, General Directorate for Foundations, Turkey Selim Argün, Faculty of Theology, İstanbul University, Turkey Halil Demir, Executive Director, Zakat Foundation of America, United States
18.00 Free Evening
Wednesday, 18 November 2015
9.00 – 10.30 Plenary Session: Faith Perspectives on Sustainable Development – Topkapi Hall
Welcome: Brian J. Adams, Director, Centre for Interfaith and Cultural Dialogue, Griffith University, Australia
Moderators: Yoshinobu Miyake, Superior General, Konko Church of Izuo, Japan Karen Hamilton, Secretary General, Canadian Council of Churches, Canada
Speakers: Ganoune Diop, Secretary General, International Religious Liberty Association, Seventh-day Adventist Church, United States Paul Morris, UNESCO Chair in Inter-Religious Understanding and Relations, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand Pieter Coertzen, Professor (Retired), Faculty of Theology, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa Zheng Xiaoyun, Deputy Director, Institute of World Religions, Chinese Academy of the Social Sciences, China
10.30 – 11.00 Break
11.00 – 12.30 Parallel Sessions
A – Religious Heritage Protection – Topkapi Hall
Moderator: Peter Petkoff, Director, Religion, Law and International Relations Programme, Regents Park College, Oxford and Brunel University, United Kingdom
Speakers: Emre Öktem, Professor of Law, Galatasaray University, Turkey Leonard Hammer, Adjunct Professor of Law, Rothberg International School, Hebrew University, Jerusalem; Andrea and David Stein Visiting Chair in Modern Israel Studies, University of Arizona Tahir Mahmood, Founder Chairman, Amity University Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, India Nikos Maghioros, Assistant Professor of Canon and Ecclesiastical Law, Faculty of Theology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece Tuğba Tanyeri Erdemir, Middle East Technical University, Turkey
B – Religion, Environment and Sustainable Development – Madrid Hall
Moderator: David H. Moore, Wayne M. and Connie C. Hancock Professor of Law, Brigham Young University Law School, United States
Speakers: Dominico Sessa, Representative of the Holy See, Turkey Yoshinobu Miyake, Superior General, Konko Church of Izuo, Japan Sayyid Ibrahimul Bukhari, Founder and Chairman, Ma’din Academy, India İbrahim Özdemir, Director General, Department of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of National Education, Turkey
C – NGO Panel: Youth as Advocates of Social & Interfaith Cohesion – Topkapi Hall
Moderator: Kishan Manocha, Senior Advisor on Freedom of Religion and Belief, Human Rights Department, Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR), Poland
Speakers: Anas Alabbadi, Programmes Officer, KAICIID Dialogue Center, Austria Katerina Khareyn, Youth Project Manager, KAICIID Dialogue Center, Austria Hany Abdulmonem, Youth Programme Director, World Organization of the Scout Movement, Malaysia Rawaad Mahyub, Business Development Director, Right Start Foundation International, United Kingdom Jana Jakob, A Common Word Among the Youth Lejla Hasandedic, A Common Word Among the Youth
D – Regional Panel on Russia and Central Asia I – Mallorca-Sevilla
Moderator: James A. Toronto, Associate Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Brigham Young University, United States
Speakers: Roman Podoprigora, Professor of Law, Caspian University, Kazakhstan Yertas Muratbekov, Director, International Centre of Cultures and Religions, Kazakhstan Galym Shoikin, Chairman, Committee for Religious Affairs, Ministry of Culture and Sport, Republic of Kazakhstan Lev Simkin, Professor of Law, Russian State Academy of Intellectual Property, Russia Dmitry Kabak, President, Open Viewpoint Foundation; Member, Panel of the OSCE/ODIHR Advisory Council on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Kyrgyzstan
12.30 – 14.00 Lunch for Registered Participants and Invited Guests – Ballroom
Lunch Speaker: Temel Kotil, General Manager, Vice Chairman of the Board and the Executive Committee, Turkish Airlines, Turkey
14.00 – 15.30 Parallel Sessions
A – Spiritual Capital and Economic Development in China – Valencia-Barcelona
Moderators: Zheng Xiaoyun, Deputy Director, Institute of World Religions, Chinese Academy of the Social Sciences, China and Brett G. Scharffs, Associate Dean, Francis R. Kirkham Professor of Law; Associate Director, International Center for Law and Religion Studies, Brigham Young University Law School, United States
Speakers: Yuting Wang, Associate Professor of Sociology, American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates Shaojin Chai, Senior Research Fellow, Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development, United Arab Emirates Nanlai Cao, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Department of Religious Studies, Renmin University of China Lin Li, Director, Department of Islamic Studies, Institute of World Religions, Chinese Academy of the Social Sciences, China
B – Women, Faith and Sustainable Development – Madrid Hall
Moderator: Karen Hamilton, Secretary General, Canadian Council of Churches, Canada
Speakers: Sherrie Steiner, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Indiana University, Purdue University Fort Wayne, United States Meryem İlayda Atlas, Editor-in-Chief, Daily Sabah, Turkey Lena Larsen, Executive Director, Oslo Coalition on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, University of Oslo, Norway Anita Soboleva, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Department of Theory and History of Law, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Russia Nazila Ghanea, Associate Professor in International Human Rights Law, University of Oxford; Member, OSCE Advisory Panel of Experts on Freedom of Religion or Belief, United Kingdom
C – Regional Panel on Russia and Central Asia II – Mallorca-Sevilla
Moderator: James A. Toronto, Associate Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Brigham Young University, United States
Speakers: Gulchakhra Tulemetova, Associate Professor of the UNESCO Chair in the Comparative Study of World Religions, Tashkent Islamic University, Uzbekistan Indira Aslanova, Head, Analytical Department, Center of Religious Studies, Russian Slavic University, Kyrgyz Republic Zakir Chotaev, Deputy Director, State Commission on Religious Affairs, Kyrgyz Republic Yakov Asminkin, Director, 'TAHLIL' Center for Social Research, Uzbekistan
15.30 – 16.00 Break
16.00 – 17.30 Parallel Sessions
A – Humanitarian Aid Organizations and Sustainable Development – Topkapi Hall
Moderator: Rachael Kohn, Producer and Presenter, ABC’s the Spirit of Things, ABC Radio National, Australia
Speakers: Umer Melmuri, Director, Ma’din Academy, Kerala, India Talia Pura, Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan, Canada Peter Howard, Senior Director of Emergency Response, Food for the Hungry, United States Kerem Kinik, President, Doctors Worldwide, Turkey
B – Dialogue Among Civilizations – Madrid Hall
Moderator: Brian J. Adams, Director, Centre for Interfaith & Cultural Dialogue, Griffith University, Australia
Speakers: İlhan Yildiz, President, International Association for Understanding Explaining Mohammad, University of Ankara, Turkey Daniel C. Peterson, Professor of Islamic Studies and Arabic, Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages, Brigham Young University, United States Matthew Hodes, Director, United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, United States James T. Christie, Professor of Whole World Ecumenism and Dialogue Theology, University of Winnipeg, Canada
C – Regional Panel on Interfaith in the Asia-Pacific – Valencia-Barcelona
Moderator: Paul Morris, UNESCO Chair in Inter-Religious Understanding and Relations, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Speakers: Keith Thompson, Associate Professor, School of Law, University of Notre Dame Sydney, Australia Asmi Wood, Senior Lecturer, College of Law, Australian National University, Australia Upolu Luma Vaai, Senior Lecturer and Department Head, Department of Theology and Ethics, Pacific Theological College, Fiji Bachir Soualhi, Director, International Promotion and Scholarships, International Islamic University, Malaysia
18.00 – 19.30 Concluding Dinner for Speakers, Moderators and Invited Guests – Ballroom
Closing Remarks:
Brian J. Adams, Director, Centre for Interfaith and Cultural Dialogue, Griffith University, Australia W. Cole Durham, President, International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies, Italy; Susa Young Gates Professor of Law and Director, International Center for Law and Religion Studies, Brigham Young University Law School, United States Recep Şentürk, Director, Alliance of Civilizations Institute, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Waqf University, Turkey
20.00 Whirling Dervishes Performance – (Semâ) Fatih Sultan Mehmet Waqf University
(Buses will depart for this event from the hotel at 19:30)
We acknowledge with deep gratitude the generous contributions of the following individuals and foundations for helping make this event possible:
SPECIAL THANKS
James F. and Allyson E. Larkins
Sorenson Legacy Foundation
Edward Joseph Leon and Helen Hall Leon Endowed Fund for Law and Religion Studies
and
Members of the International Advisory Council for the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at Brigham Young University
G20 Turkey - Final Directory 20151110
Juan G. Navarro Floria – Argentina Law Professor, Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina; Past President, Latin American Consortium for Religious Freedom
Juan Navarro Floria graduated in law with honors from Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina, where he is now Professor of Law, teaching civil law, ecclesiastical law, and law and religion in Latin America. He is also a lawyer and litigator in these fields. He was Chief Advisor to the Secretariat of Religious Affairs of the Argentine Government, founder, board member, and past president of the Argentine Council of Religious Freedom (CALIR), and also founder and past-president of the Latin American Consortium for Religious Freedom. He is a member of the Academic Advisory Board of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies (ICLRS - BYU), of the National Committee 'Justicia y Paz' at the National Conference of Catholic Bishops in Argentina, and founder and member of the Steering Committee of the International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies (ICLARS - Milan). Publications include El derecho a la objección de conciencia (2004), La libertad religiosa en España y Argentina (co-editor, 2006), Estado, Derecho y Religión en América Latina (editor, 2009; Italian 2010), and Acuerdos y concordatos entre la Santa Sede y los países americanos (editor, 2011).
Brian J. Adams – Australia Director, Centre for Interfaith & Cultural Dialogue, Griffith University
Brian J. Adams is the Director of the Centre for Interfaith & Cultural Dialogue at Griffith University. As a former Rotary Peace Fellow, Brian is primarily focused on promoting respect and understanding across cultural, religious and organisational boundaries. This work is supported by a Ph.D. (political science) in deliberative dialogue and two Master degrees in community development and conflict resolution. Brian’s 20+ years of work in Africa, Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific certainly brings a compelling international perspective to the ICD. His background in mediation, conflict management and dialogue facilitation strengthens the Centre’s ability to address some of the great challenges facing the world today, while his proficiency in English, French and Swahili allow him to expand the work of the ICD to marginalised groups in Australia and to troubled regions across the globe.
Jane Jeffes – Australia Executive Producer, Religion and Ethics, ABC Radio National
Jane Jeffes is an award-winning British-born producer, writer and director with more than 25 years' experience in print, TV, radio and film. She has dual citizenship in the UK and Australia, family in the USA and Austria, has worked extensively on the Indian sub-continent and to a lesser degree in Africa and has travelled widely. A graduate of the University of Bristol's prestigious joint honours in Drama & English. Jane, early in her career, ran a high profile and highly successful charity and annual on-air fund- raising appeal for Ran Capital Radio in London. She helped develop, produce and executive produce a wide range of radio programming for the BBC and commercial radio and was administrator and producer for Help a London Child. She moved to Sydney in 2000, after working on a range of Australian documentary series, and set up her own company, Firefly Productions. She has undertaken several consultancies in the UK and Australia, including for the Supreme Islamic Council of New South Wales and the UN Under-Secretary General for Children Affected by Armed Conflict and has been a regular contributor to public and industry forums, a committee member, session producer and chair for OzDox, and the NSW Documentary Forum. She is at present Executive Director of Religion and Ethics, on ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Radio.
Rachael Kohn – Australia Producer and Presenter, ABC's the Spirit of Things, ABC Radio National
Dr. Rachael Kohn is an Australian author and broadcaster who since 1992 has presented and produced programs on Religion and Spirituality for ABC Radio National, beginning with Religion Report, Religion Today, and since 1997, The Spirit of Things. She has also produced award winning features for Encounter as well as two part television documentaries on The Dead Sea Scrolls (2000) and on Buddhism East and West (2001) as well as Paws for Thought on animals and spirituality for Compass on ABC TV. For 6 years (ending in January 2009) Kohn also was Producer and Presenter of The Ark on Radio National which focused on Religious History. Kohn is a popular speaker on Religion and Spirituality in Australia and she has published two books, The New Believers: Re-imagining God (2004) and Curious Obsessions in the History of Science and Spirituality (2007).
Keith Thompson – Australia Associate Professor, School of Law, The University of Notre Dame Sydney
Keith Thompson is Associate Professor and Associate Dean at The University of Notre Dame Australia's Sydney Law School, where he currently teaches Constitutional Law, Law and Religion, Civil Procedure, and Contemporary Legal Issues and supervises post-graduate dissertations. Previously he worked as a partner in a large commercial law firm and as Area Legal Counsel for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Pacific and then on the African continent for 20 years. He has published in legal history, evidence law, anti-corruption law, and vicarious liability in tort and insolvency law. He also published the text, Religious Confession Privilege and the Common Law (Brill) in 2011.
Tim Wilson – Australia Human Rights Commissioner of Australia
Tim Wilson is Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner. He is focused on liberal individual human rights including religious freedom, free speech & association, equality before the law, and property rights. Mr. Wilson is also the de facto Commissioner for sexual orientation, gender identity, and intersex issues. He previously worked at a free market public policy think tank, in consulting, international aid and development, as well as politics. He has served on the Board of Directors of Monash University and Alfred Health. In 2009, he was recognized by Australia’s national newspaper as one of the ten emerging leaders of Australian society.
Asmi Wood – Australia Senior Lecturer, College of Law, Australian National University
Dr. Asmi Wood served as Senior Research Fellow and manager of the NCIS Higher Degree by Research (HDR) program from early 2012 to the end of 2014. He has been an academic advisor to the Australian National University College of Law since 2002, and since January 2015 he has returned to the Australian National University College of Law as a Senior Lecturer. Before commencing work at the College, he worked in private practice and in government, both in Australia and overseas. He gained a Bachelor of Engineering/Science (BE) from The University of Melbourne and a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) with Honors from The Australian National University. He completed his PhD in 2011. His doctoral thesis is titled: The Regulation of the Use of Force by Non-State Actors Under International Law. He is also a practicing barrister and solicitor. In 2010 Dr. Wood received the Vice Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence from The Australian National University.
Anas Alabbadi – Austria Programmes Officer, KAICIID Dialogue Center
Anas Alabbadi is a Programmes Officer at KAICIID Dialogue Center. For more than 15 years, he has engaged in professional programmes in the area of peace and conflict resolution, interreligious and intercultural dialogue, and youth empowerment and participation. His experience includes the consultation, training, and facilitation of groups and people from diverse international and cultural backgrounds. Anas served as a Global Trustee with the United Religions Initiative and was actively involved with several others. He has conducted several trainings and programmes on Interfaith & Intercultural dialogue in many countries around the globe. At KAICIID, Anas manages programmes related to Training of Trainers, Youth, and the KAICIID International Fellows Programme. Anas graduated with a Master degree in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from the American University in Washington D.C. and currently lives in Vienna, Austria and Berlin, Germany.
Katerina Khareyn – Austria Youth Project Manager, KAICIID Dialogue Centre
Katerina Khareyn has 10 years of professional private sector experience of working in a multinational environment in the fields of project management and consulting. At KAICIID Dialogue Centre Katerina manages youth orientated projects, including Trialog promoting interfaith dialogue through sports, and runs educational workshops related to KAICIID’s exhibition on the history of interreligious dialogue. Katerina holds an MA in Literature and Linguistics from St. Petersburg State University and an MBA from California State University.
Marie-Claire Foblets – Belgium Director, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle; The Institute for Social Anthropology, Catholic University of Leuven
Marie-Claire Foblets, Lic. Iur., Lic. Phil., Ph.D. Anthrop. is a professor of Law at the Catholic Universit of Leuven in Belgium, and since 2012 also Director of the Department of Law & Anthropology at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle/Saale (Germany). She has held various visiting professorships both within and outside Europe. From September 2009 to November 2010 she was the co-chair of the Assises de l’ Interculturalité (The Round Tables on Interculturalism) in Belgium. Professor Foblets has conducted extensive research and published widely on issues of migration law, including the elaboration of European migration law after the Treaty of Amsterdam, citizenship/nationality laws, compulsory integration, anti-racism and non-discrimination. In the Field of anthropology of law, her research focuses on cultural diversity and legal practice, with a particular interest in the application of Islamic family law in Europe, and more recently in the accommodation of cultural and religious diversity under State law.
Elizabeta Kitanović – Belgium Executive Secretary for Human Rights, Conference of European Churches
Mag. Elizabeta Kitanović is Executive Secretary for Human Rights of the Conference of European Churches in Brussels, editor of the Human Rights Training Manual for European Churches, and editor and founder of the first European Churches Human Rights Library and the CSC Annual Report (2007-2014). In 2009-2010 she was a member of the Advisory Panel of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency and was again nominated for 2012-2014. Ms Kitanović completed her studies in Theology and post-graduate studies in International Affairs at the Political Science Faculty in Belgrade. She graduated from the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Serbian Government. She is completing her PhD.
Lejla Hasandedic – Bosnia and Herzegovina A Common Word Among the Youth
Lejla Hasandedic grew up during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. From an early age she became an activist and peace builder. She earned bachelor's and master's degress in psychology from the University of Sarajevo and is a psychotherapist. She is a member of Interreligious council in B&H, is co-founder of Youth For Peace, an NGO working on peacebuilding and reconciliation in the Balkans. She is also a trainer of non-violent communication and Learning to Live Together techniques developed by the Global Network of Religions for Children. She was United Religions Initiative (URI) Youth Ambassador and now is URI Europe Corporation Circles Liaison Officer helping to coordinate URI activities in Europe and trying to build network of interfaith and peace activists that will make positive changes in society. She currently lives in Antalya, Turkey, as lecturer in the Gerontology and Psychology departments at Akdeniz University.
Leonardo Lemos Quintão Barros – Brazil Member of the National Congress, Brazil
Leonardo Barros Lemos Quintão has a degree in economics and business administration from the University of Central Florida in Orlando (USA). His political career includes: (2001-2003) Alderman Belo Horizonte (MG); (2003-2007) Deputy in Minas Gerais State; (2007-2010) Congressman (Commissions: Human Rights and Minorities; Finance and Taxation; Financial Control and Surveillance; Mines and Energy; Roads and Transport; Economic and Financial Crisis - Financial System Market, Limit Personnel expenses; Public Debt; Values Tariffs Electricity Crisis and Air Traffic System); (2010 to present) Congressman. Leonardo remains a member of the Committee on Roads and Transportation, where he set up the Permanent Subcommittee on Highways and Transport. He is also a member of the Special Subcommittee on High Speed Rail; a member of the Committee on Mines and Energy, and started work on the Labor and Pension Committee. In 2011, he became a member of the Special Committee of Public Policies on Drugs, which helps in the preparation of the National Plan on Drugs of the Federal Government.
Moroni Torgan – Brazil Member of Congress, Brazil
Moroni Bing Torgan is a member of the Brazilian Congress representing the State of Ceará. In his first term as congressman, he authored the Investigation Parliamentary Commission proposal to fight drug trafficking resulting in the arrest of many drug trafficking gangs. Prior to entering politics, he was a federal police chief in Ceará State. He was appointed Secretary of Public Security for the state and later served as Vice-Governor. In 2009, he left public life to serve in various capacities for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including President of the Portugal Lisbon Mission and Area Authority Seventy. In 2014, he returned to Congress, where he currently serves as President of the Parliamentary Front for Religious Freedom, the President of the Sub Commission against Organized Crime in Brazil, and Minority Leader of the House.
James T. Christie – Canada Professor of Whole World Ecumenism and Dialogue Theology, University of Winnipeg
Dr. James Christie is Professor of Whole World Ecumenism and Dialogue Theology, former Dean of the Faculty of Theology, and Director of The Ridd Institute for Religion and Global Policy in the Global College of The University of Winnipeg. He has practiced congregational ministry in Montreal, New York State, Toronto and Ottawa. He served on the Emmanuel College Council in Toronto; developed and taught short courses for Queen's Theological College and the United Church of Canada in Faith, Culture and Politics. He was Theologian to the Justice Department of Canada Forum on Genetic Futures, and participated in the first Canadian Church Leaders’ Study Mission on HIV/AIDS to East Africa. He was a long-time director of both the Christian-Jewish Dialogue of Toronto and the Christian-Jewish Dialogue of the National Capital Region, and represented the Protestant world at the 49th World Eucharistic Congress of the Roman Catholic Church. He is Past President of the Canadian Council of Churches, and served as Secretary General of the 2010 Religious Leaders’ Summit, coinciding with the G8 political leaders’ summits. He is a member of the steering committee of the Interreligious Roundtable of Tony Blair’s Faith Foundation. A leader in the NGO movement for global democracy, UN reform and human rights, he chaired the Council of the World Federalist Movement/Institute for Global Policy (a 2002 Nobel Peace Prize nominee for leadership in the International Criminal Court Treaty).
Karen Hamilton – Canada Secretary General, Canadian Council of Churches
The Rev. Dr. Karen Hamilton has been the General Secretary of the CCC since 2002. She is an ordained minister in the United Church of Canada and holds a Doctor of Ministry (DMin) from Emmanuel College of Victoria University. Karen is committed to speaking about and working for ecumenism, inter-faith dialogue, the use of the Bible in the church, and local and global justice. She is the author of three books, including the 2009 Scripture Prize winner, The Acceptable Year of the Lord: Preaching the Old Testament with Faith, Finesse and Fervour (Novalis 2008).
Talia Pura – Canada Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan
Talia Pura has taught theatre at the University of Winnipeg and in the public school system, has been an adjudicator in Speech Arts and Drama Festivals throughout Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario, and has conducted drama workshops for teachers, actors, and community groups. She is author of Stages: Creative Ideas for Teaching Drama. She is coordinator of a Youth Mentorship Program in the Arts, though Arts and Cultural Industries Association of Manitoba. Funded by MB4Youth (Department of Children and Youth Opportunities, Manitoba Provincial Government), she provides support for programs offering youth aged 16 to 24 an opportunity to be mentored by a professional in a broad range of artistic disciplines. Talia is a past president of Manitoba Association of Playwrights, of the board of Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers, of the Manitoba Branch Council of Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists.
Jasmin Winter – Canada University of Winnipeg
Jasmin Winter was born on the West Coast in Vancouver, B.C., studied on the East Coast at McGill University, and is now meeting in the middle to pursue the University of Winnipeg’s MDP. Jasmin’s academic studies so far have been largely preoccupied by matters of sustainable socio-economic community development, and her current passion is directed towards exploring pathways to self-sufficiency within food and energy production. For the past three summers Jasmin has also worked as a program assistant for the organization Frontier College in the Cree community of Nemaska, Quebec.
Sarah Wood – Canada University of Winnipeg
Sarah Wood is from Barrie, Ontario and a member of Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation. She attended the University of Guelph, completing an undergraduate degree in International Development Studies with an emphasis in Gender and Development. During her time at Guelph, she also served as co-chair of the Aboriginal Student Association. Her development philosophy has been informed by her studies, as well as her own lived experience as an Indigenous person and focuses on local knowledge, anti-oppression, and the unique relationship Indigenous people have with settler colonies and their legacies. Her areas of academic interest include Indigenous feminism, Indigenous knowledge systems and education.
Ana Maria Célis – Chile Faculty of Law, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile; President, Latin American Consortium for Religious Freedom
Ana María Celis Brunet is Associate Professor and Director of the Canon Law Department in the Faculty of Law of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, where she teaches Canon Law and Law and Religion, as well as post graduate courses in different programs. She received her License and Doctoral degree in Canon Law at the Pontificia Università Gregoriana (Rome, Italy) with the dissertation "La relevancia canónica del matrimonio civil a la luz de la Teoría general del Acto jurídico, contribución teórica a la experiencia jurídica chilena". Professor Célis is Ecclesiastical lawyer before the Ecclesiastical Court of Santiago. She is the director of the Centro de Libertad Religiosa—Derecho UC, which began in 2005 as a center for studying Church-State matters and promoting religious freedom. In 2005, she was the secretary of the Consorcio Latinoamericano de Libertad Religiosa, until she was elected as its President in 2013. She is also Vice President of the International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies (ICLARS).
Nanlai Cao – China Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies, Renmin University of China
Dr. Nanlai Cao is associate professor in religious studies at Renmin University of China. He received a PhD in anthropology from The Australian National University. Dr. Cao is the author of Constructing China’s Jerusalem: Christians, Power, and Place in Contemporary Wenzhou (Stanford University Press 2011), and coeditor of Religion and Mobility in a Globalizing Asia: New Ethnographic Explorations (Routledge 2014)
Lin Li – China Director of Department of Islamic Studies, Institute of World Religions, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Dr. Lin Li is associate professor and director of the Department of Islamic Studies at the Institute of World Religions of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. His works include Islamic Law: A Hermeneutic Study, Islam: A Culture as Institutional Religion, The Immanence and Transcendence, Plurality and Unity of 'Faith': On the Religious Studies of Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Religious Studies in China during 1978-2008 (coauthor), The Religious Thoughts of 20th Century (coauthor), The Origin of the Monotheism: On the Divergence, Conflict and Dialogue among the Judaism, Christianity and Islam (unpublished paper). He is also the coeditor of Confluence of Civilization: Prospect of Dialogue between Christianity and Islam). He has published many articles, including "Rainbow in the Night: A Theoretical Reflection on Islamic Religious Pluralism" (in The Communion of Civilizations: The Dialogue between Christians and Muslims), and "The Key Ideas and Mainlines in the Contemporary Chinese Islamic Philosophy Studies" (Journal of World Religion’s Studies, 2011). His English lectures include "Sufism and Peace" International Conference, 2010, Islamabad; and "The History of Islam in China", Central National University, 2009, Beijing.
Dedong Wei – China Deputy Dean of School of Philosophy, Renmin University of China
Wei Dedong is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Renmin University of China, Beijing, specializing in Buddhist philosophy and empirical research on religion in China. He earned his BA in Philosophy from Nankai University, and his MA and Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies at Renmin University. He has published numerous articles in scholarly journals on Buddhism, sociology of religion, and philosophy of religion. He is the editor of The Chinese Journal of the Social Scientific Study of Religion.
Xiaoyun Zheng – China Deputy Director, Institute of World Religions, Chinese Academy of the Social Sciences
Zheng Xiaoyun is Professor, Institute of World Religions, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Other accomplishments include Deputy General-Secretary of the Center for Buddhist Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Editor in Chief of the Journal of World Religious Cultures; and Editor in Chief of the Annual Anthology of Religious Studies in China. Zheng Xiaoyun received her PhD from Fudan University, Shanghai in 1997. She was a visiting scholar in 2001-2002 at the Center for East Asia and Pacific Studies, University of Illinois at Champaign–Urbana, USA. She has published more than 90 articles, reports and three books. Her research interests are Southeast Asian Buddhism, Ethnic Group’s religion and religious charity.
Hany Abdulwahab Abdulmonem – Egypt Youth Programme Director, World Organization of the Scout Movement
Mr. Hany Abdulwahab Abdulmonem is the Youth Programme Director in the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM). He is an Egyptian living in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia since July 2014. His travels have enabled him to live in many cultures. In July 2004, he joined WOSM as a professional after a long Scout life as a volunteer. He worked at both the regional and the world level. Hany graduated as a Dentist in 2000, holds an MBA and is now finalizing his Masters of Education. He is the founder of a community development foundation in Cairo called "Wa’sareo". Hany’s passion is to educate young people non-formally to be active citizens in their communities.
Upolu Luma Vaai – Fiji Senior Lecturer and Department Head, Department of Theology and Ethics, Pacific Theological College
Rev. Dr. Vaai serves as Senior Lecturer and Head of Department of Theology and Ethics. Prior to this position, Dr. Vaai taught theology at Piula Theological College in 2001 and from 2008-2013. He was also the chaplain of that college from 2010-2013. He has previously worked as a board director to the Samoan government. He has been an ordained minister of the Methodist Church in Samoa since 1999.
H.E. Emmanuel Adamakis – France His Eminence, Metropolitan Emmanuel of France
His Eminence, Metropolitan Emmanuel (Adamakis) of France studied Philosophy at the Institut Catholique de Paris, and Theology at the Orthodox Institute of Theology of Saint Serge, as well as courses at the École Pratique des Hautes-Études, and at the Institut Supérieur d’Études Œcuméniques de l’I.C.P. He obtained his Diplôme d’Études Approfondies (DEA) from the University of Sorbonne in Paris, and a Master of Theology (THM) from the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in the United States. He was ordained deacon and priest in 1985. He served concurrently as Chancellor of the Orthodox Metropolis of Belgium, and as Dean of the Church of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel in Brussels. He was appointed Representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to the Church and Society Commission of the Conference of the European Churches (CEC), and in 1995, Director of the Liaison Office of the Orthodox Church to the European Union,a role he still fulfills today. In 1996, he was elected Auxiliary Bishop to the Metropolis of Benelux, under the title of Bishop of Reghion. In 2001, the Ecumenical Patriarchate entrusted him with responsibilities for the International Interreligious Dialogue with the Monotheistic Religions, and in 2003, elected him Metropolitan of the Holy Metropolis of France. Metropolitan Emmanuel is the President of the Assembly of Orthodox Bishops of France, co-president of the Council of Christian Churches of France, as well as co- president of the World Conference of Religions for Peace (WCRP). He has been a Member of the Central Committee of CEC since 2003. Metropolitan Emmanuel has been named "Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur" in France, among other Church and State distinctions.
Blandine Chelini-Pont – France Professor in History, Law, and Religion, Aix-Marseille University
Blandine Chelini-Pont is a professor in History, Law and Religion at Aix-Marseille Université. Prior to that, she was an assistant professor in History, Law, and Religion at the Université Paul Cézanne. She is an associate member of GSRL-École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris. She also serves as a regional delegate of French Institut des Amériques (IDA), and of the Institut Européen en Sciences des Religions (IESR). She obtained a PhD in International Relations Contemporary-History from Scienc Po Paris. She is the author of The Catholic Right in the US: The Cold War to the 2000’s (2013), co- author with Rim Gtari of The Equality of Women in Tunisia: History and Uncertainty of a Legal Revolution (2015), co-author with T. Jeremy Gunn of God in France and the United States: When the Myths are Law (2005), and co-author with Jean Chelini of History of the Church: Our Roots to Understand Our Present (1993). She has many publications to her credit including editing The Directory of Law and Religion, Volume 7 (2014), contributing to Law and Architecture (BEACH, 2014), to Religion and the Secular State: National Reports (2015), and to Religious Freedom and Social Cohesion: The French Diversity (2015).
Mohamad Hammour – France Chairman, Guidance Financial Group
Dr Mohamad Hammour is Chairman of Guidance Financial Group and a Managing Director of Capital Guidance where he has been an executive over the past 22 years. Since founding Guidance Financial Group in the year 2000, Dr Hammour has led the development and execution of the company’s strategy, has overseen the growth of its organization and international expansion, and has established key strategic partnerships that form the foundation of some of the company’s main business lines. Dr Hammour is an accomplished economist, having served as: a member of the economics faculty at Columbia University and of the visiting faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; a Director of Research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in France; a Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research in the United Kingdom; and a consultant to the World Bank. His research has been published in leading scholarly journals of economics. Dr Hammour holds a BA in Philosophy and an MS in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University and a PhD in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Stephanos Stavros – France Executive Secretary, European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance of the Council of Europe
Stephanos Stavros is a human-rights lawyer with extensive experience in international courts and independent monitoring bodies. His academic interests range from criminal law to freedom of religion and expression and minority and aliens' rights. He has worked for the Council of Europe (the European Commission and Court of Human Rights, the legal department and central administration), the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs (dealing with EU legal issues) and the Greek Council for Refugees. He has a PhD in law from London University and an MBA. Currently he is the Executive Secretary to the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI).
Heiner Bielefeldt – Germany United Nations Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Religion or Belief
Professor Heiner Bielefeldt was appointed as United Nations Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Religion or Belief on 18 June 2010. Holding both a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Tübingen and a post-doctoral Habilitation Degree in Philosophy from the University of Bremen, following upon undergraduate studies in Philosophy and Catholic Theology at both institutions, Professor Bielefeldt teaches in the areas of political science, philosophy, law, and history. He has taught in faculties of law and philosophy at the universities of Tübingen, Mannheim, Heidelberg, Toronto, and Bielefeldt. From 2003-2009 he served as Director of the German Institute for Human Rights, and during 2008-2009 he was Chair of the Subcommittee on Accreditation of National Human Rights Institutions, International Coordinating Committee, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. In 2009, he was appointed professor in the newly created Chair of Human Rights and Human Rights Policy at the University of Erlangen, which position he held at the time of his appointment as Special Rapporteur.
Dia Anagnostou – Greece Assistant Professor of Politics, Panteion University; Senior Fellow ELIAMEP
Dia Anagnostou is Assistant Professor of Politics at Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences in Athens, and Senior Research Fellow at Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP). She earned a PhD from Cornell University with a concentration in comparative politics. She has held research positions at Princeton University, the Robert Schuman Centre at the European University Institute in Florence, and in the European University Institute (Law Dept. as Fernand Braudel Fellow). She was Lecturer of Politics in the Department of Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies in Macedonia University of Thessaloniki and Marie Curie Research Fellow at the Department of Law of the European University Institute in Florence. Her research interests lie in the fields of comparative politics of Southeast Europe and European integration, and she has published on the topics of ethnic politics, nationalism, and minorities. She co-edited The European Court of Human Rights and the Rights of Marginalised Individuals and Minorities in National Context (2009), is editor and co-author of The European Court of Human Rights: Implementing the Strasbourg’s Judgments into Domestic Policy (2013), and editor of Rights in Pursuit of Social Change: Legal Mobilisation in the Multi-Level European System and on a monograph on the role of activism and civil society in the European Court of Human Rights (2014).
Effie Fokas – Greece Research Fellow, ELIAMEP; Research Associate, Hellenic Observatory, London School of Economics
Effie Fokas is a Research Fellow at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), where she leads the European Research Council-funded research program on "Directions in Religious Pluralism in Europe: Examining Grassroots Mobilizations in the Shadow of the European Court of Human Rights' Religious Freedom Jurisprudence" (Grassrootsmobilise). She recently completed a European Commission-funded study of "Pluralism and Religious Freedom in Orthodox Countries in Europe" (PLUREL). Fokas was founding Director of the London School of Economics Forum on Religion and is currently Research Associate of the LSE Hellenic Observatory. Her publications include Islam in Europe: Diversity, Identity and Influence, co-edited with Aziz Al-Azmeh, and Religious America, Secular Europe?, co-authored with Peter Berger and Grace Davie. She holds a BA, Furman University, USA; MSc European Politics, LSE) and she holds a PhD in political sociology from the London School of Economics (LSE). She was founding Director of the LSE on Religion and is currently Research Associate of the LSE Hellenic Observatory, where she was founding Director of the LSE Forum on Religion (2008-2012), A. C. Laskaridis Fellow at the Hellenic Observatory (2007- 8), and co-taught on the MSc in Theories of Nationalism in the Government Department (2005-7).
Alberta Giorgi – Greece Research Fellow, ELIAMEP
Alberta Giorgi is a Research Fellow at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), where she is a member of the research program Grassrootsmobilise. Since completeing her PhD at the Graduate School in Social, Economic and Political Sciences (University of Milan) she has held research positions at University of Milan-Bicocca and the Centro de Estudos Sociais (CES, Coimbra) and was adjunct professor of Methods of Political Research at the Department of Sociology and Social Research at the University of Trento. She is a member of the research groups POLICREDOS (CES Coimbra), Polislombardia and Sui Generis (University of Milan-Bicocca), and she is associated post-doc at the Groupe Societés, Religions, Laïcités (GSRL – CNRS-EPHE, Paris). She co-chairs the Italian Society of Political Science (SISP) standing group 'Religion and Politics', and she is a member of the ECPR standing group 'Religion and Politics' and SISP standing group 'Participation and Social Movements'. Among her recent publications are 'The Debate on the Crucifix in Public Spaces in Twenty-First Century Italy', Mediterranean Politics (2013), with L. Ozzano; European Culture Wars and the Italian Case: Which side are you on?, with L. Ozzano (2015).
Yannis Ktistakis – Greece Professor of Public International Law, Demokritus University of Thrace, and Faculty of Political Science and International Relations, Boğaziçi University
Yannis Ktistakis is Professor of Public International Law, Demokritus University of Thrace, and Faculty of Political Science and International Relations, Boğaziçi University. He holds the title of Supreme Court Attorney at Law. He practices in the areas of public (international and domestic) law and human rights. He has defended successfully 47 cases before the European Court of Human Rights (Chamber and Grand Chamber). Since 2009 he is the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s legal advisor. He studied law at the University of Thrace, and continued his postgraduate studies at the University of Strasbourg-Robert Schumann, and at the European Academy of Theory of Law in Brussels in the field of International Law, Political Science and Theory of Law. In 2006 he was elected Lecturer of Public International Law at the Law Faculty of Thrace University. He teaches human rights in the Political Science’s Faculty of Athens University. In the academic year 2008-2009 he has taught the law of international organizations in the Political Science’s Faculty of the University of Bogazici (Istanbul). He has published books, articles and comments of jurisprudence in Greek, English, and French.
Nikos Maghioros – Greece Assistant Professor of Canon and Ecclesiastical Law, Faculty of Theology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Nikos Maghioros is an Assistant Professor of Canon and Ecclesiastical Law in the Faculty of Theology of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He studied at Aristotle University and at Pontifical Lateran University. He teaches Orthodox Canon and Ecclesiastical Law, Sources of Canon Law, Comparative Canon Law, Church and State relations in Greece and in the European Union. He works for the ecumenical movement and for interfaith communication. Professor Maghioros has organized and participated in various conferences related to inter Christian dialogue, and on the relations between Religion and State. He is ECTS Coordinator of the Department of Theology and a member of the Commission on European Projects of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
Margarita Markoviti – Greece Research Fellow, Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP)
Margarita Markoviti is a Research Fellow at ELIAMEP, where she is a member of the Grassrootsmobilise research program. She completed her PhD in European Studies at the London School of Economics and holds a BA in History from King’s College, University of London, a Master en Affaires Européennes from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques, Sciences Po, Paris and an MSc in European Studies Ideas and Identities from the LSE. She has taught European studies and comparative politics and institutions at the Government Department of the LSE. Her research interests include religion and national identity, education policies and European integration, religious freedoms and social cohesion in light of religious pluralism. For the purposes of her dissertation, entitled "Education and the Europeanization of Religious Freedoms: France and Greece in Comparative Perspective", she has conducted extensive research and fieldwork in the fields of religious freedoms and education across Europe.
Alexia Mitsikostas – Greece Junior Fellow and Programme Manager, ELIAMEP
Alexia Mitsikostas graduated from University College London (UCL) with a BA in History and French and then continued her studies at UCL to obtain an MA in Human Rights. She currently works at ELIAMEP as Programme Manager for the research programme 'GRASSROOTSMOBILISE: Directions in Religious Pluralism in Europe – Examining Grassroots Mobilisations in the Shadow of European Court of Human Rights Religious Freedom Jurisprudence'.
Ceren Ozgul – Greece Research Fellow, ELIAMEP
Ceren Ozgul was the 2013-14 Manoogian Simone Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is a legal and cultural anthropologist who received her PhD in Cultural Anthropology from the Graduate Center, CUNY, in May 2013. Her dissertation, ‘From Muslim Citizen to Christian Minority: Tolerance, Secularism, and Armenian Return Conversions in Turkey’, analyses the return conversions of forcibly Islamized Armenians in modern Turkey back to Armenian Christianity. The dissertation also presents a framework for examining how religious minorities, political agency, legal responsibility, and conditions of belief are produced through the legal and cultural codification of religious tolerance in Turkey. Her research was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Wenner-Gren Foundation, Mellon/American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) and the Andrew Silk Dissertation Award. Ceren is a Research Fellow at ELIAMEP, where she is a member of the Grassrootsmobilise research program.
Mihai Popa – Greece Research Fellow, ELIAMEP
Mihai Popa is a Research Fellow at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), where he is a member of the research program on "Directions in Religious Pluralism in Europe: Examining Grassroots Mobilizations in the Shadow of the European Court of Human Rights' Religious Freedom Jurisprudence" (Grassrootsmobilise). His research interests include the anthropological analysis of social security, migration and transnational social networks, state bureaucracy, the relation between legal norms and social action, religion and the ethics of everyday life. He has studied sociology (BA) and social anthropology (MA) at the National School of Political Studies and Public Administration in Bucharest and is since 2009 a doctoral student at Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology and Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, where he has taught seminars in social anthropology at undergraduate level. His doctoral project has focused on the analysis of social security mechanisms among Old Believers living in Northern Dobruja, Romania, examining how the inhabitants of one village combine kinship, religion, and state policy in the everyday provision of material support for the needy, and of care for the ill and the elderly.
Sayyid Ibrahimul Bukhari – India Founder & Chairman, Ma'din Academy
Sheik Sayyid Ibrahimul Khalilul Bukhari was born in Kadalundi, a village in Calicut district, Kerala, India. He was educated by his parents, especially his father, Sayyid Ahmed Bukhari, spiritual guide of that region. Under the guidance of Beeran Koya Musliyar, he pursued his higher education and graduated with second rank in Islamic Theology (MFB) from Baqiyahu Ssalihath, Velloor in Tamil Nadu, India. Soon after completing his education, he established Ma’din Academy (Ma'dinu Ssaquafathil Islamiyya) at Swalath Nagar in Malappuram. Under his supervision and spiritual shadow, 15,000 students are educated in 26 institutions ranging from primary to post graduate level. Sayyid Ibrahimul Khaleelul Bukhari is one of India's most recognized Muslim personalities. He has traveled the world, lectured to thousands, and composed a number of works spanning Islamic thought and contemporary issues. He is the guardian of orphans, deaf and dumb, blind and mentally challenged children. Hundreds of thousands of people from different parts of the world gather at annual prayer congregation held under his leadership at Swalath Nagar every month especially on the 26th night of Holy month Ramadan.
Tahir Mahmood – India Founder and Honorary Chairman, Amity Institute of Advanced Legal Studies; Past Member, Law Commission of India
Dr. Tahir Mahmood is a renowned jurist specializing in Islamic Law, Hindu Law, Religion and Law and Law Relating to Minorities. He was Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Delhi; Chairman, National Commission for Minorities; Member, National Human Rights Commission; and Jurist-Member, Ranganath Misra Commission. Dr. Mahmood is an authority on Minority Rights, Islamic Law, Legal Systems of the Arab World, and Hindu Law, subjects on which he has written and edited over two dozen books and 500 research papers. His academic work on is widely acclaimed and has been cited by the Supreme Court of India and many State High Courts in more than 50 judgments besides being prescribed by many Indian and foreign universities for higher legal studies. He was the first Muslim to be named to the Law Commission of India, serving as the only permanent member of the Eighteenth Commission. He received the Distinguished Service Award from the International Center for Law and Religion Studies and the 7th prestigious "Shah Waliullah Award" from the Institute for Objective Studies, for outstanding contribution in the field of Islamic law. As a family law expert, he advised the International Commission of Jurists and many foreign governments.
Umer Melmuri – India Director, International Interfaith Harmony Initiative & Ma'din Academia for Research and International Studies
As the director of Ma'din Academia for Research and International Studies, Kerala, India, Mr. Umer Melmuri plays an active role in various interfaith and inter-religious projects, such as the International Interfaith Harmony Initiative. He coordinates events such as International Interfaith Harmony Conferences and Awards, jointly organized with the Prime Minister Department of Malaysia; Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development, UAE; International Islamic University Malaysia; Ma'din Academy, India as part of Interfaith Harmony Week initiative of United Nations. He has represented Ma'din Academy and presented research papers in interfaith conferences in Germany, Vatican, Malaysia, Australia, and GCC countries. He is the communication director of the Annual Ramzan Congregation, the world’s third-largest Muslim conference in the Holy Month of Ramzan, after Makkah and Madina. The main highlight of the conference is the 'Pledge Against Terrorism and Extremism' organized by Ma'din Academy every year in Kerala. As a writer Mr. Melmuri has covered international conferences for international media and coordinated the Knowledge Hunt programme on various continents to promote mutual understanding among different groups.
Faizan Mustafa – India Vice-Chancellor, NALSAR University of Law
Prof. Dr. Faizan Mustafa is the Vice-Chancellor of NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad. He was the founder Vice-Chancellor of National Law University, Orissa. He has served as Dean, Faculty of Law, Aligarh Muslim University and Registrar of AMU. He is a gold medalist LLM from Aligarh Muslim University. He completed his PhD in Copyright Law. He also has a diploma in International and Comparative Human Rights from International Institute of Human Rights, Strasbourg, France. He has authored several books and some 100 national and international papers. He has worked in unexplored areas such as Religious Conversion Laws, Strict Liability Law, and Freedom of Information Law.
Abbas Panakkal – India Director of International relations at Ma’din Academy
Dr. Abbas Panakkal is the director of International relations at Ma’din Academy Malappuram, Kerala, India. Dr. Panakkal holds a PhD on “Moderate Society of Malabar” awarded by the International Islamic University Malaysia, and a masters in communication and journalism and English language and literature from Indian universities.
Leonard Hammer – Israel Rothberg International School, Hebrew University, Jerusalem Andrea and David Stein Visiting Chair in Modern Israel Studies, University of Arizona
Leonard Hammer lectures in international law and international human rights at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and the University of Arizona, where he has been the David and Andrea Stein Visiting Professor of Modern Israel Studies. He has conducted joint research into the legal, social, and political aspects of holy places together with Professor Marshal Breger from the Columbus School of Law, Catholic University of America. He is an adjunct professor at The Hebrew University’s Rothberg School, serves as the Academic Director to Shurat HaDin, and works as an International Expert for the Open Society Institute. Hammer’s research focuses on international law and human rights. He has received more than a dozen research grants and is widely published. His most recent publication is Sacred Space in Israel and Palestine: Religion and Politics, a co-edited with Marshall J. Breger and Yitzhak Reiter, 2010. He received a PhD at University of London - SOAS; LLM in Public International Law at New York University; JD Georgetown at University Law Center; BA magna cum laude Yeshiva University.
Asher Maoz – Israel Dean, Peres Academic Center Law School
Professor Asher Maoz is the Founding Dean of the Peres Academic Center Law School. He was for many years on the Faculty of Law at Tel-Aviv University, where he taught Constitutional Law, State and Religion, Freedom of Speech, Family Law, and Succession Law. Professor Maoz holds the degrees LLB and LLM, both summa cum laude (Hebrew University), M Comp L (University of Chicago), JSD (Tel-Aviv University) and Doctor Honoris Causa (Ovidius University, Romania). He is the founding Editor-i- -Chief of Law, Society and Culture; a former editor of the Tel-Aviv University Law Review; a member of the Scientific Board, Review Dionysina; a member of the Academic Council of The International Academy for Jewish Leadership; and a member of the Academic Council, Shalem College, Jerusalem. Maoz was Chair of the Law Commission for Journalists’ Privileges; served as academic advisor to the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee on adopting a constitution for the State of Israel; and serves with many other organizations. He has taught at several universities in the United States, Europe, and Australia, and is the author of numerous publications on the intersections of law and religion. He is a member of the Steering Committee of the International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies (ICLARS).
Pasquale Annicchino – Italy Research Fellow, ELIAMEP, Research Fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies
Pasquale Annicchino is Research Fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies and a member of the EUI Ethics Committee. His main interests include Legal Theory, Law and Religion, EU Law, Religion and Politics. He has been Adjunct Professor of Law at BYU Law School (USA) and Visiting Professor at the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium). He received his PhD in Law from the University of Siena where he graduated in law summa cum laude. He studied as an Erasmus student at the School of Law of Charles IV University in Prague (Czech Republic), at the European Academy of Legal Theory in Brussels (Belgium), and at University College London. He was Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Law and Religion of the Emory University Law School in Atlanta (USA). He serves as book review editor for Religion and Human Rights: an International Journal and is a member of the editorial board of Quaderni di Diritto e Politica Ecclesiastica. He is the author of a book on international religious freedom published by Il Mulino, Bologna in 2015. His articles have appeared in the First Amendment Law Review, European Public Law, Ecclesiastical Law Journal, and George Washington International Law Review.
Pasquale Ferrara – Italy Secretary General, European University Institute
Pasquale Ferrara is the Secretary General of the European University Institute. He joined the Italian Foreign Office in 1984 and has spent much of his career in Italy and abroad, including postings in Chile and the United States. Positions in Europe include Brussels where he was involved, among other things, in the launching of the European Convention. Over and above his diplomatic duties, he continues to carry out research into the theory of international relations, and has published numerous articles in specialized journals, as well as writing several volumes on international relations and political theory. At the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs he was Head of the Press Office and Spokesman for the Minister, and subsequently Director of the Analysis and Planning Unit of the Ministry.
Alberto Quattrucci – Italy Secretary General of Peoples and Religions, Sant’Egidio Community, Italy
Alberto Quattrucci studied Pedagogy at the Faculty of Magistero in Rome and Theology at the Gregoriana Pontifical University (specializing in Holy Scripture). In 1976, he was awarded "Educator of Special Communities". He has been actively engaged in several social and cultural fields, as History of Religions and Interfaith Dialogue. For many years, he has been involved as a member of the Community of Sant’Egidio in Rome. The Community of Sant’Egidio is recognized as an International Public Lay Association of the Catholic Church by the Pontifical Council for Laity since 1986. He was ordered as Permanent Deacon in 1988, and, since the same year, has been Secretary General of International Meetings Peoples and Religions, an association founded by the Community of Sant’Egidio to promote mutual knowledge and dialogue among Religions.
Marco Ventura – Italy Professor of Law and Religion, University of Siena
Marco Ventura is a professor of law and religion in the Law Department of the University of Siena (Italy). After a PhD at the University of Strasbourg, he visited the universities of London (UCL), Oxford, Strasbourg, Brussels (ULB), the Indian Law Institute in Delhi, the University of Cape Town, and Al Akhawayn University in Morocco. From 2012 to 2015 he was a professor at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. His last book is From Your Gods to Our Gods. A History of Religion in British, Indian and South African Courts. From 2013 to 2015 he visited Vietnam as an expert in the dialogue between the European Union and the Vietnamese Committee on Religious Affairs.
Yoshinobu Miyake – Japan Superior General, Konko Church of Izuo
Rt. Rev. Yoshinobu Miyake, born into a well-known family of Shinto priests in the broad church of Konko-kyo, a reformed Shinto movement, is today Director-General of the Konko Church of Izuo, in Osaka. He studied at Doshisha University in Kyoto and at Harvard, and publishes frequently on Shinto history. For the past 30 years he has been active worldwide in the interfaith field. In 1997 he established RELNET Corporation, whose website publishes widely on religion-related matters in Japanese. Most recently he served as General Secretary of the G8 Religious Leaders Summit (2008).
Yertas Muratbekov – Kazakhstan Director, International Centre of Cultures and Religions
Dr. Yertas Muratbekov is Director of the International Centre of Cultures and Religions of the Committee for Religious Issues of the Ministry of Culture and Sports of Kazakhstan. He holds the degree of Candidate of Juridical Science.
Roman Podoprigora – Kazakhstan Professor of Law, Caspian University, Kazakhstan
Roman Podoprigora is Professor of Law at Caspian Public University (Almaty, Kazakhstan). He has consulted with the Supreme Court and the Ministry of Justice of Kazakhstan and served on the Advisory Council of the OSCE Panel of Experts on Freedom of Religion. He has authored many publications on religious freedom and state-church relations in Kazakhstan and Central Asia including State and Religious Associations: Administrative Law Issues (2002), "Freedom of Religion and Belief and Discretionary State Approval of Religious Activity" in Facilitating Freedom of Religion or Belief: A Deskbook (2004), State and Religious Associations in Central Asia: Constitutional and Administrative Law Approaches (2005), "Kazakhstan" in Encyclopedia of World Constitutions (2007), Commentary to Law on Religious Associations and Religious Activity (2013), and "Religious education in Kazakhstan in The Routledge International Handbook of Religious Education (2013).
Galym Nurmagambetovich Shoikin – Kazakhstan Chairman, Committee for Religious Affairs, Ministry of Culture and Sport, Republic of Kazakhstan
Mr. Shoikin graduated from Eurasian National University and completed post- graduate work at the Institute of Philosophy and Political Science, Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan. He has been a Lecturer of Political Science and International Relations Department of the Eurasian National University; a Chief Specialist and a head of Youth Policy Division of Internal Policy Department of the Ministry of Culture, Information and Public Accord of the Republic of Kazakhstan. He’s also had the roles of Chief Expert and then head of of Policy Planning Sector of Socio-Political Department of the Administration of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In 2009 he became the First Deputy Chairman of Akmola regional branch PDP “Nur Otan”. Then in 2012 he took the position of Deputy Chairman of Agency for Religious Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan. He is the author of 4 monographs and more than 50 scientific publications on actual problems of domestic policy.
Indira Aslanova – Kyrgyzstan Head, Analytical Department, Center of Religious, Studies, Russian Slavic University, Kyrgyz Republic
Dr. Indira Aslanova is an Assistant professor at the Religious Studies Department, Kyrgyz Russian Slavic University, Kyrgyzstan. She graduated from the same university and during her graduate study spent one year in Egypt. Her current PhD research is related to inter-religious dialogue between religious majority and minorities. She is also interested in Muslim identity in Kyrgyzstan. Indira was selected by the Study of the United States Institute on Religious Pluralism in the United States in 2010. She is a member of the Public Supervisory Council under the State Committee of Religious Affairs and a coordinator of the research and analysis department in the Research Centre of Religious Studies which is a nongovernmental organization and focused on developing religious studies in Kyrgyzstan as well as on promoting religious and ethnical tolerance in the society through education.
Zakir Chotaev – Kyrgyzstan Deputy Director, State Commission on Religious Affairs, Kyrgyz Republic
Zakir Chotaev is Deputy Director of the State Agency for Religious Affairs. He was a Senior Lecturer, the International University of Kyrgyzstan, and a Senior Lecturer, Kyrgyz-Turkish Manas University, Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyz-Turkish Manas University. He was a visiting scholar for the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies, Elliott School of International Affairs at Georgetown University.
Dmitry Kabak – Kyrgyzstan President, Open Viewpoint (Human Rights, Freedom of Religion); Member, OSCE/ODIHR Advisory Council on Freedom of Religion or Belief
Dmitry Kabak is a human rights defender and president of the Open Viewpoint Foundation, which is one of the organizations comprising the Human Rights Defenders Council of Kyrgyzstan. He has worked extensively on freedom of religion or belief issues as a member of the ODIHR Advisory Panel of Experts on Freedom of Religion or Belief.
Bachir Soualhi – Malaysia Director, International Promotion & Scholarships, IIUM Gombak Campus
Dr. Bachir Soualhi is Assistant Professor and Director/Special Officer, International Promotion & Scholarships, Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) Gombak Campus. Previously, he worked with Qatar Red Crescent and was a Marketing Consultant with Pacific Interlink Sdn Bhd, Malaysia. Dr. Bachir is originally from Algeria. He earned a PhD in Islamic Law at IIUM.
Jeroen Temperman – Netherlands Associate Professor of Public International Law, Erasmus University Rotterdam
Jeroen Temperman is an Associate Professor of Public International Law at the Department of International Law of Erasmus University Rotterdam. His research is focused on freedom of religion or belief, freedom of expression and extreme speech (particularly religious hate speech), religion-state relationships, and issues of discrimination on religious grounds. Previously, he worked as assistant professor of public international law at the University of Amsterdam; he has been a research fellow at the Irish Centre for Human Rights (National University of Ireland, Galway); and prior to that, he worked as a trainee with the human rights department of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London, UK, on issues of religious freedom. He was awarded a EUR-fellowship in 2010 for his project: "The prohibition of advocacy of religious hatred in international and domestic law" and was a Fulbright Scholar, visiting at Washington College of Law, American University, Washington, D.C. in 2014-15. He is Editor-in-Chief of Religion and Human Rights, an international law journal. Cambridge University Press is publishing his book on the prohibition of advocacy of religious hatred in domestic and international law.
Paul Morris – New Zealand UNESCO Chair in Inter-Religious Understanding and Relations, Victoria University of Wellington
Professor Paul Morris is UNESCO Chair in Inter-Religious Understanding and Relations, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. He is a specialist scholar in the field of contemporary world religions. He teaches courses on the world’s religions after 9/11, on Judaism, including the Holocaust, diaspora and the state of Israel, and on Hebrew language. He is also known for his work on the relationship between religion and dying/death, and religion and personal and cultural identity. Professor Morris also teaches on theories and methods in the study of religion.
Lena Larsen – Norway Executive Director, Oslo Coalition on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, University of Oslo
Dr. Lena Larsen is the project director of the Oslo Coalition on Freedom of Religion or Belief at the University of Oslo. She received her doctorate in 2011 from the University of Oslo. Her research interests include Islam in Europe, Islamic jurisprudence with a focus on fatwas, Islam and gender, and freedom of religion or belief. She is fluent in English and Arabic with some competency in Spanish and French. Dr. Larsen has numerous publications to her credit.
Asad Zaman – Pakistan Vice Chancellor, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics
Dr. Asad Zaman is Vice Chancellor of the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics. After finishing high school in Karachi in 1971, he left home & family for MIT in Boston at the age of 16. He finished his BS in Math in 1974. He then completed his Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University in 1977, picking up a Masters in Statistics along the way. Like most of his fellow graduate students, he was an idealist and wanted to use economics to change the world for the better. However, with his fellow classmates, his Ph.D. training turned him into a materialist, valuing careers and professions over social relations. Only much later, with a lot of guidance and life experience was he able to unlearn this lesson. He did a post-Doctoral year at the Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE), at the Universite Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium from 1977-78. Economic theories say that the value of our labor depends on how the market prices the product. The vaunted European culture, sophistication, savoir-faire and savoir-vivre did not suffice to teach him that this is wrong: it was only much later that he learned the value of human lives.
Liviu Andreescu – Romania Associate Professor, Faculty of Administration and Business, University of Bucharest
Dr. Liviu Andreescu is an associate professor with the Faculty of Administration and Business at the University of Bucharest, where he teaches public policy. He previously taught at Spiru Haret University.He holds a PhD in political science (from the National School of Political Studies and Administration in Bucharest) and an MA in American Studies (University of Bucharest). He is a member of the (Grassrootsmobilise) research program with ELIAMEP. He works with the Executive Agency for the Funding of Higher Education, Research and Development, and Innovation (UEFISCDI) as an expert on higher education and research policy. In 2005-06 he was a Fulbright scholar at Baylor University (Waco,TX), where he studied academic freedom in religiously affiliated universities. He has published widely on church-state relations, higher education and research policy, and cultural studies, often at the intersection of these fields. He co-authored several articles on the two Lautsi judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. He has been involved in and facilitated future- oriented foresight and strategic planning exercises. The latter includes the design of Romania’s national strategy for RDI in 2014-2020.
Elena Nechiporova – Russia Attorney at Law, Moscow
Elena Nechiporova has worked as Public Affairs Director in the Europe East Area for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 2002. This Area covers all but one republic of the former Soviet Union, plus Bulgaria and Turkey, for a total of sixteen countries. Elena’s main emphasis is on government relations. She initiated the Local Religious and Family Conferences projects in Russia. These conferences provide opportunities for academics, opinion makers, officials, and members of the media from around the country to join together in promoting shared values. Similar conferences have been held in Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia, and future plans include Armenia and Turkey. Elena began her career in a private legal practice, providing assistance to various foreign companies. She holds three degrees: History (minor in English) from Magadan State University, Diploma with Honors; Law, with a degree in Civil Law from Moscow State Academy of Law; Ph.D. in Philosophy from Rostov State University.
Lev Simkin – Russia Professor, Russian State Academy of Intellectual Property
Dr. Lev Simkin is a professor at the Russian State Institute of Intellectual Property in Moscow, Russia. He received a doctorate of juridical sciences from Moscow State University and a PhD from the Soviet Union Institute of Soviet Legislation. For his Diane and Howard Wohl Fellowship, he is conducting research for his project “Collaborators: Soviet Trials of Accomplices in the Killings of Jews.” Dr. Simkin has held a number of public and academic posts in Russia. He worked for the Ministry of Justice and is a member of several committees, including the Intellectual Property Committee of the Russian Chamber of Commerce, the Expert Council of the Culture Committee of the Russian State Duma, and the Arbitration Court of the Russian Chamber of Commerce. Awarded the title of Honorable Advocate of Russia, he received the Federal Bar Association Medal for distinguished human rights service, the Russian Internet Award in the Intellectual Property Protection category, and the Award for Expert Assistance and Personal Contribution to the Campaign for Public Legal Education in Russian Mass Media from the Russian Fund of Legal Reforms. In 2009 he was the Galina Starovoitova Fellow on Human Rights and Conflict Resolution at the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute.
Anita Soboleva – Russia Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Department of Theory and History of Law, National Research University Higher School of Economics
Dr. Anita Soboleva was a member of the President's Human Rights Council Lawyers for Constitutional Rights and Freedoms (JURIX) from 2003-2015 and of the Open Society Institute, Russia from1998-2003. She was Law Program Director at Moscow Science Foundation from 1996-1997. She’s been a member of the bar since 2002. She studied at Moscow State University and then studied law at All-Soviet Union Distance-Learning Law Institute. She received an LLM from Central European University. Her thesis for that program was "Arguments in parliamentary debates on separation of powers in the US Congress and the Congress of Peoples' Deputies of RSFSR". She also earned a PhD in Language Theory from Lomonosov Moscow State University where her thesis was on "Topoi and Arguments in Judicial Texts: analysis of the judicial decisions of the Russian and German Constitutional Courts and the U.S. Supreme Court".
Pieter Coertzen – South Africa Professor (retired), Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University
Retired professor of Theology at the University of Stellenbosch, Professor Coertzen still teaches a course in Comparative Canon Law at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven every year. He is chairperson of the Unit for the Study of Law and Religion in the Beyers Naudé Centre for Public Theology, Faculty of Theology, University of Stellenbosch and President of the African Consortium for Law and Religion Studies (ACLARS). He holds seven degrees: BA, BA Hons, and MA in Philosophy (Pothefstroom University for Christian Higher Education); Bachelor of Theology, Licentiate in Theology, and Master of Theology in Ecclesiology, and doctorate degree in Theology (Ecclesiology) (University of Stellenbosch). For the Dutch Reformed Church he has served in many capacities, including Parish Minister, Actuarius, and Church Law Committees. He was Senior Lecturer in Ecclesiology, professor, and Dean of the Faculty of Theology (University of Stellenbosch). He has published 36 articles in NGTT (Nederduitse Gereformeerde Teologiese Tydskrif, of which he has been editor for many years), has written 14 books and is co-author or editor of more than 30 other publications. Among many honors and activities: Chairman of the Huguenot Memorial Museum in Franschhoek.
Javier Martínez-Torrón – Spain Professor of Law and Director of the Department of Law and Religion, Complutense University
Javier Martínez-Torrón is Professor of Law and Director of the Department of Law and Religion, Complutense University (Madrid, Spain) and Vice-President of the Section of Canon Law and Church-State Relations of the Spanish Royal Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation. He is Honorary Foreign Member of the National Academy of Law and Social Sciences of Cordoba, Argentina; a former member of the OSCE/ODIHR Advisory Council for Freedom of Religion or Belief; and a member of the Spanish Advisory Commission for Religious Freedom within the Ministry of Justice. His research on law and religion issues is characterized by a predominant interest in international and comparative law. His writings, published in twenty-three countries and in twelve languages, include twenty books as author, co- author or editor, and more than one hundred essays in legal periodicals or collective volumes. His book Conflictos entre conciencia y ley. Las objeciones de conciencia (2ª ed., in collaboration with R. Navarro-Valls, 2012), contains possibly the most complete study published until now on the issue of conflicts between law and conscience.
Jana Jakob – Sweden A Common Word Among the Youth
Jana Jakob’s academic background lies in political science and theology. Currently, she is working on her graduate thesis at the Faculty of Theology at Uppsala University, Sweden, focusing on segregation and inter-religious encounters. Besides studies in Sweden and her home country Germany, Jana complemented her education in Australia, Norway and Vietnam, where she later worked at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation Hanoi. At present, she is freelancing for the inter-religious project Together for Sweden (Tillsammans för Sverige) and is starting up an inter-religious girl’s project, working for empowerment and against segregation. Moreover, Jana is involved in "A Common Word Among the Youth" and has just received a scholarship by the Church of Sweden to study at the Swedish Theological Institute in Jerusalem.
Alparslan Açıkgenç – Turkey Professor of Civilization Studies, Alliance of Civilizations Institute, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Waqf University
Alparslan Açıkgenç, Professor of Civilization Studies, Alliance of Civilizations Institute, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Waqf University, has extensive teaching and administrative experience in different world universities, including as Director of the Graduate School for Humanities, Yildiz University, Turkey. Alparslan’s main interest is research in the history of scientific traditions of diverse civilizations, primarily Islamic and Western. As a professor of history of philosophy and science, he wrote a number of books and articles some of which are directly related to Islam and science, or religion and science perspectives, particularly epistemology and sociology of science. His life time goal is to solve certain epistemological and ontological problems facing humanity in this global age with the hope that a new philosophical system will emerge out of this new conceptual scheme that will provide solutions for the problems of the age surrounding humanity at large.
Şule Albayrak – Turkey Assistant Professor, Sociology of Religion, Marmara University
Şule A. Albayrak is Assistant Professor at Marmara University, Faculty of Theology. (2013) She received her Ph.D. from Marmara University, the Institute of Social Sciences. (2012) Albayrak gives lectures on sociology of religion, secularisation, modernisation and religion-state relations. She specializes in secularism, religious education and state-religion relations in the USA and Turkey. She is also interested in fundamentalism in the USA, Muslim immigrants in the West, and gender issues. She is the author of the book, Christian Fundamentalism, and the chief editor of the academic journal KADEM Journal of Women’s Studies. Albayrak has several articles published in academic journals and national newspapers and magazines. She is also a member of ASR (Association for the Sociology of Religion) and ESA (European Sociological Association).
Selim Argün – Turkey Faculty of Theology, İstanbul University
Asst. Prof. Dr. Selim Argün works at Istanbul University Faculty of Theology Department of Islamic History and Arts, in the Department of History of Islam. At a young age he began memorizing of the Qur’an in Bolu Imam-Khatib, and finished high school in Istanbul. He has a BA from Islamic University of Medina (Saudi Arabia), an MA from University of Johannesburg, South Africa, and a Doctorate from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. During the PhD he taught at the Institute of Islamic Sciences. Ottoman History, History of Islamic Civilization Institutions, and Africa are areas of interest and study. Among his publications is the paper 'The life and contribution of the Osmanli scholar, Abu Bakr Effendi: towards Islamic thought and culture in South Africa'.
Sarosh Arif – Turkey Fatih Sultan Mehmet Waqf University Alliance of Civilizations Institute
Sarosh Arif is a Pakistani-American Muslim artist, social entrepreneur, and educator. She graduated from Columbia University’s Barnard College where she received a BA in Urban Studies & Political Science. While at Barnard, she was named an Athena Women’s Leadership Scholar and inducted into the Athena Mastermind Program, an initiative designed for up-and-coming female entrepreneurs, for founding the philanthropic visual arts company Arneeq. While completing a MA in Teaching, she was awarded an AmeriCorps grant and an Urban Teaching Scholarship for her work in the NYC public school system. She has worked for NBC Universal, NY1 News, and the Pakistani Mission to the UN and has completed fellowships with Young People For and Teach for America. Sarosh is currently pursuing a MA in Civilization Studies at Fatih Sultan Mehmet Vakif University's Alliance of Civilizations Institute in Istanbul.
Meryem İlayda Atlas – Turkey Editor-in-Chief, Daily Sabah
Meryem İlayda Atlas is Editor-in-chief at Daily Sabah. She is also Editor-in-chief at Lacivert Dergi. She was educated at Boğaziçi University.
Mahmut Aytekin – Turkey Researcher, İHH Social Humanitarian Relief Foundation
Mahmut Aytekin is a member of İnsan Hak ve Hürriyetleri ve İnsani Yardım Vakfı (in English The Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief) or İHH, an NGO whose members are predominantly Turkish Muslims. Established in 1992, İHH is active in more than 100 countries, providing humanitarian relief in areas of war, earthquake, hunger, and conflict. İHH holds Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Mr. Ayetkin studied Islamic Theology at Marmara University, and earned an MA in International Relations at Deakin University in Australia. He is an opinion editor for Daily Sabah.
Arda Batu – Turkey Secretary General, Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation (TURKONFED)
Arda Batu’s career began in 2004 at Yeditepe University’s Political Science & International Relations Department where he served as a research assistant. By 2007, he transitioned to HB Consultancy Group but continued lecturing at Yeditepe University. After a later move to StratejiCo, he joined Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation (TUKONFED) in June 2014, where he is Secretary General. Mr. Batu is vice-chairman of the NGO, ARI Movement, which promotes transparency, rule of law, checks and balances, and youth political participation. He is involved in the Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies as an executive board member and is on the editorial board of Turkish Policy Quarterly. He also lectures at Bahcesehir University’s MBA program.
Mehmet Kamil Berse – Turkey President, Istanbul Dersaadet Culture, Literature, and Art Platform
Author Mehmet Kamil Berse, editor-in-chief of Şehir ve Kültür (City and Culture) magazine, has lived in Istanbul's Fatih district for the last 60 years. In 1979, he graduated from the Business Administration Department of Bursa Economics and Administrative Sciences Academy. During his childhood, much time was spent in the family bookstore and later, he moved on to various other trades. In recent times, Mehmet Berse Kamil has made an appearance in politics, securing several nominations. Currently, he is the President of Istanbul Dersaadet Culture, Literature, and Art Platform.
Mehmet Bulut – Turkey President, Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University
Prof. Dr. Mehmet Bulut was appointed as the President (Rector) to Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University in 2013. He earned doctorate degrees from universities in Ankara and Istanbul and from Utrecht University in Holland. He commenced two master's programs in the field of economics at Posthumus Institute. He began his academic career as Research Associate, and continued at Başkent University, where he served as Teaching Assistant, Chief of Economics Department, Faculty Board and Member of Board of Directors. He was Founder Dean in Faculty of Political Sciences and Vice President in Yıldırım Beyazıt University and was appointed to YÖK (Council of Higher Education) membership. He has served as a Member of the Board of Directors for several public and private corporations. He has studied in fields of long-term economic development, inter-country economical differences, performance comparisons, international economy policy, Ottoman economics and civilization, Ottoman-European-Atlantic Economic Relations, History of Economics, Finance and Institutions. He has conducted academic studies in Sweden/Dalarna, England/Cambridge, United States/Harvard and Princeton, India/IAS Universities. His books have been widely published at home and abroard, and his articles have appeared in various academic journals such as American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Journal of Economic and Social History of Orient, Journal of European Economic History, and Middle Eastern Studies. He is the General Editor of ADAM AKADEMİ Social Sciences Journal, and a Member of TÜBA.
Ali Çarkoğlu – Turkey Professor and Dean, College of Administrative Sciences and Economics, Koç University
Dr. Ali Çarkoğlu is Professor of International Relations at Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey. He received a PhD in Political Sciences at SUNY-Binghamton (1994); an MA in Economics at Rutgers University (1989), an MA in Economics at Boğaziçi University (1988), and a BA in Economics at Boğaziçi University (1986). His recent research focuses on voting behavior, party systems and political parties, religiosity, social capital, public opinion, and Turkish politics. Prof. Çarkoğlu has been teaching comparative politics, public choice theory, voting behavior, Turkish politics, research design and methods, basic statistics and regression methods, regression methods for categorical dependent variables, survey methods, and social network analysis. Since September 2013, he has served as the Dean to the College of Administrative Sciences and Economics at Koç University.
Zana Çitak – Turkey Department of International Relations, Middle East Technical University, Turkey
Dr. Zana Çitak is Associate Professor in the Department of International Relations at Middle East Technical University. She works on issues in secularism, religion, nationalism, politics, state-religion relations, gender, and Islam in Europe. Her current research examines Islam in Europe from a comparative perspective. She was a researcher for the RELIGARE project funded by the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Program and operating between 2010 and 2013. Dr. Çitak received an master's degree from the London School of Economics and a PhD from Boston University.
Murat Çizakça – Turkey Emeritus and Adjunct Professor of Islamic Finance at the Luxembourg School of Finance, University of Luxembourg
Professor Dr. Murat Çizakça is Emeritus and Adjunct Professor of Islamic Finance at the Luxembourg School of Finance, University of Luxembourg. He earned a PhD in Economics (Economic History Program), from the University of Pennsylvania. He teaches Comparative Economic History and Islamic Finance.
Colin Colter – Turkey Fatih Sultan Mehmet Waqf University Alliance of Civilizations Institute, Turkey
Colin Colter graduated from Duke University with a bachelor’s degree in International Comparative Studies and Minors in Political Science and Turkish Studies with a focus in Middle Eastern Affairs. He has studied German, French, Turkish, and Arabic and has spent a semester abroad in Istanbul, Turkey. He crowd- funded and personally designed an internship his sophomore-to-junior year summer at Grameen Bank in Dhaka, Bangladesh, the renowned micro-finance firm. He has taught biology and soccer in rural Vietnam through Coach for College, an organization which takes American undergraduate student-athletes abroad to coach and mentor underprivileged youth. His junior-t- -senior year summer he managed contract finances and deliverables as well as EAR and ITAR compliance for eGlobalTech, a woman-owned, minority-owned management and tech consulting government contractor in Arlington, Virginia. Through a United Nations-funded fellowship Colin is currently pursuing a Master’s in Civilization Studies, while becoming proficient in Turkish and Arabic. His likely thesis is on refugee rights and relocation.
Mehdi Davut – Turkey Suriye Nur Derneği
Mehmet Ali Dogan – Turkey Professor, Istanbul Technical University
Dr. Mehmet Ali Dogan is an alumnus of Bilkent University in Ankara and received his PhD from the University of Utah. He is a Professor at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences of Istanbul Technical University. He co-edited the book, American Missionaries and the Middle East: Foundational Encounters, with Heather Sharkey (University of Utah Press, 2011).
Selina Doğan – Turkey Member, Grand National Assembly of Turkey
Selina Doğan is a member of the Turkish Parliament, deputy of the CHP party. She completed her secondary education at the French high school, Notre Dame de Sion, and received a degree in law from Galatasaray University. She has served as an attorney for Bayraktar Hukuk Bürosu, ATV-SABAH Media Group, and most recently, Ayaydın-Miroglio Group. She has volunteered in minorities’ rights programs including establishing an Armenian language radio station in Turkey, researching Armenian feminist writers in Turkish literature, and a home care project in Caritas. Ms. Doğan has participated in seminars on minority rights and conflict resolution. She is fluent in French, English, and Turkish and has served as a legal text translator.
Musa Duman – Turkey Rector, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Waqf University
Prof. Dr. Musa Duman is Rector of Fatih Sultan Mehmet Waqf University in Istanbul. He received a degree with honors in Turkish Language and Literature from Selcuk University in 1985, a graduate degree from Istanbul University, Institute of Social Sciences in 1987. After completing his military service in May 1993, he visited the State University in Kazakhstan (Almaty) during the 1993-1994 academic year, where he worked on Kazakh Turkish. Having received a PhD from Istanbul University, Institute of Social Sciences in 1993, he was appointed assistant professor in the Faculty of Arts in 1995. For a one and a half year period from February 1998 he was guest lecturer at Eastern Mediterranean University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Turkish Language and Literature Department. He received the title Associate Professor in 1999 and was appointed to a Profesorship in 2006.
Aykan Erdemir – Turkey Former Member of Parliament, Turkey
Dr. Aykan Erdemir is an Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Bilkent University. As a former member of the Turkish Parliament, he served in the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee, EU Harmonization Committee, and the Ad Hoc Parliamentary Committee on the IT Sector and the Internet. As a founding member of the International Panel of Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion or Belief, Dr. Erdemir is an outspoken advocate of religious freedoms. He is a drafter of and signatory to the Oslo Charter for Freedom of Religion or Belief (2014) as well as a signatory legislator to the London Declaration on Combating Antisemitism. Dr. Erdermir has a BA in International Relations from Bilkent University; an MA in Middle Eastern Studies, and a PhD in Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University. He was a doctoral fellow at Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and a research associate at University of Oxford’s Center on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS). In 2004, Dr. Erdemir was appointed faculty member at Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara where he also served as the Deputy Dean of the METU Graduate School of Social Sciences and as the graduate director of the German-Turkish Masters in Social Sciences.
Tuğba Tanyeri Erdemir – Turkey Middle East Technical University, Turkey
Tuğba Tanyeri Erdemir is the deputy director of the Center for Science and Society, and teaches in the graduate program in Architectural History at Middle East Technical University, Ankara. Her research interests include ethnographic investigations of converted historic religious buildings, cultural heritage management of multi-layered sacred sites, re-utilization and museumification of religious heritage. She has participated in numerous international interdisciplinary research projects. Most recently, she was a team member of “Antagonistic Tolerance: A Comparative Analysis of Competitive Sharing of Religious Sites”, a project funded by Wenner-Gren and National Science Foundation, and was the leader of the Turkish team of FP7 Project “RELIGARE: Religious Diversity and Secular Models in Europe.” She conducted a 3 year research project titled "Intellectual Mobility in Turkey and Europe: A History of Archaeology and Museology" funded by the Scientific Research Council of Turkey. In 2014, she received the "Young Scientist Award" of the Science Academy in Turkey, and is currently conducting a research project titled "From the Hagia Sophia to the Hacıbektaş Museum: The Effect of Secular Museumifications on Sacred Sites."
Tuba Erkoç – Turkey Research Assistant, Medeniyet University, Istanbul
Tuba Erkoç, who born in Tatvan/Bitlis, graduated from Uludag University Faculty of Theology with minor in Social Sciences in 2009. She completed her MA at Istanbul University Faculty of Theology in 2011 with the thesis named "Ebu İshak eş-Şirazi’s Views on Commanding and Forbidding." At the same year, she started as a research assistant at Medeniyet University. İn 2011, Her doctorate studies started at Marmara University in the field of Islamic Law and she is currently working as research assistant at the same department. Tuba Erkoç, who is working on “Euthanasia and Completion of Treatment as an Ethical Issue in Islamic Perspective” in her doctoral thesis, have mainly interest on Shafii law, methodology of Islamic Law, medical ethics, bioethics, euthanasia, completion of treatment and life. Her madrasah education started at Bursa while continued at ISM in Istanbul.Meanwhile, she is continuing as a researcher at ISAM’s AYP program. She has been in Syria and Jordan for educational purposes and in 2014, she spent a year in the United States at Georgetown University's Kennedy Institute of Ethics conducting research and participating several courses.
Adnan Ertem – Turkey Director-General, General Directorate of Foundations,Ankara
Dr. Adnan Ertem serves as Member of the Board of Turkiye Vakiflar Banksai TAO. He graduated from Istanbul University, Department of Public Administration and has a Masters degree from Istanbul University on Social Sciences. In addition, Dr. Ertem has a PhD in Social Structure and Social Change. He was appointed as a Member of Board of Directors on October 27, 2010. Having started his career as an Assistant Auditor in the General Directorate of Foundations, he worked in various positions. In 2007, he was appointed as Prime Ministry Deputy Undersecretary. Dr. Ertem currently holds the position of Director-General of the General Directorate of Foundations.
Haldun Gulalp – Turkey Professor of Political Science (Ret.), Yildiz Technical University
Haldun Gulalp is Chair of the Global Studies and Class Strategies (GSCS) research group. He has been a professor of Political Science since 2005. He is the Director of the Center for Global Studies at Yıldız Technical University, Istanbul. Prof. Gulalp previously taught at Bogazici University, Hamilton College, University of California at Los Angeles, Northwestern University, University of Washington at Seattle, St Antony’s College University of Oxford, and George Washington University. His books include Religion, Identity and Politics: Germany and Turkey in Interaction (2013), Avrupa Birliği, Demokrasi ve Laiklik: Semih Vaner Anısına (The European Union, Democracy and Secularism: In Memory of Semih Vaner) (2010), Citizenship and Ethnic Conflict: Challenging the Nation-State (2006), Kimlikler Siyaseti:Türkiye’de Siyasal İslamın Temelleri (Politics of Identities: Foundations of Political Islam in Turkey) (2003).
Mehmet Güllüoğlu – Turkey General Director, Türk Kızılayı (Turkish Red Crescent)
Dr. Mehmet Güllüoğlu graduated Marmara University Medical Faculty, and was recently assigned as the Director of the Research and Development Unit at the Turkish MoH, Health Directorate of İstanbul. He previously worked in the private sector, and also in International Health NGOs (especially with Doctors Worldwide (DWW)). He visited the Middle East and Africa with medical missions. He is currently pursuing a doctorate in public health at Istanbul University, Istanbul Medical Faculty. He is interested in Health Policy, Health Management, Global Health and International Relief activities. He is the General Director of Türk Kızılayı (Turkish Red Crescent), the largest humanitarian organization in Turkey, an NGO which is part of the International Red Cross, and of the Red Crescent Movement, founded under the Ottoman Empire in 1868 and the predecessor organization of All Red Cross and Red Crescent organizations within the former Ottoman territories.
Nagihan Haliloğlu – Turkey Fatih Sultan Mehmet Waqf University Alliance of Civilizations Institute
Linda Hyökki – Turkey Fatih Sultan Mehmet Waqf University Alliance of Civilizations Institute
Linda Hyökki is a PhD student at the Alliance of Civilizations Institute, Istanbul. She has a BA in Translation Studies from the University of Turku (Finland) and graduated in 2011 from the Masters' program in "Language, Culture and Translation" from the University of Mainz, FTSK Germersheim (Germany). Her current research interests are Muslims in Europe, (hybrid) identities, multiculturalism and intercultural dialogue as well as Islamophobia.
İlhan İlkılıç – Turkey Professor, Chair, Istanbul Medical Faculty, Department of History of Medicine and Ethics, Istanbul University, Turkey
İlhan İlkılıç is a physician, health scientist, academic, and philosopher. A much- published author and participant in conferences and workshops, he has written numerous textbooks (in English, German and Turkish) and essays and other scholarly publications, including an extensive work The Muslim Patient: On Bioethical Aspects of the Muslim Understanding of Disease in a Value-Pluralistic Society (2002). After training as doctor of medicine in Istanbul (state exam 1990) he studied Philosophy, Islamic Studies, and Oriental Philology in Bochum and Tübingen, Germany, completing his doctorate at the University of Bochum in 2001. From 2005 he was a research associate at the Institute of History, Theory and Ethics in Medicine at the Johannes-Gutenberg Universit, where he conducted research focused on social and ethical issues of public health genetics, health ethics, health literacy, and Islamic and intercultural bioethics. He is at present Professor and Chair, Istanbul Medical Faculty, Department of History of Medicine and Ethics, Istanbul University.
İhsan Karaman – Turkey President, Medeniyet University (Head of Doctors Worldwide, Head of Green Crescent), Turkey
Prof. M. İhsan Karaman graduated from İstanbul University Faculty of Medicine, and earned his post-graduate degree from the Urology Clinic in Istanbul Faculty of Medicine. He was a visiting urologist at Baylor College of Medicine, and earned the title of associate professor and later, the title of professor of urology. He was head of Urology Clinic in Haydarpaşa Numune Training & Research Hospital, and was appointed to the Faculty of Medicine in İstanbul Medeniyet University in 2013, completing his minor specialist studies in “pediatric urology” the same year. Prof. Karaman is pursuing his doctoral study in “Medical History and Ethics” at Istanbul University. He is a published author, edited books and medical journals, and contributed to multiple books. He has published or presented more than 300 academic studies, has been cited in over 700 international publications and organized and taken part in many national and international conferences. A founder of Turkish Pediatric Urology Society, Prof. Karaman is a member of the Urology Curriculum Commission of the Ministry of Health Board for Specialty in Medicine. Still serving as the Vice President of the Federation of Islamic Medical Associations (FIMA), Prof. Karaman participates in Doctors Worldwide Turkey, acting as President for 10 years. In 2011, Prof. Karaman addressed the UN General Assembly in New York on “the role and significance of civil society in sustainable development”, and served as the Coordinator of Civil Society Forum at the 4th UN Conference on Least Developed Countries. He serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of Hayat Health and Social Services Foundation; a member of the Executive Board of Beşikçizade Medical Humanities Center; a member of the Board of Trustees of Yeşilay (Turkish Green Crescent Organization), serving as President from 2012-2015; and President of the Medicine and Ethics Workgroup of Istanbul Foundation for Research and Education (ISAR).
Kerem Kinik – Turkey President, Doctors Worldwide
Kerem Kinik is President of Doctors Worldwide, a Nonprofit Organization that provides medical relief to those without any access or means to basic medical care. He is Chairman of the Board at Association of Doctors, and Deputy Chairman at Turkish Red Crescent. He served as CEO of IDS Piomak AS and as General Manager of Mozaik Bilisim AS, and $T Saglik ve Bilgi Islem Hizmetleri Ltd. He received a BS, Medical Faculty, from Istanbul University, and an MsC in IT Business Administration from the University of Portsmouth. He received a Doktora, Afet Tibbi, from Bezmialen Vakif University and is pursuing a PhD in Disaster Medicine from Bezm-I Alem Vakif Universitesi.
Temel Kotil – Turkey General Manager, Vice Chairman of the Board and the Executive Committee, Turkish Airlines
Dr. Temel Kotil graduated from the Aeronautical Engineering Department at Istanbul Technical University (ITU). He received his PhD degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. After founding and managing the Aviation and Advanced Composite Laboratories of ITU, he also served as chair and associate dean of Faculty of Aeronautics and Astronautics Engineering. He served as the Head of the Research Planning and Coordination Department in the Metropolitan Municipality of Istanbul. In 2001, he served as guest professor at the University of Illinois, followed by a position as Research Engineer at Advanced Innovative Technologies Inc., in Troy, New York, from 2002 to 2003. Dr. Kotil started his career with Turkish Airlines in 2003, as the Deputy General Manager in Turkish Technic, Inc. He became the CEO of Turkish Airlines in 2005. Dr. Kotil has served on the Board of Governors of IATA since 2006. Dr. Kotil has many articles and publications in the aeronautical science journals, and papers in seminars and conferences.
Önder Küçükural – Turkey Assistant Professor, Alliance of Civilizations Institute, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Waqf University, Istanbul
Önder Küçükural is an assistant professor at the Alliance of Civilizations Institute, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Waqf University in Istanbul. He received his PhD in Sabanci University, Political Science Program. He was a visiting researcher at the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim—Christian Understanding (ACMCU) at Georgetown University in Washington, DC in 2011/12. He is one of the coauthors of Türkiye’de Dindarlık [Religiosity in Turkey]. His upcoming research project is funded by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK). It focuses on argumentation, reasoning, and decision-making in innovation-oriented industry sectors in Portugal and Turkey.
Cyrus McGoldrick – Turkey Fatih Sultan Mehmet Waqf University Alliance of Civilizations Institute
Cyrus McGoldrick is a Muslim community activist, artist and student, born in the USA of Irish and Iranian descent. He graduated with a B.A. in Middle Eastern, South Asian & African Studies from Columbia University in 2010, and has worked for a number of Islamic social and human rights organizations, including the New York chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations, the National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms, the Majlis ash-Shura of Metropolitan New York, and the Youth Coalition of South Florida. He was a co-founder of the Islamic Movement for Justice; serves on advisory councils for Turning Point for Women and Families, and Getting Out & Staying Out; and lectures and performs frequently across the United States. His debut book of poetry, I of the Garden, was published in 2014. He is now pursuing a M.A. in Civilization Studies at Fatih Sultan Mehmet Vakif University's Alliance of Civilizations Institute in Istanbul.
Emre Öktem – Turkey Professor of Law, Faculty of Law, Galatasaray University, Istanbul
Dr. Emre Öktem is an associate professor of international law at the Faculty of Law, at Galatasaray University in Istanbul, Turkey. He is also the head of the International Law Department. He is a member of the Advisory Council on Freedom of Religion and Belief (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights) and is involved in numerous interfaith dialogue activities. Dr. Öktem received his undergraduate and master degrees in public law at the Istanbul University Law School. He received his Ph.D. in international law at the Galatasaray University. His main research interests include human rights, religious freedoms, humanitarian law, minority rights, terrorism, international recognition, continuity and succession, and other fields of international law. He is the author of Freedom of Religion in International Law (2002), the first book written in Turkish on this topic and adopts a multi-perspective approach – history, theory and current positive law, and Terrorism, Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, focusing on the international legal aspects of the relationship between war against terrorism and the law of armed conflicts and human rights. He is also the author of numerous articles on human rights, humanitarian law, minority rights, terrorism, international recognition, continuity, and succession.
Cüneyt Orman – Turkey Advisor, Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey
Cüneyt Orman is an Advisor, Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey. He started out at Central Bank as an Economist in the Research and Monetary Policy Department, moving on to Director, Communications and International Relations Department, European Union Relations Division, and later the International Affairs Division. He was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics at St. Olaf College, and an Instructor at the University of Minnesota. He obtained a BS in Mathematics from Bogazici University, an MA in Economics from Indiana University Bloomington, and a PhD in Economics from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. He was honored as Docent, Turkish Council of Higher Education, in October of 2015. He has coauthored various publications.
İbrahim Özdemir – Turkey Director General, Department of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of National Education
İbrahim Özdemir is Director General of the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of National Education, Turkey. Known for his studies in environmental philosophy in general and Islamic environmentalism in particular, he is author of The Ethical Dimension of Human Attitude Towards Nature (1997) and co-editor of Globalization, Ethics and Islam (2005). He is the founder President of Society for Intercultural Research and Friendship and has been professor of philosophy, ecology, and religion at Ankara University, where he founded an elective course on Religion and Ecology that was later accepted by many universities in Turkey. Özdemir studied Islamic Philosophy, Theology, and Intellectual History at the Divinity School of Ankara University and did graduate studies at METU (Middle East Technical University), Department of Philosophy, Ankara, receiving his PhD in 1996. His major paper, "Towards an Understanding of Environmental Ethics from a Qur’anic Perspective", delivered to an International Conference on "Islam and Ecology" at Harvard University, was published as a chapter in Islam and Ecology (Harvard Univ. Press 2003). Author of many other books and numerous articles, he has lectured widely in the Muslim world and the West, addressing topics related to the philosophy of religion, world religions, environmental philosophy, sustainable development, religion and the environment, interreligious and intercultural dialogue, and education.
Fatih Özer – Turkey Prime Ministry Disaster & Emergency Management Authority (AFAD)
Fatih Özer is head of the response department at the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority of Turkey (AFAD). AFAD was created in 2009 as part of a move towards greater efficiency following the 1999 earthquake in Turkey. As a coordinating body, AFAD can assign tasks to government ministries. to the army, to the Red Crescent Society and NGOs.
Necdet Şensoy – Turkey Chairman of the Audit Committee, International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation
Dr. Necdet Şensoy graduated from the Istanbul Academy of Economics and Commerce in 1977. He received his M.A. from the Institute of Accounting and his Ph.D. from Marmara University. He became Associate Professor in 1994 and Professor in 2002. Having worked as a lecturer at Marmara University, Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences, Department of Business Administration, Prof. Dr. Necdet Sensoy was appointed as a Member of the Auditing Committee of the Central Bank of Turkey in May 2004. He retired from Marmara University in 2006 and was then appointed as Deputy Rector at Istanbul Commerce University. Later that year, he was elected as Board Member by the General Assembly of the Shareholders of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey. His interest areas are International Financial Reporting Standards and Accounting Theory. He continues to teach a PhD Accounting Theory Course at Marmara University. He taught “Accounting for Islamic Banks” course for four semesters in between 1994-1996 at International Islamic University Malaysia. He served as a Member of the Board of Trustees of AAOIFI from 1993-1997. In November 2014 he was reelected again for five years. He is chairman of the Audit Committee of the International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation.
Recep Şentürk – Turkey Director, Alliance of Civilizations Institute, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Waqf University, Turkey
Professor Dr. Recep Şentürk is Director of the Alliance of Civilizations Institute at the Fatih Sultan Mehmet University in Istanbul. He is also Director of ISAR in Istanbul and was previously Professor of Sociology at Fatih University. He holds a PhD from Columbia University, Department of Sociology (1998), and specializes in sociology of knowledge, human rights and Islamic studies with a focus on the Ottoman Empire, Egypt and Turkey. He authored in English Narrative Social Structure: Hadith Transmission Network 610-1505 (Stanford University Press, 2005), and in Turkish Sociology of Turkish Thought: From Fiqh to Social Science (2008); Islam and Human Rights: Sociological and Legal Perspectives (2007); Malcolm X: Struggle for Human Rights (2006); Social Memory: Hadith Transmission Network 610- 1505 (2004); Sociologies of Religion (2004); Modernization and Social Science in the Muslim World: A Comparison between Turkey and Egypt (2006). He edited Ibn Khaldun: Contemporary Readings (2009) and Economic Development and Values (2009). His recent book is Open Civilization: Cultural Foundations of Pluralism (2010). Dr. Senturk was a visiting research fellow at Emory University Law School during the 2002–2003 academic year as part of Islam and Human Rights Project.
Dominico Sessa – Turkey Representative of the Holy See
Dominco Sessa completed ndergraduate studies in Theology at the Pontifical University of Southern Italy in Naples. After graduation, he attended courses on ecumenical and inter- religious dialogue at the San Bernardino Institute in Venice (Italy). He worked several years teaching Religion to young people in Italy and Albania. Since 2011 he has lived in Istanbul and is active in ecumenical dialogue with other Christian Churches. He participated to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification held in Ankara (Turkey) as a member of the delegation of the Holy See.
Riza Türmen – Turkey Member, Turkish Parliament; Former Judge, European Court of Human Rights
Rıza Mahmut Türmen is a former judge of the European Court of Human Rights and currently an MP for Izmir in the Turkish Parliament, with the Republican People's Party. He graduated from Istanbul University in 1964. He completed a master's degree at McGill University, Montreal, before doing his doctorate at Ankara University in political science. Türmen has held various positions at the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which he joined in 1966. In 1978, he was appointed Turkey’s representative to the International Civil Aviation Organization. He was ambassador to Singapore in 1985. From 1989-1994 he worked in Ankara as the Director General responsible for the Council of Europe, United Nations, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and human rights. From 1995 to 1996 he was ambassador to Switzerland. Between 1996-1997, Türmen was the Permanent Representative of Turkey to the Council of Europe. From 1998-2008, he was the Turkish judge for the European Court of Human Rights. Since his retirement he has written a column for the Turkish newspaper, Milliyet. Rıza Türmen is also known as a campaigner for the independence of the judiciary in Turkey.
Laki Vingas – Turkey Former Representative of Minority Religions, General Directorate for Foundations
Laki Vingas, Former Representative of Minority Religions, General Directorate for Foundations, was the first non-Muslim member of the General Assembly of the General Directorate for Foundations (VGM), an institution attached to the Prime Minister’s Office in Ankara. He is a businessman.
Rahmi Yaran – Turkey Mufti of Istanbul
Prof. Dr. Rahmi Yaran has been serving as the Mufti of Istanbul since December 2011. He attended Imam Hatip school, and graduated from Konya High Islamic Institute, beginning his career at Kastamonu ihl'n Courses Teachers in the same year. He earned an MFA in 1980. He attended Haseki Training Center in Istanbul serving as a center assistant, before becoming a teacher. In 1994, he completed his doctorate. He was a lecturer at the Faculty of Theology, Baku State University, Azerbaijan, becoming Associate Professor in 2008, and Professor in 2013. He is the author of the following works: İslam Fıkhında İhtiyaç Kavramı ve Kurumsallaşması, İslam Hukukunda Borcun Gecikmesi, Borçlunun Temerrüdü Alacaklının Temerrüdü, Arapça’da İ‘râb, İslam Hukukuna Göre Hukuki İşlemler ve Hükümleri (Ali el-Hafîf’ten tercüme), İçtihat Risalesi (Dihlevî’den tercüme).
Erol Memet Yarar – Turkey President, Turkish Ski Federation; Founding President of MÜSIAD
Erol Mehmet Yarar is President of the Turkish Ski Federation and Founding President of MÜSIAD Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association. After he graduated from Bogazici University, Istanbul with a computer science major, he earned his master’s degree in computer system analysis and practices in Elmira College, NY. Mr. Yarar, who has engaged in food, chemistry, industrial machines and foreign trade, was chairman of the board of LEZZO, 404 Inc. & ROZI Paper Group of Companies.
Nehir Yardimci – Turkey Vice President of Business Development
Nehir Yardimci graduated from Eastern Mediterranean University in 1995 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering. He gained valuable fieldwork experience as a construction manager in Ankara, Turkey for 2 years. In 1998, he moved to the United States and received his Master’s Degree in Business Administration and Global Management. He worked as a project engineer for the Ski Jump Construction Project for the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics. During the Olympics he served as the Attaché for the Turkish National Olympic Committee and the President of Turkish American Federation Association of Utah. He joined the Salt Lake Neighborhood Housing Service and served as a site manager for home construction projects. In 2003 he returned to Iraq as a consultant for a U.S. based company-pursuing work in Iraq, Africa and Afghanistan. Within the US, he served the U.S. Army and the US Government as a subcontractor of the US Army, Lockheed Martin, KBR, and Halliburton. He was the Area Operations Manager in Mosul, Iraq for 5 different U.S. Army DFAC operations. By 2011, he had managed and completed 9 projects valuing up to 168 million USD as a contractor and project manager in Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa.
İlhan Yildiz – Turkey President, International Association for Understanding Explaining Mohammad, University of Ankara
Dr. Prof. İlhan Yildiz is President, International Association for Understanding Explaining Mohammad, University of Ankara. He has been head of the Philosophy Department at Karatekin University and Coordinator of the Bosnia Project, Prime Ministry, Government of Turkey. He holds BS and MA degrees in Divinity and Social Sciences and a PhD in Religious Education. He publishes and speaks widely on topics such as religion and family in changing Turkish society, immigration, minorities, women in the Middle East, and socio-psychological aspects of folk beliefs. He was Associate Dean of the Department of Divinity, University of Yuzuncu, and a teacher and scholar at both the University of Utah and Brigham Young University. Funded research activities have included Principal Investigator for Folk Beliefs in terms of Religious Education, Research Fund of University of Yuzuncu; for Connection of Modernity- Religion and Family in Salt Lake City (Utah-USA) and Van (Turkey); for "Mormonism" at Brigham Young University; and for "Religious, Sociological and Psychological Assessment of Honor Killings in Turkey." He is a member of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Turkish Republic Prime Ministry General Directorate on the Status of Women, and he is Editorial Advisor for the Religious Education Journal, Istanbul.
Mine Yıldırım – Turkey Norwegian Helsinki Committee Head of Freedom of Belief Initiative in Turkey
Mine Yildirim is a researcher in human rights law with a particular expertise and interest in the international protection of freedom of religion or belief. Her goal is to combine academic studies and research with practical fieldwork, in particular monitoring and reporting—as well as advocacy for—the protection of freedom of religion or belief. Specialties: Review of legislation, monitoring and reporting on the protection of human rights, international law, state-religion relations, Turkey, protection of minorities, rights of child. She is Norwegian Helsinki Committee Head of Freedom of Belief Initiative in Turkey.
Fadi Zatari – Turkey Fatih Sultan Mehmet Waqf University Alliance of Civilizations Institute
Fadi Zatari is a PhD student and research assistant at the Alliance of Civilizations Institute of Fatih Sultan Mehmet Waqf University, Turkey. In 2006, he gained his BA degree in political science from al-Quds University in Jerusalem. In 2009 he received his first Masters degree in International Studies from the Birzeit University, and in 2013 his second Masters degree in Political Theory from the Goethe University Frankfurt am Main and the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany. Beside his native Arabic language, he is fluent in German, English and Turkish.
Shaojin Chai – United Arab Emirates Senior Research Fellow, Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development in UAE
Dr. Shaojin Chai was born in Northwest China and attended college in Beijing before he got his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, USA. He is currently a senior research fellow in the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development in UAE and actively participates in the projects of inter-faith dialogues, mutual cultural understanding , and initiatives on cultural innovation and industry. He has taught and given public lectures in the prominent universities in the UAE such as Zayed University and in China such as Beijing Foreign Studies University.He is also annual guest lecturer in Guangdong University of Foreign Studies and visiting fellow in Hebei University in China. His research interests include comparative political theory, global ethics, Arab- China cultural relations and Islam in China.
Yuting Wang – United Arab Emirates Associate Professor of Sociology, American University of Sharjah, UAE
Dr. Yuting Wang holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Notre Dame. Her research mainly focuses on religion and minorities in the U.S. and China. She is especially interested in Muslims, both immigrant and indigenous, in these two societies. In her dissertation, she studied the internal dynamics of a racially and ethnically diverse mosque and examines the intricate process of identity negotiation and construction among immigrant Muslims in the post-9/11 American society. She has taught at the University of Notre Dame and Northwestern University, Illinois. She is currently revising her dissertation into a book and conducting a survey examining the values and worldviews of college students in the UAE.
Kat Eghdamian – United Kingdom PhD Researcher, University College London (UCL)
Kat Eghdamian is a specialist researcher and expert on religion, forced migration, and minority rights issues. She recently returned from Jordan, undertaking research into the experiences of religious minorities among Syrian refugees. Currently a PhD candidate (ESRC Scholar) at UCL, she is also a barrister and solicitor and holds postgraduate degrees from the LSE and University of Oxford.
Nazila Ghanea – United Kingdom Associate Professor in International Human Rights Law, University of Oxford; Member, OSCE Advisory Panel of Experts on Freedom of Religion or Belief
Dr. Nazila Ghanea, BA Keele, MA Leeds, PhD Keele, MA Oxon, is Associate Professor in International Human Rights Law, University of Oxford, and Member, OSCE Advisory Panel of Experts on Freedom of Religion or Belief. She was the founding editor of the international journal of Religion and Human Rights and now serves on its Editorial Board as well as the Advisory Board of the Oxford Journal of Law and Religion. She has been a visiting academic at a number of institutions including Columbia and NYU, and previously taught at the University of London and Keele University, UK and in China. Dr. Ghanea's research spans freedom of religion or belief, the protection of identities in international human rights, and human rights in the Middle East. Her publications include nine books, five UN publications as well as a number of journal articles and reports. Nazila has acted as a human rights consultant/expert for a number of governments, the UN, UNESCO, OSCE, Commonwealth, Council of Europe and the EU. She has facilitated international human rights law training for a range of professional bodies around the world, lectured widely and carried out first hand human rights field research in a number of countries including Malaysia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. She is a regular contributor to the media on human rights matters.
Mark Hill – United Kingdom Honorary Professor, Centre for Law and Religion, Cardiff University; Extraordinary Professor, University of Pretoria; Visiting Professor, Dickson Poon Law School, King's College, London
Mark Hill QC is a barrister specialising in ecclesiastical law and religious liberty. He has represented clients in UK Supreme Court and European Court of Human Rights. He is a recorder on the Midland Circuit (sitting in criminal, civil and family cases) and Deputy Judge of Upper Tribunal, Immigration and Asylum Chamber. He sits as judge in ecclesiastical courts of the Church of England and is Visiting Professor at Cardiff University’s Centre for Law and Religion (United Kingdom), at University of Pretoria in South Africa, and at the Dickson Poon School of Law at King’s College, London. Publications include Magna Carta, Religion and the Rule of Law, Religion and Law in the United Kingdom, Religion and Discrimination Law in the European Union, Ecclesiastical Law, Religious Liberty and Human Rights, and English Canon Law. He is a Consultant Editor of the Ecclesiastical Law Journal and a member of the Editorial Boards of the Oxford Journal of Law and Religion and the Revista General de Derecho Canónico y Derecho Eclesiástico del Estado. He is Ecumenical Fellow in Canon Law at the Venerable English College in Rome, and a former President of the European Consortium for Church and State Research. He is an accredited mediator, current co-chair, and a founder of BIMA, a charity which promotes faith-based mediation.
Jacquie Hughes – United Kingdom Convenor, MA Journalism, Brunel University; Specialist Adviser, House of Lords Communications Committee
Jacquie Hughes is Convenor, MA Journalism, Brunel University and Specialist Adviser, House of Lords Communications Committee. Her career in journalism and programme production spans print, radio and television, and includes more than a decade at the BBC (latterly as a Commissioning Editor) and spells in the Independent Sector as Head of Factual Programmes at two of the country’s biggest indie producers. She has over 700 screen credits to her name, as reporter, producer/director, Executive Producer and Editor across all broadcast formats and genre including live, documentaries, investigative current affairs and drama-documentaries. More recently, she has worked on strategy and standards at the BBC Trust, and authored various reports on the state of British media practice. She is a keynote speaker at many industry events, a visiting lecturer in Strasbourg and Bournemouth and sits on the social media action group of a number of civic institutions. She practices as a freelance Executive Producer. Jacquie began her career in print, specifically the BBC as a reporter/producer. A move into investigative current affairs led to a long stint as a Producer /Director on ITV’s flagship weekly programme, World In Action. After many years in the independent sector making factual programmes for all UK and US channels, she moved back to the BBC to head up Documentaries and History, and then to Commissioner.
Rawaad Mahyub – United Kingdom Business Development Director, Right Start Foundation International
Rawaad Mahyub is the Business Development Director for Right Start Foundation International. He is also CEO of Open Soul, LTD, and Managing Director of Prioneer Provision, CIC. Previously, he was Project manager at Right Start Foundation International. He has a degree in Chemistry with Management in Industry, Depolymerisation, from the University of York.
Kishan Manocha – United Kingdom Senior Advisor on Freedom of Religion and Belief, Human Rights Department, OSCE/ODIHR
Dr. Kishan Manocha is Senior Advisor on Freedom of Religion and Belief at the Organization for Security and Co-operation Europe Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights in Warsaw. Before this, he was Director of the Office of Public Affairs of the Bahá’í community of the United Kingdom. He holds degrees in medicine and law from the Universities of London and Cambridge respectively. He has extensive experience in religious freedom and minority rights issues in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia as a consultant to international and non-governmental organizations. He first trained in psychiatry, completing a Research Fellowship in Forensic Psychiatry, before studying law. He specialized in international criminal and human rights law for his LLM and practiced as a barrister in a number of international criminal law cases before the English courts. He has worked at the Special Court for Sierra Leone and has been a Visiting Research Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights at Harvard as well as a Fellow of the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies at Concordia University. He has lectured at universities in the United Kingdom and Pakistan, and is a Research Fellow at the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation, a Professional Associate at the Centre for Law and Religion at Cardiff University, and a member of the Advisory Council of the Centre for Religion and Global Affairs.
Edmund Newell – United Kingdom Priest, Church of England, Principal of Cumberland Lodge
Canon Edmund Newell is Principal of Cumberland Lodge, an educational centre in Windsor Great Park. He was Sub-Dean of Christ Church, Oxford from 2008 until 2013, having previously been Canon Chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral and founding Director of St Paul's Institute. Before ordination he was a Research Fellow in Economic History at Nuffield College, Oxford. He is the author of several books and articles in the fields of theology, ethics and economic history, and has keen interest in religion and the performing arts. Artistic projects include Grimm Tales, a spiritual reflection on fairy tales, which he has performed at literary festivals with actress and LMH alumna Jeany Spark. He is also a contributor to ‘Pause for Thought’ on BBC Radio 2.
Peter Petkoff – United Kingdom Director of Religion, Law and International Relations Programme, Regent's Park College, Oxford and Brunel Law School
Dr. Peter Petkoff is a Law Lecturer at the Brunel Law School. He is also Director of the Religion, Law and International Relations Programme, a collaborative international research network at Regent's Park College, Oxford, in which capacity he brings together lawyers, theologians, philosophers, and social and political scientists, to develop innovative interdisciplinary strategies for studying law, religion and international relations from legal and theological perspectives. He is Legal Consultant on Media Freedom and Freedom of Expression for the Representative on Freedom of the Media at the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, a TEPSA consultant of the European Parliament, as well as a consultant for the All Party Parliamentary Group on International Freedom of Religion or Belief at the House of Lords. He is Managing Editor of the Oxford Journal of Law and Religion. He is writing a book for Oxford University Press on Holy Sites under International Law and has recently edited (together with Malcolm Evans and Julian Rivers) the volume The Changing Nature of Religious Rights under International Law. His work – engaging with academics, lawyers, religious leaders and think tanks working in the field of religion and public life – has had impacts on policy makers and on the ways religious communities articulate their public self-perception and their attitude to law, civic values, secularism, and to their own internal normative systems.
Katayoun Alidadi – United States Postdoctoral Researcher, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology
Katayoun Alidadi is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle, Germany. She was a PhD researcher at the University of Leuven, Belgium, and a project researcher in the RELIGARE project, funded by the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Program. Her research focuses on religious freedom, anti-discrimination law and reasonable accommodations, in particular as it relates to the workplace. She holds a law degree from the University of Leuven and an LLM degree from Harvard Law School, and received scholarships from Fulbright, Frank Boas and the B.A.E.F. At HLS, she won the Addison Brown Award for her paper 'The Western Judicial Answer to Islamic Talaq: Peeking through the Gate of Conflict of Laws in the U.S. and Belgium' (published in UCLA Journal of Islamic and Near Eastern Law 5 (1): 1-80 (2005)). She has worked as a corporate attorney at an International Law firm in Brussels and as a public interest attorney at Public Counsel Law Center in Los Angeles. Together with Marie-Claire Foblets and Jogchum Vrielink, she is co- editor of A Test of Faith? Religious Diversity and Accommodation in the European Workplace (2012) and is the author of several law review articles.
Frederick W Axelgard – United States Alonzo McDonald Family Senior Lecturer and Senior Research Fellow, Wheatley Institution, Brigham Young University
Dr. Frederick W Axelgard is a Senior Fellow in International Relations at the Wheatley Institution. Prior to joining the Wheatley Institution, he had an extensive career in public policy and international business. He worked for General Dynamics as Director of International Business Development, and later as Vice President of Middle East Business Development, Axsys Technologies, a division of General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems. From 1989-2002, he served in the U.S. Department of State in a variety of capacities. He worked for several years on the Arab-Israeli peace process as coordinator of the multilateral working group on arms control and regional security, after which he served as Counselor for Political-Military Affairs at the US Embassy in Saudi Arabia. Following the terror attacks of September 2001, he was seconded to the U.S. Central Command as State Department liaison during Operation Enduring Freedom, receiving the Department’s Superior Merit Award. At the Center for Strategic and International Studies he was a Senior Fellow in Middle East Studies and wrote on Iraqi politics and US-Iraq relations. His writings have appeared in many publications. Dr. Axelgard graduated summa cum laude from Brigham Young University and holds an MA in law and diplomacy and a PhD in international studies from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
Susan Benesch – United States Faculty Associate, Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard University
Susan Benesch, Faculty Associate of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, directs the Dangerous Speech Project. She has taught human rights and refugee law at Georgetown, Princeton, and American, among other universities. A human rights lawyer trained at Yale, she has also worked for the Center for Justice and Accountability, Amnesty International, and Human Rights First. Her interest in speech dates back to her first career as a journalist. Before law school, she was chief staff writer for the Miami Herald in Haiti, and reported from many Latin American countries for other publications.
Ram Cnaan – United States Professor and Director, Program for Religion and Social Policy Research, School of Social Policy and Practice, University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Cnaan is the Associate Dean for Research, Professor, and Chair of the Doctoral Program in Social Welfare at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also the Director of the Program for Religion and Social Policy Research. Dr. Cnaan is an International Eminent Scholar at Kyung Hee University in South Korea and is directing the "Goldring Reentry" Initiative that aims to train students to work with ex-prisoners and to reduce recidivism. Dr. Cnaan is a world-renowned expert in studying faith-based social services. He carried out the first national study on the role of local religious congregations in the provision of social services as well as the first one-city census of congregations. He has has published numerous articles in scientific journals on a variety of social issues. In addition, he serves on the editorial board of seven academic journals. He is the author of: The Newer Deal: Social Work and Religion in Partnership (1999) and The Invisible Caring Hand: American Congregations and the Provision of Welfare (2002).
Halil Demir – United States Executive Director, Zakat Foundation of America
Halil Demir began his activist career as a student before leaving Turkey to pursue his education in Switzerland. There he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in sociology, and continued to the United States, where he obtained advanced degrees in history and non-profit management. In 2001 Mr. Demir founded Zakat Foundation (ZF) with a group of Muslims driven to improve the lives of the poor worldwide. Since then he has overseen the establishment of schools, orphanages, vocational training programs, and health clinics around the world; the construction of water wells, mosques and community centers in Africa, U.S. cities and the Navajo reservation; the delivery of millions of dollars in emergency humanitarian aid to survivors of wars, natural disasters and other catastrophes including the Syrian conflict, Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti among others. Mr. Demir has represented ZF on television and radio, including National Public Radio. He has visited more than 25 countries and speaks six languages fluently. He lives in Illinois with his wife and four daughters.
Ganoune Diop – United States Director, Public Affairs and Religious Liberty, Seventh-day Adventist Church
Dr. Ganoune Diop is Director of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty for the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist Church. Before his election in July 2015, he served as the church’s liaison to the United Nations, and as its representative within the international community of civic and political leaders. Dr. Diop has a Masters in Exégèses and Theology from Collonges, France, a Master’s degree in Philology from the University of Paris, and a PhD in Old Testament Studies from Andrews University. He is currently a PhD candidate in New Testament Studies. Recently, he was honored with a Doctorate Honoris Causa for his contributions to developing a global culture of human rights and respect for human dignity. Dr. Diop is an ordained Seventh-day Adventist minister, and has served as a local church pastor. His other positions include conference departmental director, and professor of Biblical Languages, Exegesis, and Theology at Saleve Adventist University in France, and later at Southern Adventist University and Oakwood University in the United States. Before joining the General Conference PARL department in 2011 as an associate director, Dr. Diop was Director of the five Global Mission Study Centers of Adventist Mission. He is a concert flute soloist.
Gary B. Doxey – United States Associate Director, International Center for Law and Religion Studies, Brigham Young University Law School
Gary B. Doxey, Associate Director, International Center for Law and Religion Studies, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University, joined the Center in 2005 and serves as regional advisor for Latin America. He also heads the Center’s development effort. He has co-authored several commentaries on draft legislation, and a number of amicus briefs in Latin America. He also teaches in the History Department at Brigham Young University. Professor Doxey’s career has been divided between academia and public service. Prior to joining the law school, he was chief of staff and general counsel to Utah governors Mike Leavitt and Olene Walker, serving as deputy commissioner of financial institutions and as associate general counsel to the Utah Legislature. He has a PhD in History from Cambridge University and a JD from Brigham Young University. He speaks or reads several languages and has authored several scholarly publications.
W. Cole Durham, Jr. – United States Director, International Center for Law and Religion Studies; President, International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies
Cole Durham is Director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies since the Center was officially organized on January 1, 2000. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, where he was a Note Editor of the Harvard Law Review and Managing Editor of the Harvard International Law Journal. He has been heavily involved in comparative law scholarship, with a special emphasis on comparative constitutional law. He is President of the International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies (ICLARS), based in Milan, Italy, and a Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford Journal of Law and Religion. He served as the Secretary of the American Society of Comparative Law from 1989 to 1994. He is an Associate Member of the International Academy of Comparative Law in Paris—the premier academic organization at the global level in comparative law. He served as a General Rapporteur for the topic "Religion and the Secular State" at the 18th International Congress of Comparative Law held in July 2010. He served in earlier years as Chair both of the Comparative Law Section and the Law and Religion Section of the American Association of Law Schools.
Sharon Eubank – United States Director of Humanitarian Services, LDS Charities, United States
Sharon Eubank is the director of LDS Charities, the official humanitarian organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For more than 30 years, LDS Charities has responded to emergencies and provided long-term aid without regard to race, religion, ethnic origin, or political affiliation. Ms. Eubank oversees programming that includes disaster response, medical training of trainers, vaccines and immunizations, and refugee support. LDS Charities partnerships span the globe and include many strong and experienced faith-based organizations. It is one of the foremost charities in the world to leverage the skills and talents of volunteers who in 2014 donated more than 1.1 million hours of service in 87 countries. Prior to joining LDS Charities in 1998, Eubank worked in the U.S. Senate in Washington D.C. and owned an educational business. She is a former member of the general board of the LDS Relief Society with a membership of 4.2 million women in 149 countries.
Brian J. Grim – United States President, Religious Freedom & Business Foundation
Brian Grim is president of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation and a leading expert on international religious freedom and the socio-economic impact of restrictions on religious freedom, and an expert on international religious demography and religion-related violence. He is also an affiliated scholar at Boston University’s Institute on Culture, Religion & World Affairs. Prior to becoming the Foundation’s president in 2014, Brian directed the largest social science effort to collect and analyze global data on religion at the Pew Research Center, Washington DC’s premier “fact tank.” He also worked for two decades as an educator, researcher and development coordinator in the former Soviet Union, China, Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Brian holds a doctorate in sociology from Pennsylvania State University. He is an author of The Price of Freedom Denied, considered the seminal work showing the dire consequences of denying religious freedom. He has written dozens of research articles and several academic books on global religion as well as the Weekly Number Blog. Brian has appeared as an expert on global religion on numerous media outlets. He regularly presents to high-level governmental, nongovernmental and academic groups in the U.S. and abroad, including the White House, the Vatican, European Parliament, and the UN Human Rights Council. Brian also is a TEDx speaker.
Matthew Hodes – United States Director, UN Alliance of Civilizations
Matthew Hodes was appointed Director of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations in February 2013. From the early 1990’s until 2001, Mr. Hodes served the United Nations in multiple capacities, including providing policy and legal advice for the UNPROFOR leadership during the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. In 1995 he opened the first office in Sarajevo for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), and returned to Sarajevo to focus on rebuilding the Bosnian judicial system for the Office of the High Representative of Bosnia from 1999–2001. In 2001 Mr. Hodes went to work for The Carter Center. From 2003-2007 he was Director of the Conflict Resolution Program, where he advised former President of the United States, Jimmy Carter, on matters relating to armed conflicts and political disputes, while leading the Center’s mediation and negotiation assistance activities around the world. In 2010, Mr. Hodes went on to serve as Director of Programs for Club de Madrid, where he focused on transformational leadership in transitional societies and equitable development policies. He has also worked as a private consultant, advising public sector and not-for-profit agencies.
Angela Wu Howard – United States International Legal Fellow, Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
Angela Wu Howard, International Legal Fellow at the Becket Institute, has testified, lectured, and worked on religious freedom cases before United Nations tribunals, the U.S. Supreme Court, the European Court of Human Rights, and domestic courts around the world. She serves on the governing Bureau of the United Nations NGO Committee on Freedom of Religion or Belief. She is currently based at the University of Oxford, where she is researching legal philosophy applied to religious freedom. She obtained a J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law Schoolm where she edited the Civil Rights/Civil Liberties Law Review and the Harvard Human Rights Journal, ran the Battered Women’s Advocacy Project, and worked for the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division Appellate Section. She holds a BA from Northwestern University in Modern Intellectual History and, as a Fulbright Fellow in Brussels, obtained a DES in European law from the Université Libre de Bruxelles. She clerked in the federal circuit courts of appeal for the Honorable William W Schwarzer in San Francisco, worked for Oxfam America in Boston, and served as a negotiations consultant to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris. Beford joining Becket Fund, she was a litigator with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP in New York.
Peter Howard – United States Senior Director of Emergency Response, Food for the Hungry
Pete, who currently serves as Director of Emergency Response, has been with Food for the Hungry (FH) for 10 years serving in various roles including, Associate Asia Director, Director of Public Policy in Washington DC, leading FH’s relief efforts in Indonesia after the 2004 tsunami, country director in Indonesia and special assistant in the FH president’s office. Pete holds a BS in Political Science from Bethel University in St. Paul, a Master’s in Christian Studies from Denver Seminary and is a Catherine Reynolds Fellow at Harvard’s Center for Public Leadership, receiving a Master’s in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School in 2008, while on a sabbatical from FH. Pete recently returned to the US from living in Oxford, England where he also served FH and on the board of Food for the Hungry, UK. Today, he and his family live in Washington DC. Pete’s passion is seeing the glory of God reflected in those he serves and ministers alongside of as together they achieve their full God-given and restored potential.
Katherine Marshall – United States Senior Fellow, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, Georgetown University
Katherine Marshall has worked for more than four decades on international development, focusing on the world’s poorest countries. A senior fellow at Georgetown’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and Professor of the Practice of Religion, Development, and Practice in the School of Foreign Service, she is the executive director of the World Faiths Development Dialogue, a non- governmental organization whose mission is to bridge gulfs that separate the worlds of development and religion. During a long career at the World Bank she held leadership assignments on Africa, Latin America, and East Asia and on values, ethics, and religion, including a six-year assignment as Director of Development Dialogue on Ethics and Values and Counselor to the President.
David H. Moore – United States Wayne M. and Connie C. Hancock Professor of Law, Brigham Young University Law School
Professor Moore, Wayne M. and Connie C. Hancock Professor of Law, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University, is a scholar of U.S. foreign relations law, international law, international development, and international human rights. He has been published in the Harvard, Columbia, Virginia, and Northwestern Law Reviews, among others. Professor Moore has taught Civil Procedure, International Law, U.S. Foreign Relations Law, International Human Rights, Legal Scholarship, and a Plenary Powers Colloquium. As a teacher, he has been recognized with various awards. After joining the BYU law faculty, Professor Moore taught as a visiting professor at the George Washington University Law School. Professor Moore clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr; was an assistant and then associate professor at the University of Kentucky College of Law; and an Olin Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School . Previously, he clerked for Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and was an Honor Program trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, Professor Moore graduated summa cum laude from Brigham Young University Law School, first in his class, where he was Editor in Chief of the Law Review.
Daniel Peterson – United States Professor of Islamic Studies and Arabic, Brigham Young University
Daniel C. Peterson (PhD, University of California at Los Angeles) is a professor of Islamic Studies and Arabic at Brigham Young University and is the founder of the University’s Middle Eastern Texts Initiative, for which he served as editor-in-chief until mid-August 2013. He has published and spoken extensively on both Islamic and Mormon subjects. Hi is formerly chairman of the board of the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) and an officer, editor, and author for its successor organization, the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship. His professional work as an Arabist focuses on the Qur’an and on Islamic philosophical theology. He is the author, among other things, of a biography entitled Muhammad: Prophet of God (Eerdmans, 2007).
Eimi Priddis – United States Lecturer at Zirve University, Gaziantep, Turkey
Eimi Priddis is a graduate of the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University, where she was a fellow and a member of the Student Management Board for the International Center for Law and Religion Studies. She completed an internship at the office of the Area Legal Counsel for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Frankfurt, Germany, and contributed significantly to the treatise Religious Organizations and the Law (Bassett, Durham & Smith, Thomson West Publishing, annual). She is a fluent speaker of Japanese, and she holds master’s and bachelor’s degrees in the fields of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and English Language. Currently, she works as a teacher and lecturer at Zirve University in Gaziantep, Turkey, where she teaches courses in both Human Rights and English as a Foreign Language (EFL).
David Saperstein – United States United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom
David N. Saperstein is the Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom. He was confirmed by the Senate in December 2014, and was sworn in and assumed his duties in January 2015. The Ambassador at Large is, by law, a principal advisor to the President and Secretary of State and serves as the United States’ chief diplomat on issues of religious freedom worldwide. He also heads the Office of International Religious Freedom in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. The President also has designated Ambassador Saperstein to carry out the duties in the Near East and South Central Asia Religious Freedom Act of 2014. Ambassador Saperstein previously served for 40 years as the Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC), overseeing the national social justice programming for the largest segment of American Jewry. A rabbi and an attorney, for 35 years Saperstein taught seminars in First Amendment Church-State Law and in Jewish Law at Georgetown University Law Center. During his tenure at the helm of the RAC, Ambassador Saperstein has headed several national religious coalitions, including the Coalition to Protect Religious Liberty. He has served on the boards of numerous national organizations including the NAACP, the National Religious Partnership on the Environment, and the World Bank’s "World Faith Development Dialogue".
Brett G. Scharffs – United States Associate Dean for Faculty and Curriculum, Francis R. Kirkham Professor of Law and Associate Director, International Center for Law and Religion Studies, Brigham Young University Law School
Brett Scharffs is Francis R. Kirkham Professor of Law at Brigham Young University’s J. Reuben Clark Law School, associate dean for faculty and curriculum, and associate director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies. His teaching and scholarly interests include international and comparative law and religion. He is a graduate of Georgetown University, where he received a BSBA in international business and an MA in philosophy. He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, earning a BPhil in philosophy. He received his JD from Yale Law School, where he was senior editor of the Yale Law Journal. For the past eight years he has been a visiting professor at Central European University in Budapest, teaching comparative law and religion. For the past several years he has helped organize a certificate training program in religion and the rule of law at Peking University Law School’s Center for Administrative and Constitutional Law, and a similar program in Vietnam at the Vietnam National University’s University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. He has also taught and helped organize programs at several Indonesian universities on sharia and human rights, and has taught law and religion as a visiting professor at the University of Adelaide School of Law in Australia. Professor Scharffs has written more than 100 articles and book chapters and has made more than 300 scholarly presentations in 30 countries. His casebook, Law and Religion: National, International and Comparative Perspectives (coauthored with W. Cole Durham Jr.), has been translated into Chinese and Vietnamese, with Turkish and Burmese in process, and is scheduled for a second English edition in 2016.
Michele Stanback – United States Student Fellow, Center for World Ethics
Michele Stanback is an artist, educator and art therapist. She is currently exploring food ethics, sustainable practices and Indigenous knowledge. Michele has a BA in Individualized Studies from University of Maryland, College Park, a MPS in Creative Arts Therapy and Creativity Development from Pratt Institute and is currently a MA candidate at Union Theological Seminary. She is a Student Fellow at Center for World Ethics.
Sherrie Steiner – United States Assistant Professor of Sociology, Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne
Dr. Sherrie Steiner is an Associate Research Fellow with the Ridd Institute for Religion and Global Policy in the Global College at the University of Winnipeg, and a Visiting Assistant Professor in Sociology at Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW). She served as moderator and panelist for the 2014 Doha Implementation Meeting for Advancing Religious Freedom Through Interfaith Collaboration – Istanbul 16/18 For Combating Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religious Belief. She served as recorder for the World Religious Leaders’ Summits in 2010 (Winnipeg, Canada), in 2011 (Bordeaux, France) and in 2012 (Washington DC, USA). Her research focuses on the co-evolution of societies and their environments in the context of climate change.
Katrina Lantos Swett – United States Commissioner, United States Commission for International Religious Freedom
Since her appointment to the United Commission for International Religious Freedom in 2012, Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett has served two terms as chair of the Commission. She also serves as President and Chief Executive Office of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, which she established in 2008 to carry on the unique legacy of her father, the late Congressman Tom Lantos, the only survivor of the Holocaust ever elected to the U.S. Congress and an eloquent and forceful leader on behalf of human rights and justice. Dr. Lantos Swett graduated from Yale University, earned her JD at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, and her PhD in History from the University of Southern Denmark, where she taught while her husband, former Congressman Richard Swett, was serving as the U.S. Ambassador in Copenhagen. She served as the Director of the Graduate program in Public Policy at New England College and now teaches human rights and American foreign policy at Tufts University. Her varied professional experiences include working on Capitol Hill as Deputy Counsel to the Criminal Justice Sub-Committee of the Senate Judiciary Committee and as a consultant to businesses, charitable foundations, and political campaigns.
Knox Thames – United States Special Advisor for Religious Minorities in the Near East and South / Central Asia, U.S. Department of State
Knox Thames currently serves as the Special Advisor for Religious Minorities in the Near East and South and Central Asia at the U.S. Department of State. He was appointed this year as the first Special Advisor to lead State Department efforts to address the situation of religious minorities in these regions. For over 15 years, Mr. Thames has worked in various U.S. government capacities, including two different U.S. government foreign policy commissions. Most recently, he was the Director of Policy and Research at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Prior to that, he served in the Office of International Religious Freedom at the State Department and was Counsel for six years at the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (the Helsinki Commission). In addition, he is an Adjunct Professor at the U.S. Army War College and serves on the State Department’s Religion and Foreign Policy Working Group. From 2004-2012, Mr. Thames was a State Department appointee to the OSCE Panel of Experts on Freedom of Religion or Belief. Mr. Thames holds a B.A. from Georgetown College, a J.D. from American University’s Washington College of Law, and a Masters in International Affairs from American University’s School of International Service. He also studied at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. An author of numerous articles, his writing has been featured in the Yale Journal of International Affairs, ForeignPolicy.com, and Small Wars Journal.
James A. Toronto – United States Associate Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Brigham Young University
James Toronto is Associate Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Brigham Young University, teaching courses in religion, humanities, language, and research methodology. He received a PhD from Harvard University in Middle Eastern Studies. He lived in the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan) for ten years teaching in international schools, studying Arabic language and literature, and conducting research on issues of Islamic education, legal status of religious minorities, and LDS missiology. For three years he served as director of the Center for Cultural and Educational Affairs in Amman, Jordan.
Carmen Asiaín Pereira – Uruguay Senator, Parliament of Uruguay; President, Latin American Consortium for Freedom of Religion or Belief
Carmen Asiaín Pereira serves as a Senator in the Parliament of Uruguay, and as Vice President of the Latin American Consortium for Freedom of Religion and Belief. She is Professor of Law and Religion, Graduate Studies Program, at the University of Montevideo and Professor of Law and Religion and of Health Law, Graduate Program, Facultad de Teología del Uruguay Monseñor Mariano Soler. She has participated as a panelist on Religious Liberty and Law and Religion at international conferences, and at the UN, and has published papers internationally on many topics. Dr. Asiaín is a member of the Judeo- Christian Fellowship and a founding member and vice-president of the Instituto de Derecho Religioso del Estado (IDRE), Uruguay, and of the International Advisory Council, Canon Law and Ecclesiastical Law General Journal, IUSTEL. As an attorney accredited by the National Ecclesiastical Court (Uruguay and Argentina) and a partner at the law firm of Pollak & Brum, she is a litigator in Matrimonial Canon Law. She is an advisor and litigator in cases involving Freedom of Conscience and Religion or Belief against the State. Dr. Asiaín received a Doctor in Law and Social Sciences from the University of the Republic.
Yakov Asminkin – Uzbekistan Director, 'TAHLIL' Center for Social Research
Dr. Yakov Asminkin is a sociologist and director of TAHLIL Center for Social Research – a think-tank institution based in Uzbekistan. He has participated in and led local teams of social experts on more than 80 projects targeted at social infrastructure improvement, institutional reforms and progress towards a sustainable and just society. His fields of expertise include analysis of Poverty Issues and Living Standards measurement, Employment issues and Labor Market reviews, Social Protection schemes effectiveness assessment, Health and Education sectors support, Institutional analysis, Gender issues, Environmental problems and other social issues analysis, including migration, ethnic minorities, social stratification, and urbanization. Dr. Asminkin has vast experience in working with ADB, WB, UNDP, UNICEF, UNIFEM, and ILO in all the countries of the post-Soviet Central Asia region. As a former Ministry of Labor employee and as an independent expert, he participated in many governmental working groups implementing several key country social development programs and strategies, including establishment of Targeted social assistance system via local communities (makhallas), national MDGs’ formulation, and development of two national Welfare Improvement (PRSP) Strategies.
Gulchakhra Tulemetova – Uzbekistan Associate Professor of the UNESCO Chair in the Comparative Study of World Religions, Tashkent Islamic University under the Cabinet of Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan
Dr. Gulchakhra Tulemetova has a PhD in Social Philosophy from the National University of Uzbekistan. Docent of the UNESCO Chair "Religious studies and comparative study of religions of the world", Tashkent Islamic University. She has participated in scientific projects such as “Multiconfessional stress-field in Muslim societies”, Grant of German Academic Exchange Service - Bonn, 2014; "Impact of Islam-Christian dialogue on the formation of civil society", Grant of German Academic Exchange Service, Bonn University, October 2007 – January 2008. She received the UNESCO – ISTE’DOD (Uzbekistan) grant for development of the teaching materials in "Development of Civic Education in Uzbekistan" for Professional and Vocational Education, Tashkent, Uzbekistan, 2000. Dr. Tulemetova has experience in the following areas: providing research-based analysis of religious issues; definition, implementation and management of programs; identifying area for new interventions; analysis of local and regional context; religious studies, methodology development; reporting; team management; conducting trainings and workshops on religious issues. She is a result oriented professional, and the author of over 40 articles, textbooks, manuals and module programs in Religious Studies.
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