Speakers for 2016

Assoc Prof Ozalp is a public intellectual and community leader. In 2009, Mehmet founded Islamic Sciences and Research Academy of Australia. He also established the Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation at Charles Sturt University. Assoc Prof Ozalp lectures in Islamic theology, history and contemporary issues. He has been serving as the Muslim Chaplain at the University of Sydney and the Macquarie University since 2006. He was awarded Australian Muslim Role Model of the year in 2012. He is the author of 101 Questions You Asked About Islam, Islam in the Modern World and Islam between Tradition and Modernity: An Australian Perspective.

Dr Hassan Qadri is the Chairman of the Supreme Council of Minhaj-ul-Quran International, which is one of the largest non-profitable organisations in the world. He launched a worldwide struggle to tackle extremism and violence. Dr Qadri has organised and attended international peace, harmony, inter- and intra-faith seminars and conferences. He also completed his PhD at the Arab League University, Egypt. Dr Qadri also has a licence of transmission (ijazah) from renowned Arab scholars, a Masters in Management Sciences from City University London and Masters in Classical Islamic Sciences from Minhaj University.

Halim Rane is an Assoc Prof on Islam-West Relations at Griffith University. In 2015 he received the prestigious award of Australian University Teacher of the Year for his outstanding contributions to student learning. Assoc Prof Rane formerly worked for the Australian Government Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. He continues to be engaged with issues of migration, settlement and integration through his teaching and research. He has authored numerous articles and books on Islamic and Muslim issues including Media Framing of the Muslim World: Conflicts, Crises and Contexts; Making Australian Foreign Policy on Israel-Palestine: Media Coverage, Public Opinion and Interest Groups; Islam and Contemporary Civilisation: Evolving Ideas, Transforming Relations; and Reconstructing Jihad amid Competing International.

Prof Barton is Research Professor and Chair of Global Islamic Politics at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation. Prof Barton is also the Deputy UNESCO Chair in Interreligious and Intercultural Relations – Asia Pacific and co-editor of the journal Islam and Christian Muslim Relations. He is also a non-residential Senior Fellow with the UAE-based Hedayah Center in Abu Dhabi, working on countering violent extremism. Greg is one of Australia’s leading scholars of both modern Indonesia and of terrorism and countering violent extremism.

Prof Hassan is an Australian Research Council Professorial Fellow and Emeritus Professor in the Department of Sociology, Flinders University. In his academic career spanning over 40 years, he has conducted research in a number of areas including sociology of housing, sociology of suicide, organisational culture and Muslim societies. He has taught at Flinders University, National University of Singapore, Gadjah Mada University, University of California Los Angeles and Yale University.

Dr Bekim Hasani completed his degree in Islamic Law at the University of Brunei Darussalam. He continued studying for his Masters in Shariah (Criminal Law in Islam), which he completed in 2008 at the University of Brunei Darussalam after which he undertook his PhD studies in Islamic Politics (Human Rights in Islam) at Sultan Sharif Ali Islamic University, Brunei Darussalam. Dr Hasani has written many articles in three different languages (Albanian, Arabic and English). He has also published a book on Human Rights in Islam. Dr Hasani is Imam at the Albanian Australian Islamic Society’s (AAIS) Mosque - Melbourne’s oldest Mosque.