Imran Ahmad Khan Niazi, Pakistani cricket player, politician, philanthropist, and the Prime Minister of Pakistan (2018–) became a national hero by leading Pakistan’s national team to a Cricket World Cup victory in 1992 and later entered politics as a critic of government corruption in Pakistan. In 1992 Khan achieved his greatest athletic success when he led the Pakistani team to its first World Cup title, defeating England in the final.

He retired that same year, having secured a reputation as one of the greatest cricket players in history. In one of his philanthropic endeavors, Khan acted as the primary fundraiser for the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital, a specialized cancer hospital in Lahore, which opened in 1994. The hospital was named after Khan’s mother, who had died of cancer in 1985. After his retirement from cricket, Khan became an outspoken critic of government mismanagement and corruption in Pakistan. He founded his own political party, Tehreek-e-Insaf (Justice Movement), in 1996. In spite of Tehreek-e-Insaf’s initial struggles, Khan’s populist positions found support, especially among young people. He continued his criticism of corruption and economic inequality in Pakistan and opposed the Pakistani government’s cooperation with the United States in fighting militants near the Afghan border. Eventually, in 2018, Khan’s party was able to win the elections forming a coalition government, with him emerging as the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Khan’s writings include Warrior Race: A Journey Through the Land of the Tribal Pathans (1993) and Pakistan: A Personal History (2011).

Dr. Moeed Yusuf is a Pakistani scholar and author. He is currently serving as the National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of Pakistan in the capacity of an Assistant to the Prime Minister of Pakistan on National Security Division and Strategic Policy Planning since December 2019. He previously served as the Chairman of the Strategic Policy Planning Cell.

He has also served as the associate Vice President at the Asia Center at the United States Institute of Peace. He is the author of Brokering Peace in Nuclear Environments: U.S. Crisis Management in South Asia. Previously, he wrote columns for The Friday Times, and has taught courses on political economy and defense economics at the Quaid-i-Azam University. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the Shorter College and Masters and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Boston University.

Professor Rafiq is currently serving as Head of Islamic Studies Department at GIFT University. She laid the foundation of one of the most flourishing departments of Islamic Studies’ exclusively for Women of Pakistan and was granted IRSIP award by Higher Education Commission of Pakistan for her placement in UCLA in 2012. She earned M.Phil degree from International Islamic University, Islamabad in Sharia & Law with one year diploma in classical Arabic Language.

Currently she holds advisory positions at Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Federal & Punjab ‘Public Service Commission’ and ‘Seerat Apex Committee’ at Ministry of Religious Affairs & Interfaith Harmony and focal person for Pakistan’s peaceful narrative (Paigham e Pakistan & Dukhtran e Pakistan) at GIFT University. Organized First National Conference on ‘Family Laws’ in collaboration with Lahore High Court Bar Association and a National Conference on Interfaith Dialogue in 21st century. Professor Rafiq has to her credit numerous publications in national and international journals and has presented numerous research papers abroad in USA, Europe, Asia and Middle East. She has served as regular guest speaker at Federal Judicial Academy and at numerous other eminent forums.

Mr. Syed Ahsan Aslam, Chief Disruption Officer - 1LINK, is a seasoned business professional having spent over 17 years in digital payments and cybersecurity domains. He has held several senior management positions in areas like strategy formulation, innovation, product management, technology sales and project management. He has been associated with institutions in APAC & MENA regions such as Wedge Networks and Arab Financial Services.

At 1LINK, he is heading the strategy, innovation, transformation, alliances and new product development functions. The focus area is to expedite digitization of payments across various segments of Pakistan’s economy such as P2P, P2B, P2G, G2P and B2B, by scaling the existing services while creating robust payment processing rails for new payments use cases.

Dr. Junaid S. Ahmad is currently a Professor of Religion and World Politics at GIFT University in Pakistan, and is on the Advisory Committee to the Prime Minister’s Office. He is the Director of Muslim World Studies Center in Islamabad, Pakistan. He is a Non-Resident Research Fellow at the Centre for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA) – Istanbul, and Secretary-General of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST) – Kuala Lumpur.

He served as president of the US-based National Muslim Law Students Association (NMLSA) and is on the Board of Peace for Life (PFL).Over the past two decades, he has been involved in numerous interfaith initiatives - including UPIC - both within Pakistan and globally to advance peace, harmony, and social justice.

Maleeha Bangash has held the position of Managing Director for the World Bank’s Investment Climate Reform Unit in partnership with the Government of Punjab in Pakistan and served under the Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa Ministry of Finance as the Head of Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) and Investment Climate Committee. In these roles, she worked to improve the EoDB Index, the dialogue between the public and private sectors, and the overall business climate in both provinces

A business strategist and finance expert, she has served in leading roles at Habib Asset Management Limited, UBL Fund Management, JS Investments and MLB Asset Management Co. She has also worked in the telecommunications and textiles industries, and studied or worked in the United States, Singapore, Turkey, and Malaysia. Maleeha has an MBA with honors in Finance and Investment from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and an MBA in Marketing and Finance from Lahore University of Management Sciences.

Mela Bush-Miles is a native Bostonian, esteemed lecturer, panelist and ambassador for Environmental Justice, Community Engagement/organizing, Transit-Oriented Development, and Climate Justice. She formerly served as the Acting Director and Lead Organizer for The Greater Four Corners Action Coalition. She is the Director of Transit Oriented Development and T Riders Union (TRU) at Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE).

She is the Former Chair of and now serves as the Special Advisor to the Fairmount Indigo Transit Coalition, and an active board member of the Rail Users Network. Mela designed and scaled the programs for related to transportation, food and eco-fashion for the largest environmental festival in New England, known as Boston GreenFest. Mela is a 2007 Senior Fellow of the Environmental leadership Program and an Aspen Ideas Scholar.

Ambreen Butt was born in Lahore, Pakistan and received her BFA in traditional Indian and Persian miniature painting from the National College of Arts in Lahore and her MFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Many institutions have exhibited her work including: the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, the Brooklyn Museum in Brooklyn, New York, the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, the Asia Pacific Museum in Pasadena, California, the Kunsthalle Fridericianum in Kassell, Germany, the National Art Gallery in Islamabad, Pakistan and the Sunshine Museum in Beijing, China.

Ambreen has been the recipient of many awards including the Brother Thomas Fellowship from the Boston Foundation, Maud Morgan Prize from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, a Joan Mitchell Foundation grant, and a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario, Canada. She has also appeared on NPR and PBS.

Father James Channan OP is a Pakistani Christian and a Dominican priest. In 1985 he was appointed by Pope John Paul II as Consultor to the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue and served for 10 years. Later on he was also appointed by Pope John Paul II for the period of 5 years as Consultor for the Vatican Commission for Religious Relations with Muslims. He is the author of 4 books and several of his articles are published in the international newspapers and magazines.

Twice he was invited by President of America, Barak Hussain Obama to participate in the international conferences at White House, USA in 2015 and 2016. On 15th of October, President of Pakistan, Dr. Arif-ur-Rehman Alive presented him “National Peace Award” in Islamabad. He is currently the Director of Peace Center in Lahore, Pakistan which is established by the Dominicans in Pakistan. He is also URI Regional Coordinator Asia-Pakistan.

Rev. Robert Chase is a Fellow at Seton Hall University’s School of Diplomacy and International Relations. Prior to his current position, he served for ten years as Founding Director of Intersections International, a global initiative of the Collegiate Church of New York. Before Intersections, Rev. Chase served as Director of Communication for the one million-member United Church of Christ and was Founder and President of Creative Connections in Media, a full-service communications company based in Rhinebeck, NY.

He is an author, playwright and award-winning video producer/director. Rev. Chase is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. He earned a Master of Divinity Magna cum Laude from New Brunswick (N.J.) Theological Seminary, and a B.A. with honors in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania.

Rev. Dr Art Cribbs is pastor of the Los Angeles Filipino American United Church of Christ. He founded the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, a statewide organization in California. He is the ethics instructor for the California Department of Justice’s Executive Development Course for police chiefs, sheriffs, and command staff. He is the former executive director of the United Church of Christ’s Office of Communications and served on the executive staff of the United Church Board for World Ministries.

He has written two plays, recently completed his first novel, is a jazz-performance artist and an Emmy Award winning newscaster. Art received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the University of California, Berkeley; Master of Divinity degree from the Chicago Theological Seminary; and, the Doctorate of Ministry in ethics from the Claremont School of Theology.

Dr. Noor Fatima is Assistant Professor at the International Islamic University, Islamabad. Prior to this, she served in the government sector for 15 years and completed her MS and PhD in Political Economy in Germany. She is the recipient of the US Department of Education’s prestigious Martin Luther King Jr. Award and is the maiden South Asian woman to receive the award due to her unique approach to education.

She believes in recognizing and celebrating the necessity of cross-cultural, cross-faith and cross-background understanding among people, along with the undeniable effect acceptance and open-mindedness has on education, and its relationship with conflict resolution.She also has written extensively for local and international journal on topics such as Pakistan’s Energy Scenario, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Globalization, Democracy in Pakistan, Indo-Afghan Relations etc.

Chris Ferguson is an ordained minister in the United Church of Canada (UCC), obtaining his Master of Divinity degree from the Vancouver School of Theology in 1978. Besides his master’s degree from the Vancouver School of Theology, his post-graduate theological studies were at the University of Montréal Faculty of Theology in the pastoral studies department From 2011-2014 Ferguson served in Colombia with the Programme for Ecumenical Accompaniment in Colombia (PEAC) as international ecumenical advisor.

Over the last three decades Ferguson has been an active participant and leader in various WCC committees and commissions in Latin America and globally. As a member of the Heads of Agencies Network he helped initiate the first WCC funding roundtable. He has taken an active lead in global ecumenical advocacy and public witness for peace, justice, ecological justice and human rights.

Melody Fox Ahmed is the Director of Global Programs at the National Cathedral School in Washington, DC, and faculty in the religious studies department. Previously, she was the Associate Director for Programs at Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. From 2011-2016 she lead Georgetown University’s participation in the President's Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge.

From 2015-2017 organized the first international cohort, the International Higher Education Interfaith Leaders Forum, with participants from over 35 countries. She is a member of the US-Pakistan Interreligious Consortium and the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom and is a frequent speaker on issues relating to interreligious dialogue, activism, and religion and world affairs. She received her B.A. from Vanderbilt University and her M.A. in Global, International, and Comparative History from Georgetown University.

Rabbi Reuven Firestone is Regenstein Professor in medieval Judaism and Islam at Hebrew Union College, Los Angeles and affiliate professor of religion at the University of Southern California. Author of eight books and over one hundred scholarly articles on Judaism, Islam, their relationship with one another and with Christianity, Professor Firestone lectures at universities in Europe, Asia and the Middle East as well as throughout North America.

He is active on the boards of numerous scholarly journals and commissions treating interreligious relations and dialogue, Firestone was Vice President of the Association for Jewish Studies and President of the International Qur’anic Studies Association.

Lara Goldmark founded Just Results to disrupt the international development industry. She’s known for leading projects that have lasting success, and for bringing others together to do the same. Formerly Lara was Vice President for Economic Growth at DAI and Director of Private Sector Innovations at FHI 360.

Her 27-year career includes time living and working in Brazil, North Africa, and 20+ other emerging market countries, with specialization in investment climate reform, workforce development, and agricultural value chains. She has taught at Columbia University and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and published articles and books on microfinance, workforce development, and jobs.

Dr. Alec L. Hansen is a micro- and macro economist. He has worked with Just Results to analyze which economic sectors in Tunisia were most likely to generate growth and jobs, and which administrative procedures would generate the most “bang for the buck” if reformed. He has directed competitiveness initiatives in over 25 countries.

He taught economics for three years at Boston University, and has lectured on competitiveness and cluster development at the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and Kenyatta University in Nairobi, and is currently teaching as a Visiting Professor at the Mediterranean School of Business in Tunis. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Boston University, and a B.A. in economics from U.C. Berkeley.

Spencer is a Master of Business Administration Candidate specializing in Finance as well as a Master of Arts Candidate in Diplomacy and International Relations. He is currently working for the Rockefeller Foundation in the Equity and Economic Opportunity division. He is an aspiring financial index provider aiming to specialize in geopolitical risk analysis and environmental and social governance (ESG).

His Masters research implements Bloomberg Terminal Software and SPSS to measure the effects of geo-economic risk and perceived national security threats on the portfolio preferences of institutional and individual investors amid the US-China Trade War conflict. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Japanese and International Business from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Sofia Hussain is working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of English, International Islamic University, Islamabad (IIUI). Her research interests include Feminist Literary Studies, Critical and Feminist Pedagogies, South Asian Fiction and Comparative literature.

Besides her academic pursuits, she is also one of the founding members of the Critical Thinking Forum (CTF) and has also worked as the Project Assistant of CTF’s grant project titled “Consciousness-Raising of Pakistani Women on Contemporary Academic and Social Issues (2015-2018)” which was carried out in collaboration with the Department of State, US Embassy, Islamabad. Currently, she is working as the Research Assistant of a project “Women Writing Pakistan: Gender in the South Asian Literary Landscape”2020 with Dr. Rachel Carroll, Teesside University, UK.

Shehryar has over two decades of wide ranging experience in Technology, Media and Communication. He has worked in leadership roles for technology firms in addition to being a core founding member in media and tech startups. Shehryar is currently a consultant working in the technology sector in Pakistan. Till recently, he headed P@SHA as the Secretary General.

As the official trade association of the IT and ITeS industry, P@SHA has achieved historic milestones by partnering with the government on launching a Digital Pakistan Policy and getting unprecedented tax and infrastructure incentives for the industry. The association is also working closely with the federal and provincial governments on their upcoming IT policies and infrastructure projects. Prior to P@SHA, he was the Director, Marketing & Operations and Member of the Board at Convo.com. Convo is an Enterprise Social Network and is one of the successful tech product companies out of Pakistan, having raised over $14 million from investors such as Morganthaler Ventures and Adobe. Before Convo, Shehryar co-founded Trango Interactive, an award-winning game development and animation studio listed in the Red Herring Asia 100. The pioneering studio kickstarted the games and CG industry in Pakistan and worked with top global brands such as Lucas Arts, Nike, Discovery Channel, Lexus, Audi, Toyota, UPS, Reebok and Konami among others. Shehryar also volunteers as a mentor and advisor to startups on platforms such as Invest2Innovate, Founders Institute and the National Incubation Centres under IGNITE

Dr Faheem ul Islam is working as Professor of Management and Rector at GIFT University. Dr. Faheem has PhD from Cambridge University, MBA from National University of Singapore, LUMS and a B.Sc.from The University of Engineering & Technology, Lahore. Before joining GIFT University, Dr Faheem worked as Member Private Sector Development, Trade and Competitiveness at Planning Commission, Government of Pakistan.

Dr Faheem ul Islam has designed and delivered numerous very successful executive and advanced degree courses and delivered consultancy around the world in areas of Corporate Strategy and Competitiveness, Marketing and Branding, Technology Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Leadership Development, Organizational Change and Development, Policy and Industrial Strategy, International Management and Marketing, Social Sector Management, and Governance.

Robert Jensen is Emeritus Professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin and a founding board member of the Third Coast Activist Resource Center. He collaborates with the Ecosphere Studies program at The Land Institute in Salina, KS. Jensen is the author of many books, and co-producer of the documentary film “Abe Osheroff: One Foot in the Grave, the Other Still Dancing” (Media Education Foundation, 2009).

He is also associate producer of the documentary film Prairie Prophecy: The Restless and Relentless Mind of Wes Jackson and is collaborating with Jackson on a book that captures his key insights in agriculture, ecology, and culture http://robertwjensen.org/

The fact that Frederick Johnson has opened for both Aretha Franklin and Dr. Deepak Chopra points to his versatility as an artist. An acclaimed jazz vocalist, author and arts educator, Frederick is a graduate of the National Academy of the Performing Arts as well as the Master Performers School of the National Mime Theater. He is recognized globally for his work in the health and wellness community.

Frederick presents lectures and seminars all over the world. Mentored by masters of the African oral and percussion legacy, Frederick has been hailed as one of the true guardians of an oral tradition transplanted and nurtured to create a fusion of cultural heritage that is uniquely American and inherently African. Frederick currently serves as Community Engagement Specialist and Director of The Arts Legacy and Arts and Healing initiatives at The David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa, Florida.

As an artist who has been called “stunningly original” with “a visionary imagination,” composer and pianist, Daniel Kelly explores the meeting place of music with literature, visual art and journalism. Each of his concert-length works have transformed stories everyday people - farmers, teachers, students, immigrants, hurricane survivors and seniors - into dramatic and compelling music that celebrates our shared human experience.

Kelly’s music has been declared “powerfully moving” by Time Out New York, and he has brought his unique talent to performances with Grammy award-winning jazz legends Michael Brecker and Joe Lovano, hip-hop star Lauryn Hill, and modern classical giants the Bang on a Can All-Stars, to name a few. Kelly has toured throughout Southeast Asia and India as a part of the Kennedy Center/US State Department-sponsored Jazz Ambassador program and has composed for chamber orchestra, string quartet, film and multimedia theater works.

Fauzia Khan, MD, FCAP, is a healthcare leader, senior executive and serial entrepreneur experienced in developing and operationalizing cutting edge, technology-enabled business solutions.She is the Co-founder, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Persivia, a Health IT business that has created an Artificial Intelligence (AI) online platform to provide real-time data to public health authorities.

Recently featured in both the Wall Street Journal and Newsweek, Persivia has also started an artificial intelligence tool that can predict which patients have COVID-19 before being tested. In addition, Dr. Khan is the CEO of Soliton Technologies an AI driven analytics company in Lahore, Pakistan.Dr. Khan is a recipient of several industry awards. She has also published several articles in US News & World Report, Becker’s Hospital Review and HealthITAnalytics

Born in Singapore, Michelle is a third year Bachelor of Arts student at the University of Western Australia, majoring in International Relations and Political Science and Law and Society. She has been an intern at the Centre for Muslim States and Societies, where she authored a report evaluating the counter-radicalization and de-radicalization programs in four different countries.

This has helped foster her interest in the different programs that countries have employed to tackle radicalization and the lessons they could learn from each other. Michelle has also interned at the Modern Slavery Research Cluster and the State Records Office of Western Australia. Outside of university, she enjoys playing netball, going to Korean barbecue with her friends, and visiting her family in Singapore

Chayva is a rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. At Wellesley College, she studied Linguistics and Middle Eastern Studies, studied abroad in Amman, Jordan, and returned to serve as the Hillel President and Representative to the Middle East Task Force.

She moved to Washington, D.C. after graduating, where she professionalized her interest in international affairs in the offices of Congressman Henry Waxman and the U.S. Agency for International Development. Upon leaving USAID, she moved to Philadelphia, where she found a love for Reconstructionist Judaism. To transition into rabbinical school, she hiked 1300 miles of the Appalachian Trail and biked the Portuguese route of the Camino de Santiago. She loves hiking, blues and swing dancing, soccer, and traveling simply.

Anjum Malik is a specialist in global/local, cross-cultural and multi-sectoral project design, execution, and evaluation with a key focus on people-centric, impact-driven, and sustainable solutions.She has collaborated with the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC), the International Committee on the Conservation of Mosaics (ICCM), the Aga Khan Cultural Service Pakistan (AKCSP), and the Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA).

Ms. Malik graduated magna cum laude from Cornell University in Archaeology and Anthropology and a minor in German Studies and holds a Master’s Degree in Sustainable and Cultural Heritage from The American University of Rome. She is currently the Communications Officer for the Rural Support Programmes Network (RSPN). She has specifically been involved in their project called SUCCESS (Sindh Union Council and Community Economic Strengthening and Support).

Ambereen Mirza is a strategic thinker and skilled negotiator with a track record of designing and scaling programs, building partnerships and creating legacies. She is an educator, public speaker, editor, writer, and entrepreneur with a keen interest in the environment, social enterprise, and public policy.

Her work supporting natural disaster programs from hurricanes in Texas, to earthquakes and floods in Haiti and across South Asia earned her the 2019 Green Initiative Leadership Award at the Green Business Breakfast organized by Boston GreenFest, New England’s largest environmental festival. Ambereen has long championed social entrepreneurship as a method to address systemic problems in society. She has taught undergraduate, graduate, and executive business level courses on entrepreneurship, corporate citizenship, civic engagement, and business ethics, including "Innovative Social Enterprises” for Tisch College of Civic Life and the Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts University. She has authored articles on private equity investment in real estate, healthcare, energy, and infrastructure in the MENASA region for the Economist Intelligence Unit, and was Lead Analyst and Editor for the Innovation in Government Services Benchmarking Report (2015) published for the Shaping Government Services Summit held in Dubai. The study profiled key government innovations in healthcare, education, and social services sectors across urban and rural populations. Her community engagement endeavors include advising various INGOs and social enterprises; and leading fundraising efforts as Secretary for the Pak-Millenium Conference Series. She is currently Secretary of OPEN (Organization of Pakistani Entrepreneurs) Global, and a Charter Member of OPEN Boston. Ambereen holds an M.A in International Public Policy from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, and a B.A in International Relations and History from Tufts University.

Jane McAuliffe is a senior fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs at Georgetown University. Her previous positions include inaugural Director of National and International Outreach at the Library of Congress, President of Bryn Mawr College, Dean of Arts and Sciences at Georgetown University, and Professor at the University of Toronto and Emory University. McAuliffe has written extensively on Islam and the Qur’an.

Her work has been supported by the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Bellagio Center of the Rockefeller Foundation (forthcoming). She is past president of the American Academy of Religion, a member of the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Union Européenne des Arabisants et Islamisants.

Brian Keenan Muzás graduated summa cum laude with a B.S.E. in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Princeton University. He received his Ph.D. from the Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin, obtained an M.S. in aeronautics from the California Institute of Technology.

At Seton Hall University, he received an M.Div. in pastoral ministry, an M.A. in systematic theology, and two John Paul II Medals for academic accomplishment. Father Muzás was ordained a Catholic priest in 2003. Assigned to a parish, he used his days off to teach computer science or international relations at SHU or to work in the NGO community at the United Nations, eventually serving two terms as Secretary of the NGO Executive Committee and as co-chair of numerous NGO annual conference subcommittees. Now an assistant professor at SHU’s School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Father Muzás directs the Center for United Nations and Global Governance Studies.

Mary E. Norton holds M.A., Ed.M., and Ed.D. degrees from Columbia University’s Teachers College (NY, USA) and a post-doctoral certificate in Bioethics and Medical Humanities from Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. She is a Fellow at the Center for UN and Global Governance Studies at Seton Hall University’s School of Diplomacy and International Relations (NJ, USA) where she also represents the School to the UN’s Department of Global Communications.

She is a full professor emeritus of Felician University, The Franciscan University of New Jersey, where she served as Associate Dean and Executive Director of the Center for Global Academic Programs. Dr. Norton received five Fulbright Awards: Jordan; Doha, Qatar; Visiting Lecturer, University of Kuopio, Helsinki, Finland; and Palestine as well as the Fulbright Alumni Award for “Direct Access to the Muslim World.” She developed baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs in Pakistan, Jordan, and Iran. Dr. Norton consulted for the WHO/Pan American Health Organization in the Caribbean area and served as an international external examiner in Muscat, Oman. In China she taught at Beijing Medical University while coordinating collaborative curriculum projects between Project Hope and the Ministry of Health. In Cambodian refugee camps in Thailand, Dr. Norton worked in collaboration with Cornell University Medical School, the International Rescue Committee, and the UN High Commission for Refugees. Dr. Norton received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Sigma Theta Tau, the International Honor Society in Nursing; the Felician University President’s Medallion; and was inducted into the Nursing Alumni Hall of Fame of Columbia University’s Teachers College. Dr. Norton’s published, collaborative, international breast cancer research was funded by the Scientific Committee of the University of Jordan (Amman, Jordan).

Rev. Bernice Powell Jackson currently serves as pastor of The First United Church of Tampa. Dr. Jackson was the North American President of the World Council of Churches for more than two decades. From 1999-2005 she served as Executive Minister for Justice and Witness Ministries of the United Church of Christ.

Locally, she served a three year term as co-President of the Hillsborough Organization of Progress and Equality, an inter-faith community organization that works for systemic change in the Tampa area and she still chairs their criminal justice reform committee.

Ms. Waiza Rafique is a Pakistani lawyer, women rights activist and a gender equality advocate. She has been the Additional Secretary General of the Lahore High Court Bar Association's Committee on Gender Equality and Diversity. She is the founder of Waiza Rafique Advocates and Legal Consultants (WRALC), a Lahore based Law Firm, and the Chairperson of Human Rights Center, a center working under the Law Firm to provide pro-bono legal assistance to victims of gender-based crimes.

She is regularly invited at various national TV channels as a legal analyst and writes for national and international newspapers and platforms on issues pertaining to women and gender disparity. She has collaborated with organizations such as UN Women, Aurat Foundation, South Asian Partnership, Women in Law Initiative and Punjab Commission on Status of Women among others on issues pertaining to women. Waiza has also been awarded with Fatima Jinnah Award by Fatima Jinnah Professional Forum, Pakistan on account of her services for women empowerment.

Osama Rizvi is an economic, geopolitical, and global oil market analyst based in Lahore, Pakistan. He is a columnist for various English-language newspapers and has written for international media outlets. His work has been featured on Business Insider, USA Today, Fox Business and elsewhere. He is the Former Founding Director of U&I Global, an organization that aims to highlight the issues of youth all around the world and spread pluralistic values.

He has worked with the United Nations and contributed to various sessions for the 68th United Nations Civil Society Conference. He is now working on a platform to encourage innovation and research amongst youngsters of Pakistan in particular and around the world in general. He wants to contribute to a more equal, just and peaceful world mainly through devising policies that are inclusive in nature and promote inter-generational justice, equality of access to opportunity and improved living standards that are evenly distributed among every strata of the society. He is a firm supporter of women rights and believe in their empowerment.

Dr. Samad graduated from the Aga Khan University MBBS program in 2000. She completed residency in internal medicine, a fellowship in cardiology, and a Masters in Clinical Research at Duke University. After completing training in 2009, she served on Duke University faculty (2009-2018). She joined the Aga Khan University in 2018.

Dr. Samad’s clinical and research efforts are focused on understanding the epidemiology and outcomes of heart disease. Her mentorship and educational efforts have been recognized with several awards. An important part of her professional vision is to improve cardiovascular health in Pakistan through gender inclusive capacity building efforts that fully leverage available data resources and global connections.

Najia Siddiqui is the director of ADORN Online, a social enterprise founded in 2010. ADORN builds on the traditional skills of artisans in rural Khairpur, Sindh and the urban areas of Karachi. As a result, the artisans are able to receive higher returns from their sales since the products are higher quality and custom-made, and thus have a higher retail price than locally sold crafts.

She has worked as a journalist and has been in the development sector in Pakistan for over 20 years. She has a BA in Political Science & Economics from Wellesley College and a MS in Managing Rural Change from the University of London.

James has spent years working in the development sector, specializing in education and youth development. James has also studied Conflict, Security and Development MA from King’s College London. James founded an organization promoting sustainable development globally, U&I Global, through engaging media content and high-impact projects promoting the local community first.

Having previously worked for the UK Government’s flagship-youth and community development programme, NCS, James hopes to replicate many of the successes with U&I Global by promoting sustainable development from the bottom up, empowering youth, and promoting strong inclusive values.

Canon Sarah Snyder is the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Special Adviser for Reconciliation. She is a theologian who specialises in Jewish-Christian-Muslim relations, with wide-ranging international experience in inter-religious peace-building and dialogue.Sarah has worked at the United Nations as Director of Partnerships with Religions for Peace International.

Sarah founded, and now directs, the Rose Castle Foundation - an international centre of reconciliation offering a safe space in which to address misunderstanding of the "other", particularly those of different religious traditions.

Tamara Sonn is the Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani Professor in the History of Islam, and director of the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at the Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. Her most recent books include Islam and Democracy After the Arab Spring (with John L. Esposito and John O. Voll; Oxford 2016), Islam: History, Religion, and Politics (Wiley Blackwell 2016 -- named the 7th of “89 Best Islamic History Books of All Time” by the Book Authority), and Is Islam an Enemy of the West? (Polity 2016).

Her Comparing Religions through Law: Judaism and Islam (with Jacob Neusner. Routledge, 1999) was named “One of the Best Books of the 1990s"; by the Journal of Law and Religion. She has published over 100 chapters and articles, and her works have been translated into Arabic, Bengali, German, Portuguese, Korean, and Russian. She has lectured in North America, Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. Her research has been supported by the American Council of Learned Societies, Fulbright, and the U.S. Department of State, among others. She is founding editor-in-chief of Religion Compass, Oxford Bibliographies Online--Islamic Studies, and senior editor of Oxford Islamic Studies Online and Oxford’s Encyclopedia of the Islamic World, as well as Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion.

Dr. Faraz Talat is a training psychiatrist who has practiced in Devon, England, and is currently based in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. He is a graduate of Wah Medical College. Dr. Talat is a CBT practitioner and an art therapy coach who works at Soch Psychological Clinics. He is also the Deputy Chief Executive of Talat Nursing Home, a medical center catering primarily to low- income communities in Rawalpindi.

Dr. Talat speaks regularly at various universities and other public events regarding mental health and suicide-prevention. He is a columnist at Pakistan Today, and the author of 74, an upcoming medical science-fiction book. Dr. Talat is also the co-founder and CEO of Cafe Sol, and the creator of iO - The Space, a thriving community space in Islamabad.

Ali Tariq is Lecturer at Department of Hadith, faculty of Islamic Studies, International Islamic University, Islamabad (IIUI) His fields of interests are Quranic Studies, Hadith & Seerah, Madrassah Educational/Teaching Reforms, Inter/Intra faith activities and Scriptural Reasoning (SR).

He was born in Abu Dhabi, graduated from a classical Islamic Madrassah in Pakistan and holds Masters in Arabic, and Islamic Studies, and a BA and MA in English Literature. He has lectured and led Scriptural Reasoning sessions in in many parts of Europe, Asia and the USA including Cambridge, Yogyakarta and Georgetown. He is currently a doctoral fellow of Hadith and Seerah (Islamic Studies) and soon, God willing, to submit his doctoral theses.

Rabbi Simkha Y. Weintraub, LCSW serves as Rabbinic Director of the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services. Rabbi Weintraub’s major responsibilities at the Jewish Board are with the NY Jewish Healing Center which integrates Jewish spiritual resources into counseling.

He has designed workshops on Jewish spiritual resources, written and lectured widely on applying traditional texts and practices for Jewish spiritual healing. Rabbi Weintraub, ordained by JTS in 1982, received a Master’s in Social Work from Columbia (1983), and graduated from the Couples/Family Therapy Program of the Postgraduate Center for Mental Health (1988.) He maintains a private practice in Couples/Family Therapy in New York.

Paul has toured the world, performing over 3,000 concerts in 52 countries. With his music, he has found a means to connect people to a sense of place, promote relatedness to the larger community of life, and assist groups supporting local cultural and biological diversity.He has produced 45 albums for his Living Music label, seven of which have won Grammy Awards.

In recognition of musical and ecological work, he has received a Global 500 Award from the United Nations, the Joseph Wood Krutch Medal from the United States Humane Society, the Peace Abbey’s Courage of Conscience Award, the Spirit of the City Award presented at New York’s Cathedral of St John the Divine, and an honorary Doctorate of Music from the University of Hartford.

VProfessor Samina Yasmeen is Director of Centre for Muslim States and Societies and lectures in Political Science and International Relations in the School of Social Sciences, the University of Western Australia (UWA), Perth. Professor Yasmeen is a specialist in political, and strategic developments in South Asia (particularly Pakistan), the role of Islam in world politics, and citizenship among immigrant women.

Professor Yasmeen is currently a member of the National Consultative Committee of the National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies, University of Melbourne; a Vice-President of the Australian Institute for International Affairs (WA Branch), and a member of the Red Cross WA International Humanitarian Law Committee. She was awarded the 2011 WA Citizenship Sir Ronald Wilson Leadership Award; inducted into the WA Women’s Hall of Fame on 8 March 2012; and was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Institute of International Affairs in November 2012. She received the Award of the Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in June 2014.