Past Speakers

4th Round Highlighted Speakers

Dr. Bhavani Rao

Dr. Bhavani Rao is the Dean of the School of Social and Behavioural Sciences of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (Amrita University), a top-ranked University in India. She is the Director of two Research Centers: AMMACHI Labs (Amrita Multi Modal Applications and Human Computer Interaction) and the Center for Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality. She has been designated as India’s UNESCO Chair in Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment. Her work focuses on empowering underserved communities, especially women in rural areas, through capacity building and vocational skills, using the latest technologies. Since 2009, she has led many projects funded by international, national and foreign organizations (including UN agencies and the Government of India).

Prof. JosAnn Cutajar

JosAnn Cutajar is a lecturer in Gender and Sexualities Department at the University of Malta. She has over 20 years of professional experience as a gender and community development expert. She has worked as a consultant with various Maltese government entities. From 2017-2020 she acted as the coordinator for the Consultative Council for Women’s Rights within the Ministry for Justice, Equality and Governance. Between 2012-2017 she helped set up the Cottonera Resource Centre within the University of Malta as a university outreach post in a socially deprived area. This project won the 2016 EPALE award for community engagement. Her publications focus on community development and issues relating to gender and social justice. She has also been involved in a number of EU projects, namely GEPARD (Erasmus+), GenderAction (Horizon 2020) and reSEArch-EU (Horizon 2020).

Prof. Nalini Moodley

Prof Nalini Moodley is currently the Executive Dean and Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Design at the Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa. She has a B.A (Fine Arts), M.A. (Art History) cum laude, a University Post Graduate Certificate in Education (cum laude) and completed her PhD in Art History that focused on the visual art produced by Indian South Africans. Professor Moodley also has an MBA in Education Management from the Haaga-Helia University of Applied Science in Finland which focused on the barriers for women in higher education leadership. She is currently the Chairperson of the Women in Leadership Forum and the Chair of the Task Team on Gender Based Violence at the Tshwane University of Technology. She is a mentor for HERSA offering mentorship for women in tertiary education and a member of the Advisory Council of the Oxford Women’s Leadership Symposium.

Dr. Rebecca Ranz

Dr. Rebecca Ranz (PhD.) is a Jewish religious woman. She is a Senior Lecturer at the Sapir Academic College in Israel. Dr. Ranz completed her first, second and third degrees in social work at The School of Social Work at Bar- Ilana University, Israel. She is the International Programs Coordinator for the School of Social Work at the Sapir Academic College. Her main areas of research are: Religion, Spirituality & Social Work and International Social Work. She has developed both classroom and virtual courses focused on the integration of spirituality and religion in social work.

Dr. Amer Bani Amer

Dr. Amer Bani Amer is the founder and general director of Al-Hayat Center – Rased, established in 2006, leading a range of pioneering development projects and programs in Jordan and across the MENA region. He’s a major advocate of gender mainstreaming in political and democratic life and focuses on implementing community-based programs to empower women and build their capacities.

Dr. Alexandra-Andreea Rusu

Alexandra Rusu graduated from the Doctoral School of the National University of Arts in Bucharest, obtaining a doctorate in Fine Arts and Decorative Arts. She is currently working as a curator at Filipescu-Cesianu House (Bucharest Municipality Museum), the first museum of urban anthropology in Romania. Her research focuses on dress history and anthropological perspectives on traditional weaving techniques. In her writings, she also addresses social history and urban anthropology issues, with Bucharest as a case study. She is (co-) author of several articles, collective contributions, e-books and is a member of the Union of Fine Artists in Romania (UFAR) respectively The Association of Dress Historians (UK).

Dr. Shiho Hansen

Shiho Hansen has got Ph.D. in International Health (Medical Science) from the Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University. Her current position is Research & Development Advisor, at Sámi Norwegian National Advisory Unit for Mental Health and Substance Use (SANKS), Finnmark Hospital Trust, Norway. Her areas of Interest are health behaviors & adolescent sexual and reproductive health in Central America (Nicaragua, Guatemala & Honduras).

Dr. Khaled Igbaria

Khaled Igbaria is a Lecturer at Kaye Academic College in Israel. He has got his PhD in Arabic Modern Literature, from the University of Edinburgh and his M.A and B.A in Arabic Language and Literature, Tel Aviv University. His research fields and interests are literary feminism, realism and intertextuality within narratives and poetry. His last article is: (2020) Arab Spring Revolutions throughout Modern Arabic Poetry. Asian Journal of Humanities and Social Studies, 8(4): 142-153.

Dr. Ahlam Othman

Dr. Ahlam Othman is an Associate Professor of English Language & Literature at the Faculty of Arts & Humanities, British University in Egypt. She gained her doctorate in English Literature from Al-Azhar University, Egypt. She also has a Master of Arts in Teaching English as a Foreign Language from the American University in Cairo, Egypt. Dr. Othman is a member of the Egyptian Writers’ Union, board member of the Egyptian Society of Comparative Literature, editor of Muqaranat, an annual peer-reviewed journal, and reviewer for the National Center for Translation. Her research interests are Comparative Literature, Literary Translation and Comparative Poetics.

Dr. Suparna Das

Suparna Das is teaching as Assistant Professor of Economics in Asian University for Women since Fall 2019. She has obtained doctorate in Economics with Summa Cum Laude from Central European University, Hungary in 2019. After completing MA in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University (India), she has gained fifteen years of research experience in various international and national institutes, think tanks and NGOs of India. Her research focuses on economic development with special emphasis on gender inequalities, household behaviour, and poverty.

Dr. Laura Diamanti

Laura Diamanti holds a Ph.D. in General and Historical Linguistics and of Modern Languages (University Guglielmo Marconi of Rome) and a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics (University of Macerata). Her research interests include Ecolinguistics and Eco-translation, English Language and Translation, Textual Linguistics, Corpus Linguistics, Gender Markedness, Grammaticalization. She is Member of: – IEA, The International Ecolinguistics Association; – the Gender Studies Network – ESSE; – Challenging Precarity A Global Network; – JJIF The James Joyce Italian Foundation. She is Lecturer of English Language at the 1st Cycle Degree in Modern Languages and Literatures at the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio.

Dr. Shelley Jones

Shelley Jones, Professor in the College of Interdisciplinary Studies, Royal Roads University, has teaching experience at all levels (pre-primary to tertiary) in diverse international contexts (Tanzania, Uganda, Canada, England, and Japan). Her research and publications are focused in the areas of gender and education, girls and women’s empowerment, feminist participatory action research, and children’s rights.

Prof. Dr. Penny Harvey

Penny Harvey is a PhD in Sociology and WGSS, Assistant Professor of Sexuality Studies, California Institute of Integral Studies, Gender; Sexuality; Family; Health; Culture; Pedagogy.

Dr. Ly Quyet Tien

Lecturer and Researcher at Eastern International University (Binh Duong), Doctor Ly Quyet Tien has been guest lecturer at many universities in Vietnam. He holds bachelor’s degrees in History & in English from University of Social Sciences and Humanities. He also holds M.A. degrees in FLE from University of Rouen, in Vietnam History from the Southern Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities in HCMC. In 2008, he received his Ph.D. in Oriental Studies and Humanities from University of Paris 7- Diderot. Specialist in Vietnamese studies, he has participated as presenter in international conferences since 2014.

Dr. Hazel T. Biana

Dr. Hazel T. Biana is a Research Fellow at the Southeast Asia Research Center and Hub (SEARCH), and a faculty member of the Department of Philosophy at De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines. She is the current Vice President of the Philosophical Association of the Philippines (PAP) and the Chair of the Diversity, Inclusivity, and Equality Committee of the Union of Societies and Associations of Philosophy in the Philippines (USAPP). In 2021, she received a Hypatia Diversity Project Grant from the University of Oregon. This year, she received a grant from the Feminist AI Research Network for research on artificial intelligence and the transit safety of women. Her research interests include feminist philosophy, gender studies, cultural criticism and other interdisciplinary topics.

Dr. Ayesha Alketbi

Ayesha Alketbi is Assistant Professor at Zayed University. She got her PhD degree in Philosophy from University of Sharjah. Before joining ZU, she served in Institute of applied technology and Ministry of education. She is interested in studying topics in law and Islamic jurisprudence. she has published books and papers.

Dr. Barbara Magnanelli

Barbara Sveva Magnanelli is an Assistant Professor of Accounting and Management and Chair of the Department of Business Administration in John Cabot University, Rome, Italy. She took her PhD in Management at LUISS Guido Carli University, in Rome, in 2011. Her research focus relies on corporate governance issues, with particular regard to the board of directors, gender diversity in boardrooms and financial statement frauds. More recently she has stated to develop a keen research interest on female leadership. She regularly publishes her works in high quality academics journals and presents working paper to main academic conferences.

Dr. Rosario Pozo Gordaliza

European Doctor in Sociology from the UGR (2011), Diploma in Social Education (UVA) and Bachelor of Psychopedagogy (ULE) with several Master’s specializations in social problems, qualitative social research methodology, ethnicity and gender at a national and international level. She has been a fellow and contracted FPU or Research Staff Training Program of the MEC in the Sociology Department of the UGR (2004-2009) with a thesis on female juvenile delinquency and life trajectories of young women in juvenile justice. From 2009 to 2011, she worked on international cooperation and gender projects, consultancy and social research at AECID and various NGOs. Highlighting her work in Southeast Asia on gender-based violence and trafficking for sexual exploitation. She is currently Contracted Doctor at the University of the Balearic Islands, Department of Theory and History of Education and teaches undergraduate courses related to gender, (and master’s) socio-educational intervention.

Dr. Diana K. Kwok

Dr. Diana K. Kwok is Associate Professor with the Department of Special Education and Counselling at the Education University of Hong Kong. With a background as mental health and sexuality counsellor for years, her recent research interests include sexuality education and counseling; school experiences of LGBTQIA+ students, sexuality education for students from ethnic minority and disability groups. She received Early Career Award from the Hong Kong Research Grant Council.

Dr. Michał Mazurkiewicz

Michał Mazurkiewicz, PhD habil., is an associate professor at Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce, Poland. His main research interests are: American, British and Polish cultures, especially the subjects connected with sport history and the presence of sport in culture. His scholarly contributions include numerous publications in academic journals, book chapters, as well as presentations at international conferences.

Dr. Sigal Levy

Dr Levy holds a PhD in statistics and is a senior lecturer at the Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yaffo. Her main research interests are health-related quality of life, life events and post-trauma, and group learning and teaching. Her recent research includes childbirth and parenting, pregnancy loss and post-trauma, religion and body image, and chronic illnesses affecting psychological well-being.

Prof Dr. Paola Consuelo Ramos Martínez

Colombian teacher, researcher, and legal adviser on gender issues. Lawyer, Master in Gender Studies, Master in Human Rights, a Ph.D. student in Biolaw: bioethics, health, and human rights at the University of Murcia, Spain, and Ph.D. student in Gender Studies and Equality Policies from the University of Salamanca, Spain. Coordinator of the Research Seedbed on Gender, Diversity, and Law at the Santo Tomas University of Colombia.

Ms. Grace Chenxin Liu

Grace Chenxin Liu is a researcher, advocate, award-winning junior journalist, artist, and humanitarian from America. She is a United Nations & TEDx Speaker, member of the Global WOMENSCONF Scientific Committee, 1000 Girls, 1000 Futures and the Junior Academy of the New York Academy of Sciences, and the Stevens Initiative Alumni. As the Founder of Sharing to Empower, GLAM Ambassador, UNHCR Youth Champion, Global Youth Challenge Winner, and 2x national winner of NCACLS Speech Contest, she has more than 40 pieces of writing and artwork featured in academic journals, anthologies, newspapers, books, conference proceedings, and social media.

Ciera Merli

Ciera Merli (they/them) is a Graduate student at John Cabot University in Rome, Italy. They specialize in 20th Century Italian Art (spec. Scuola Romana and Antifacist art), Feminist Art History, and Queer Studies. They are currently working on their master’s thesis on Jewish-Italian artist Antonietta Raphael Mafai and have a special interest in witchcraft. They are the current President of the Art History Society at John Cabot.

Ms. Tirna Chatterjee

Tirna Chatterjee is a PhD scholar in the department of Cinema Studies in the School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU, New Delhi, India. She is from Calcutta and enjoys the company of cats and her interests are her subjective lack of interest in things and studies of everyday life, boredom, cities, affect theory, disinterest, leisure and the relations between eventative and non-eventative history writing.

Ms. Hijab Waheed

Hijab Waheed is a Research and Teaching Fellow at Lahore School of Economics. She did her MPhil in Economics from Lahore School of Economics. Her research interests include development economics, gender, agriculture, and applied microeconomics. She is currently working on multiple ongoing research projects at Center for Research in Economics and Business (CREB).

Ms. Salome Thomas

Salome Thomas have completed post graduate and post graduate diploma in research at Christ (Deemed to be University). She has done her bachelors in Sociology from Stella Maris Chennai and her schooling from Sishya, Chennai. Her area of studies is gender divide in workspace and households, women empowerment, women and child rights.

Mr. Aaron Nance

Aaron Nance has been in education for over ten years, working in underserved populations and schools to improve the quality of education and experience for Black students and to challenge policies that have stricken Black people from advancing in education. Currently, he is receiving his Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Ms. Prerana Das

Prerana Das is a PhD student and documentary filmmaker with a particular interest in stories of migration and processes of displacement in Northeast India. Her work deals with agrarian development, ethno-nationalism, and the relationship between politicized landscapes and personal memory. Her PhD research revolves around the relationships between political activism and ethno-political identity among women tea workers in the Siliguri Corridor.

Ms. Chidera Okolie

Chidera Okolie is a lawyer by training, an author of two fiction books, an advocate for gender, a team lead at the the Case Management Team of the Nigeria Commission for Refugees, Migrants and IDPs, humanist, and a lover of life. She is also a business professional with a wealth of transferable skills gained as a MSME business consultant and operation lead at the Space Station Nigeria, a shared office, and start-up incubation center at the heart of the capital city, Abuja. In 2016, she was named Fiction Writer of the Year and one of the 100 most influential Nigerian women under 40 at the first Nigerian women Awards.

Ms. Malini Sheoran

Malini Sheoran holds an Honours and Master’s degree in English from the University of Delhi, India and is currently pursuing PhD in English literature from the University of Edinburgh. She is also working as a tutor at my university. Her main research interests lies in the fields of gender and sexuality, queer of colour critique and environmental humanities, and her current research centers on intersectionality of queer theory and ecology in the African-American women writings of the twentieth century. She acted as a reader for the James Tait Black Prize in Fiction for August 2021.

Ms. Christina M. Paschyn

Christina M. Paschyn is an assistant professor of journalism at Northwestern University in Qatar. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism and a master’s in Middle Eastern Studies. She is a multimedia journalist and award-winning documentary filmmaker. Her research interests lie in journalism, filmmaking, gender, and women’s rights.

Ana de Mello Côrtes

Ana Côrtes is a PhD candidate at the University of Coimbra and a researcher at the Centre on Law & Social Transformation (co-owned by the University of Bergen and the Chr. Michelsen Institute). Her PhD research is funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology – FCT. Côrtes holds a bachelor’s degree in Law from the University of São Paulo and a master’s degree in Law and Development from the Getulio Vargas Foundation. She has book chapters and peer-reviewed articles published in English and Portuguese, and her main research interests are gender, sexuality, diversity, discrimination, and legal mobilization.

Mrs. Ayesha Muhamid Jamal Ansari

Ayesha holds an MPhil degree in Business Administration from Lahore School of Economics, Pakistan. She is currently employed as Deputy Registrar HRM Office and also Lecturer, Department of Business Administration in the same institute. Ayesha’s research interest are primarily in HR, Organizational Behavior and Consumer behavior. She holds a Deans Honors Award and a silver medal in the MBA Program.

Ms. Gloria Nyambura Kenyatta

Ms. Gloria Nyambura Kenyatta is a Kenyan Ph.D. Student in Political Science at the University of Freiburg, Germany, and a research fellow at the Arnold Bergstraesser Institute in Freiburg, Germany- a research institute working on socio-political issues in the Global South including Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. She is also the Deputy Clerk of Bomet County Assembly, a devolved legislature in Kenya. Her areas of interest include; gender equity, citizen engagement, political participation, devolved governance, public policy, volunteerism and community development. She was also a Speaker at the 3rd Global Conference on Women’s Studies.

Luisa Weyers

Luisa Weyers is a PhD candidate in human rights law at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. She holds a degree in German law (first state exam) and is currently working on a thesis on an intersectional-feminist perspective on the regional human rights protection from gender-based violence in the Inter-American, European, and African human rights systems.

Ms. Sepideh Hashemi

Sepideh Hashemi is a Ph.D. student at Tokyo University of the Art. She has B.A. and M.A. in photography from Tehran University of Arts. After achieving a grant from Japan’s government, she moved to Tokyo in 2017, where she did an MFA. Now she is concentrating on conducting workshops with focus on social, political and gender issues.

Mr. Zihao Zhuang

Mr. Zihao Zhuang is a researcher, advocate, social entrepreneur, humanitarian, and changemaker. He has founded Zhuang-Help Africa International based in Ghana to fight against inequality and poverty, and promote equal access and opportunities for the vulnerable groups in Africa.

Ms. Summer Sun

Summer Sun is a high school senior based in California, USA. Her focuses are on gender equity, disability awareness advocacy, and culture. Under the guidance of Professor Frieda Ekotto from the University of Michigan, she has authored multiple research papers regarding the language used to discuss race, disability, and gender.

Mr. Mohammad Amaan Siddiqui

Mohammad Amaan Siddiqui is a student pursuing a B.A. in International Studies at the American University of Sharjah, currently on an exchange semester at the University of Sussex in the UK. His interests span political studies, international relations, macroeconomic theory, and activist and feminist studies. Amaan is also a blogger (thevigilantmind) and author, having written a chapter in ‘Novus Politika.’

Claudia Antoniolli

Claudia Antoniolli is an Italian scholar specialising in queer, popular literature. After graduating from the University of Bologna and the University of Venice with thesis on queer fanfiction, she is currently a PhD candidate conducting research on lesbian crime fiction at the University of Waikato, located in Hamilton, New Zealand.

Mrs. Munira AlHugail

Munira Abdullah AlHugail, a Board Member in the Child Care Association in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, leading several projects in the association towards the well-being of the mothers and children. She obtained a bachelor in economy in 2004 from university of Manitoba & expected to complete a masters in Women studies from Princess Norah Bint Abdulrahman University in 2023.Appointed as the first women in Trading & Development Partnership in 2009, and still sit on the board of directors.

Ms. Jayseema Jagernath

Jayseema Jagernath holds a Master of Commerce degree from the University of KwaZulu Natal. Her career commenced with being in industry and thereafter academia, Jayseema worked for NGO, assisting those in rural area across the country to develop and manage resources. Jayseema currently fulfils the role of Deputy Head of School of Management at the IIE’s Varsity college, which is a brand of the Independent Institution of Education. She is responsible for academic management within the school, which runs across all campuses nationally. The author has specialised in Finance, Investments, Banking and Management and shares a passion for women empowerment.

Ms. Camille Maubert

Camille Maubert is a doctoral student at the University of Edinburgh’s Centre of African Studies. Her research, funded by the School of Social and Political Science’s Scholarship, explores discourses of development in the context of gender transformative work in the Democratic Republic of Congo. As a development practitioner, she also worked on the nature of humanitarian language and epistemic violence.

Ms. Mai Saad Abothnain

Mai Saad Abothnain is a student at Princess Noura University studying social work. Her hobbies include volunteering work and writing.

Ms. Michaela Guthridge

Michaela Guthridge is a gender and women’s human rights specialist with 14 years’ experience in social justice research and advocacy projects, with a particular focus on gender-based violence, human trafficking, forced marriage and indigenous people’s projects. She is currently a PhD Candidate at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia investigating how empathy can advance gender equality.

Ms. Suman ‘Lal’

Suman ‘Lal’ is pursuing Ph.D. and is currently a Research Scholar. She has published three articles in renowned Indian journals and has presented her paper at different national seminars.

Ms. Magnificent Schmidl

Magnificent Schmidl is a Master’s student in the Sex, Gender and Violence programme at the University of Aberdeen. Her dissertation focused on the omnidirectional relationship between political ideology and sexual fetish. After completing her bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies at Northern Vermont University in 2021, she is now an abortion doula and Outreach Coordinator at a grass-roots, feminist health center.

Ms. Manar Al-Houbi

Ms. Manar Al-Houbi has got her MA degree in linguestics and translation from IUG in Palestine. A researcher, project manager, and an English language teacher with 10 years of teaching experience. Her research interests are language and gender, culture, and film studies. Currently, she is leading a project on Palestinian films as part of the Culture for Inclusive and Sustainable Peace (CUSP) funded by United Kingdom (UK) Government’s Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).

Mrs. María José Erazo

María José Erazo, feminist, Economist, and a master’s Student in Social Science at the Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas in El Salvador. She works as a specialist at the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare. Her research focuses on labor market trends, dynamics and structure, and gender inequalities. Her areas of interest include feminist studies, macroeconomic theory, public policy on employment, and social protection systems.

Mary Jane Mallari

Mary Jane Mallari (Sky) is a Ph.D. candidate at Waseda University GSICCS in Tokyo, Japan. She is a highly experienced academic lecturer and has taught extensively in Japan and the Asia Pacific universities. Her research interest span Women and Gender Studies, Transient Migrations, and Comparative Literature and Culture. Her current research brings to the fore the image of Filipina women in the 21st century and the shadow of Maria Clara’s Ideology.