Partnership & Networking Coordinator, Indonesian Consortium for Religious Studies

Expert focusing on religion’s role in development, a prominent Indonesian scholar, intellectual-activist, and social entrepreneur.  He oversees a consortium of religious schools at his University which  is one of the leading centres of religion and interreligious scholarship in Southeast Asia.   His work spans the fields of religion and politics, Islam, religious literacy, social justice, nature, culture, sustainability, and spirituality. He has collaborated extensively with the Indonesian government, universities, NGOs, development agencies, and international organizations, including the Nippon Foundation, Ford Foundation, UNESCO, and the UNDP. He has held visiting professorships and fellowships in various countries and has spoken at numerous international conferences. Dr. Sofjan's interviews and writings have been featured in major media outlets, and his latest project involves developing the "Nglanggeran Eco-Village," which received recognition from the UN World Tourism Organization. 

Professor Erin K. Wilson is Chair of Politics and Religion in the Faculty of Religion, Culture, and Society at the University of Groningen. She studied Political Sciences and was awarded a PhD by the University of Queensland in 2008. Her work explores hidden assumptions that shape how different actors understand what "religion" is and does and how that impacts (often detrimentally) policy and decision-making across diverse institutions in the public sphere, at national and global levels. Her work is intended to be practical for politicians and policy-makers. Prof Wilson provides regular training on understanding religion in world politics for various foreign ministries and NATO Defense College. She is passionate about social justice, human rights, and building inclusive sustainable societies. She has worked in universities in Australia and the Netherlands most of her career, collaborating with government and civil society stakeholders to develop bottom-up research projects and training programs. Professor Wilson is also an advisor for the Transatlantic Policy Network on Religion and Diplomacy, and an award-winning teacher and scholar . Her publications include Religion and World Politics: Connecting Theory with Practice (Routledge, 2022); The Refugee Crisis and Religion (co-edited with Luca Mavelli, Rowman and Littlefield, 2016); After Secularism (Palgrave 2012); and articles on human rights, the right to freedom of religion or belief and global justice.

 

Daniel Del Nido is the Assistant Director of the Education Program at the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding. He plays a key role in developing and implementing educational initiatives that promote interfaith dialogue and understanding. His work involves creating resources and programs that help educators, students, and communities engage with diverse religious perspectives in a respectful and informed manner.

Boris Yakoubou is a research professor at the University of Bangui, where he contributes to the Master's program in Conflict Management at the Faculty of Legal and Political Sciences, specifically within the IRD (Interreligious Dialogue) modules. As an expert and the country representative for KAICIID in the Central African Republic (CAR), Boris has been instrumental in incorporating IRD into CAR's education system. He was a key figure in introducing IRD as a module in the Master's program in Conflict Management at the University of Bangui. Dr. Yakoubou has participated in numerous conferences across Africa and Europe, focusing on the role of religion and religious leaders in conflict transformation. He actively collaborates with religious leaders from the Plateforme des Confessions Religieuses de Centrafrique (PCRC), a critical platform for conflict resolution in CAR. Together, they have undertaken multiple crisis resolution missions on the ground.

Boris Yakoubou will be joined by a Karl jaspers Destin Feto Dolegba who just graduated from the Master course and shall speak about his experience and the impact of the course. Karl enrolled in Master I in Conflict Management because he believes in the role of spirituality in education in general, and especially when it comes to using religious values to transform conflicts, as is the case of the CAR.