Speakers

Heidi Gregory-Mina, Ph.D.

Professor in Northeastern University

As a business psychologist, professor, and author, Dr. Heidi brings a unique combination of academic expertise and real-world experience to her clients, students, and readers. Her services are designed to help individuals and organizations improve their performance and achieve their goals through a better understanding of the science of human behavior. Dr. Heidi boasts an impressive portfolio, with numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals and other esteemed publications. She is also an award winning best-selling author and has graced the screens of FOX, NBC, CBS, and NBC. Beyond her professional endeavors, Dr. Heidi is a dedicated mom, loving wife, cherished daughter, and supportive sister. In her spare time, she finds joy in the world of dog sports.

Nafhesa Ali, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor in Northumbria University

Dr. Nafhesa Ali is an Assistant Professor in Sociology at Northumbria University and an interdisciplinary Sociologist with expertise in the everyday lives of racialized and minority communities. Her interests include ageing, migration, relationships and environmental sustainability. Nafhesa’s publications include three books, Older South Asian Migrant Women’s Experiences of Ageing in the UK: Intersectional Perspectives (2024), Storying Relationships (2021) and A Match Made in Heaven: British Muslim Women write about Love and Desire (2020). She also has journal publications in Sexualities, Ethnicities, Ethnic and Racial Studies and Cultural Geographies. Nafhesa is lead for the Power and Intersecting Inequalities (PII) Research Cluster in the Department of Social Sciences at Northumbria University.

Previous Speakers

Pranit Anand, Ph.D

Senior Lecturer in Information Systems at the University of New South Wales

Dr Pranit Anand is a Senior Lecturer in Information Systems at the University of New South Wales. He has a PhD from the University of Wollongong and the title of his thesis was "Using mobile phone technology outside class to develop first year university students' independent study skills". He is passionate about designing engaging learning environments for students, especially learning environments that address the needs of students from diverse backgrounds. Pranit is an accomplished educator. He is a Senior Fellow of HEA and a Fellow of HERDSA.

Muhammad Idrees

Muhammad Idrees, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Department of Rural Sociology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad

Muhammad Idrees was born in Sangla Hill, Punjab, Pakistan. He completed his early education from the government school and college and got distinction in matriculation examination. He started his professional career in 2011 after MSc Sociology as project officer in the Rural Development Organization, where he wins project on reproductive health and up gradation of health centers. In august 2014 he joined department of sociology and work there as focal person, academic coordinator. In GCUF, he wins the project titled "Demographic Dividend: A wave of challenges or opportunities in Punjab Pakistan from Higher education Commission of Pakistan worth 4.3 million. He completed his Ph.D. in Sociology and currently working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Rural Sociology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad. The University of Agriculture stands in 1 st position in the agricultural universities of Pakistan. His area of Research is Sociology of development, Population and Development, Youth Development, and Criminology. He had a number of research publication in international and national journal. Currently he is editor and reviewer of JCR Listed Journals. He submit project to Higher Education Commission Pakistan with the collaboration of Chines University Hohai on the titled CEPEC intervention in Pakistan.

Nasir Mahmood, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Department of Arabic & Islamic studies, University of Sialkot (USKT) Pakistan

He was born in Lahore and after completion his basic education he moved to Islamabad where he completed his BS in Arabic Language and Literature in 2008 and MS in Arabic Linguistics in 2012. In August 2013 he moved to Germany from where he received his PhD in Arabic Linguistics and Translation studies from University of Leipzig Germany, in July 2017. While his stay in Germany, he worked in different Universities as lecture where he used to teach Translation & Interpretation, Applied linguistics, and German and Urdu as foreign languages. He speaks 06 languages and worked in Germany as Translator and Interpreter from German language into Arabic, English, Urdu, Punjabi languages and vice versa. After completion his PhD, he started working in Germany as Lecturer of German language where he taught German language to non-native speakers until he came back to Pakistan in August 2018 and joined International Islamic University Islamabad and nowadays, he is serving University of Sialkot as Assistant Professor.

Abdullah Lagharia

Abdullah Laghari, Ph.D.

Lecturer, Department of English, Quaid-e-Awam University of Engineering, Science and Technology

Dr Abdullah Laghari is working as Lecturer at the Department of English, Quaid-e-Awam University of Engineering, Science and Technology, Nawabshah, Pakistan. He possesses a vast teaching experience at the university level. His research expertise lies in English Language Teaching, Professional Development, Teacher Education, etc. At his university, he has conducted several teacher education workshops, and seminars for novice and prospective teachers and professionals respectively. He has authored and co-authored many research articles in national and international journals. Dr Laghari has also presented many research papers at national as well as International conferences. He is recently done with his PhD research in Applied Linguistics from the University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Pakistan. He has completed a course "Professional Development of Teacher Trainers from Arizona University USA. He is also the reviewer of the International Journal of English Teaching and Learning. He is an Alumni of the Online Professional English Network OPEN. Besides, he is a member of 'The Society for Pakistani English Language Teachers' SPELT which is loacated in Karachi. At his University, he is a member of the Vice Chancellor's special committee 'The students' Consultative Bureau' SCB. Within a short period, Dr Laghari has emerged to be an innovative teacher, active researcher and master trainer.

David T. Mitchell, Ph.D.

Kurt Buhring, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies and Theology, Saint Mary's College

Kurt Buhring is Associate Professor of Religious Studies & Theology at Saint Mary's College (IN). Born near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, he earned his BA in Religious Studies from Grinnell College and his PhD in Theology from the University of Chicago Divinity School. Buhring is the author of Spirit(s) in Black Religion: Fire on the Inside (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022) and Conceptions of God, Freedom, and Ethics in African American and Jewish Theology (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008). Both of these texts are a part of Palgrave Macmillan's "Black Religion/Womanist Thought/Social Justice" series.

Buhring's research is focused in Black Theology of Liberation. In particular, he is interested in concepts of understanding the divine-human interaction in ways that foster human agency and positively transform the self and society. His research has also explored issues in modern Jewish theology, religion during the Great Depression, and religious expressions in film. At Saint Mary's College, Buhring teaches courses in social justice, Black theology, interfaith relations, religion and science, and Islam. He has also taught at Westville Correctional Facility as part of the Moreau College Initiative.

David T. Mitchell, Ph.D.

David T. Mitchell, Ph.D.

Professor, Department of English, George Washington University

Professor David Mitchell is a leading scholar in the field of Disability Studies and has been studying the Aktion T4 program and related histories for nearly 20 years. He teaches a yearly class in the English Department titled, "Origins of Nazi Genocide: Disability and the Holocaust"), which has also been selected as a study abroad course in 2014 and 2015. I have previously created a short documentary film, A World Without Bodies, that is featured as a required text on many university syllabi in Disability Studies nationally and internationally. The film has won multiple awards including Best Documentary, The Achievement Award, and Best Film at the Picture This! Film Festival in Winnepeg, Canada, the Breaking Barriers Film Festival in Moscow, Russia, and at the Superfest Disability Film Festival in Oakland, California, among others. My scholarship on Aktion T4 is featured as a chapter in my third book, Cultural Locations of Disability (U of Chicago P, 2006), as a featured essay in a special issue on Public Memory in the peer reviewed journal, Parallax (October 2017), and as a chapter in my most recently published edited collection, The Matter of Disability (U of Michigan P, 2018). He has also published several articles for the general public on the German website Gedenkort-T4.com. This substantive duration of investment in the topic has built upon his career as a filmmaker who can draw upon his dedication to this topic.

Enrique Mallen

Enrique Mallen, Ph.D.

Professor, Department of World Languages and Cultures, Sam Houston State University

Dr. Enrique Mallen earned his PhD in Theoretical Linguistics from Cornell University. He is Professor in the Department of World Languages and Cultures at Sam Houston State University. He has published numerous articles and books on linguistics, poetic language, semiotics and art history. Since 1997 he is director of the Online Picasso Project, a Digital Humanities publication dedicated to the analysis and dissemination of the works by the multilingual and multidisciplinary Pablo Picasso. Among his books are: Pablo Picasso: A Period of Transformation (1906-1916) (Liverpool University Press, Forthcoming 2023), Pablo Picasso and Dora Maar: A Period of Conflict (1936-1946) (Sussex Academic Press. 2021), Pablo Picasso: The Aphrodite Period (1924-1936) (Sussex Academic Press. 2020), Eduardo Espina: Poesía del Deslenguaje (Amargord Ediciones, 2019), Pablo Picasso: The Interaction Between Collectors and Exhibitions, 1899-1939 (Sussex Academic Press, 2018), Pablo Picasso: A Critical Chronology (Lumme Editor, 2017), La Pulsión del Lenguaje: Diálogos y Poemas de José Kozer (Lumme Editor, 2015), La Muerte y la Máscara en Pablo Picasso (Peter Lang, 2013), A Concordance of Pablo Picasso's French Writings (Edwin Mellen Press, 2010), A Concordance of Pablo Picasso's Spanish Writings (Edwin Mellen Press, 2009), Antología Crítica de la Poesía del Lenguaje (Editorial Aldus, 2009), Poesía del Lenguaje: De T. S. Eliot a Eduardo Espina (Editorial Aldus, 2008), La Sintaxis de la Carne: Pablo Picasso y Marie-Thérèse Walter (Red Internacional del Libro, 2005), The Visual Grammar of Pablo Picasso (Peter Lang, 2003) and Con/figuración Sintáctica: Poesía del Des/lenguaje (Red Internacional del Libro Editores, 2002).

Roberto Di Ceglie

Roberto Di Ceglie, Ph.D.

Professor, Department of Philosophy, Pontifical Lateran University

Roberto Di Ceglie is Full Professor of Philosophy of Religion at Pontifical Lateran University. He holds a PhD from The University of Edinburgh and a PhD from Pontifical Lateran University. He has been Visiting Scholar at Notre Dame University for 3 years. He has authored more than 10 books, including "Aquinas on Faith, Reason, and Charity" (New York: Routledge, 2022) and "God, the Good, and the Spiritual Turn in Epistemology" (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022). His essays have appeared in international journals such as, among others, "Philosophy", "Philosophia", "International Journal for Philosophy of Religion", "Theology and Science", "Heythrop Journal", "Philosophy and Theology", "International Philosophical Quarterly", "Philosophia Christi", "European Journal for Philosophy of Religion", "The Journal of Scottish Philosophy", "Sophia. International Journal for Philosophy and Traditions", and "New Blackfriars". He has co-authored with Paul Moser "Amore e obbedienza in filosofia" (Lindau 2013), and has translated A. Plantinga's "Warranted Christian Belief" into Italian (Lindau 2014). A book symposium has been devoted to "God, the Good, and the Spiritual Turn in Epistemology" at Society for Christian Philosophers 2022 Mountain-Pacific Meeting. He will be Keynote speaker at 2024 European Society for Philosophy of Religion Conference, where he will talk about digital immortality and religion.

Andrea Aguti, Ph.D.

Professor, Department of Economics, Society and Politics, University of Urbino

Andrea Aguti is Full professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Urbino (Italy), Department of Economics, Society and Politics, where he teaches Philosophy of Religion. His research areas are Philosophy of religion, Moral philosophy, Philosophical anthropology, and Systematic theology. As a continental philosopher of religion, he is involved in bridging the gap between the analytic and continental philosophy of religion. He has published seven books, including two introductory volumes to the philosophy of religion, more than one hundred essays and articles in national and international academic journals, and edited several books. His latest book, Morale e religione. Per una visione teistica (Religion and Morality. Toward a Theistic View), 2021 argues that theism has an explanatory advantage in both the justification and motivation of morality. Since 2016, he has been President of the Italian Association for Philosophy of Religion (AIFR) and Co-editor of the yearbook of philosophy and theology "Hermeneutica". As President of the European Society for the Philosophy of Religion (ESPR), in the two-year period 2022-2024, he is organizing the 24 th ESPR Conference to be held in Trento (Italy), 5-7 September 2024.

Javier Cifuentes-Faura, Ph.D.

Researcher, Department of Financial Economics and Accounting, University of Murcia

Javier Cifuentes-Faura works in the Department of Financial Economics and Accounting at the University of Murcia (Spain). He graduated in Business Administration and Management from the University of Murcia with the Extraordinary End of Degree Award and the best grade of the promotion. He has completed postgraduate studies such as the Master in Business Administration MBA and the Master in Commercial and Marketing Management at the European Business School of Barcelona, both with Cum Laude recognition for academic excellence. He has been awarded the "Economics and Business 2018" prize by the Official Association of Economists. His lines of research include those related to public administration and economics, business, education, and those related to sustainability and environment. He is a member of the work plan of the EDINSOST2 project: Integration of sustainable development objectives in sustainability education in Spanish university degrees. He has published in JCR and Scopus impact journals, such as Educational Review, Social Indicators Research, Evaluation Review or Journal of Policy Modeling. He has participated in several international conferences, being invited to some of them as keynote speaker.