Speakers

Enrique Mallen

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.

Ambreen Shahriar

Ambreen Shahriar, Ph.D.

Senior Lecturer, School of Social Sciences and Professions, London Metropolitan University

Dr. Ambreen Shahriar is currently working as Senior Lecturer Education at London Metropolitan University. She has also worked at Goldsmiths, University of London, Anglia Ruskin University and University of Northampton. She has remained Associate Professor at University of Sindh, where she has been working since 2004, and is currently on lien. She has done MA in Applied Linguistics and TESOL from the University of Leicester, PhD and Post-doctorate from Goldsmiths, University of London. She has worked on different research projects, published books with reputable international publishers, written several book chapters and journal articles and supervised a good number of MPhil and PhD research scholars. Her research interests include Language Education, Issues of Culture and Learner Identity, Multilingualism and Multiculturalism, Individual Learner Differences.

Sara Mashayekh, Ph.D.

Sara Mashayekh, Ph.D.

Lecturer, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture, UNSW Sydney

Dr. Sara Mashayekh is a lecturer and researcher specializing in education, educational technology, pedagogical tasks, and formative assessment at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). In addition to her roles in teaching and research, Sara has held pivotal positions as a project manager and learning designer for various university initiatives. Her influence extends globally, having been invited to speak and present at renowned international conferences, where her insights and research findings have earned acclaim.

Sara Mashayekh, Ph.D.

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.

Previous Speakers

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).

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.

Nafhesa Ali

Nafhesa Ali, Ph.D.

Lecturer, Department of Social Sciences, Northumbria University

Dr. Nafhesa Ali is a Lecturer in Sociology at Northumbria University and is an interdisciplinary Sociologist with expertise in the everyday lives of racialized and minority communities. Nafhesa's interest include ageing, migration, sexualities and environmental sustainability. Her forthcoming book titled Older South Asian women's experiences of ageing in the UK: Intersectional feminist perspectives will be published with Palgrave Macmillan. Nafhesa's previous publications include on co-authored book Storying Relationships (2021), and edited collection A Match Made in Heaven: British Muslim Women write about Love and Desire (2020) and several journal publications in Sexualities, Ethnicities, Ethnic and Racial Studies and Cultural Geographies. Nafhesa has previously worked at the various UK institutions which include the University of Huddersfield, University of Sheffield and the University of Manchester. Nafhesa's other roles include lead for the Power and Intersecting Identities (PII) Research Cluster Group at Northumbria University and Honorary SCI Fellow at the University of Manchester.

Nasir Mahmood

Nasir Mahmood, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Department of Arabic & Islamic studies, University of Sialkot

Dr. Nasir Mahmood 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 Laghari, Ph.D.

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.