Date: May 22-23, 2025
Venue: University of Warsaw, Krakowskie Przedmiescie 26/28, 00-927, Warsaw
This two-day symposium will explore different aspects of the interplay between populism, religion, and civilizationism from local, national, transnational, international and global perspectives. Evaluating their combined impact on plural societies, intergroup relations, social cohesion and democratic institutions, the symposium will analyze how populists from diverse cultural, geographical, and political contexts both in Global North and Global South interact with and employ religion, civilizationism and digital technologies in their discourses and performances.
Populism has emerged as a defining feature of contemporary politics, exerting profound local, national, international, and global influences. Increasingly, it has become part and parcel of states’ transnational activities in constructing and reaching out to their “peoples” outside of their nation-state boundaries. The rise of digital technologies and the rapid advances in AI applications have only intensified the impact of populism, locally, transnationally and globally.
Often characterized as a “thin ideology,” populism operates alongside core/thick ideologies such as socialism, neoliberalism, racism, or religion, serving as a potent force for impacting emotions, mobilizing the masses, shaping public opinion and securing (or seizing) political power. Within this context, civilization —in some cases — serves as a metanarrative through which populists emphasize distinctions and escalate antagonistic relations among ‘the people” and ‘others,’ usually along religious lines. Civilizational populism not only employs the traditional ‘us’ versus ‘them’ rhetoric but also accentuates cultural, civilizational and religious identities, intensifying conflicts within, beyond and between nations. Civilizational populist discourses have also initiated discussions on transnationalism, south-south cooperation, globalization, and multipolarity, thereby potentially influencing international relations.
In this new and rapidly changing context dominated by uncertainty on many levels, the symposium will focus on the complexity of populism not only from different disciplinary perspectives but also across multiple political, religious, and cultural groups beyond the North/South divide. The symposium also aims to provoke discussions on innovative ways to think about the policy implications of this complex phenomenon in cyberage.
Organizing Institution
European Center for Populism Studies (ECPS) (Brussels)
Hosting Institution
Centre for Europe, University of Warsaw (Warsaw)
Partner Institutions
Georgetown University (Washington DC)
University of Birmingham (Birmingham)
Deakin University (Melbourne)
DAAD / Cambridge University
University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute of East Asian Studies
Centre for International Relations (Warsaw)
Program Flow
DAY ONE – May 22, 2025
Adress: Sala Kolumnowa, Faculty of History, University of Warsaw, Krakowskie Przedmiescie 26/28, 00-927.
Welcoming Coffee
(08:30 – 09:00)
Opening Ceremony
(09:00 – 09:40)
Moderator
Dr. Azize Sargın (Director for External Relations, ECPS).
Welcome Remarks
Dr. Kamil Zajączkowski (Professor of International Relations, Director of the Centre for Europe, Warsaw University).
Irina von Wiese (Honorary President of ECPS, Lawyer, Academic, former MEP, and Councilor in the London Borough of Southwark).
Dr. Malgorzata Bonikowska (Professor of International Affairs and European Studies, President of the Center for International Relations).
Opening Speeches
Dr. Adam Bodnar (Minister of Justice of Poland / (Video Recording).
Dr. Alojzy Z. Nowak (Professor, Rector of the University of Warsaw).
Keynote Speech
(09:40 – 10:05)
“A Relational Approach to Religion and Populism: Recontextualizing Civilizational Narratives in National and Global Contexts,” by Dr. Jocelyne Cesari (Professor and Chair of Religion and Politics at the University of Birmingham, UK, and Senior Fellow at the Berkeley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University).
Panel 1
(10:05 – 11:30)
Populism: Is It a One-way Route from Democracy to Authoritarianism?
Moderator
Dr. Erkan Toguslu (Researcher at the Institute for Media Studies at KU Leuven, Belgium).
Speakers
“Making Sense of Multiple Manifestations of Alternatives to Liberal Democracies,” by Dr. Radoslaw Markowski (Professor of Political Science, Center for the Study of Democracy, Director, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw & Polish Academy of Sciences & Polish National Election Study, Principal Investigator).
“Constitutional Intolerance: The Fashioning of ‘the Other’ in Europe’s Constitutional Repertoires,” by Dr. Marietta van der Tol (Politics & International Studies, DAAD-Cambridge).
Paper Presenter
“Identity Construction Mechanisms in the Age of Populism: A Tale of the West Against Rest?” by Amna Ben Amara (Senior researcher at George Simons International, The University of Tours, France).
Coffee Break
(11:30 – 11:50)
Panel 2
(11:50 – 13:00)
Civilizational Rhetoric, Emotions, and Societal Cohesion
Moderator
Dr. Erin K. Wilson (Professor, Chair of Politics and Religion, the Faculty of Religion, Culture, and Society, University of Groningen).
Paper Presenters
“Populism, Civilization, and Restorative Nostalgia,” by Dr. Nicholas Morieson (Research Fellow, Deakin University’s Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalization).
“Emotional Dimensions of Civilisationist Populism: A Comparative Analysis of Erdogan, Modi, and Khan with Transformer-Based Classification,” by Dr. Matthew Belanger (Lecturer in Substance Use Sociology, Social Policy, and Criminology Faculty of Social Sciences University of Stirling) and Dr. Ana-Maria Bliuc (Reader in Psychology, School of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Law at the University of Dundee).
Keynote Speech
(13:00 – 13:30)
The Role of the UN in Fighting for Human Rights in This Populist Age,” by Kamil Wyszkowski (Director of UN Global Compact).
Lunch
(13:30 – 15:00)
Panel 3
(15:00-17:00)
Religion and Populism: Local, National, and Transnational Dimensions
Moderator
Dr. Jocelyne Cesari (Professor and Chair of Religion and Politics at the University of Birmingham (UK) and Senior Fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University).
Speakers
“Remember to be Jewish: Religious Populism in Israel,” by Dr. Guy Ben-Porat (Professor of International Relations and Politics, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev).
“Religious Populism and Civilizationalism in International Politics: An Authoritarian Turn,” by Dr. Ihsan Yilmaz (Research Professor of Political Science and International Relations and Chair in Islamic Studies at Deakin University’s Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalization) & Dr. Nicholas Morieson (Research Fellow, Deakin University’s Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalization).
Paper Presenters
“National Populists of Christian Europe, Unite? Civilizations Dimensions of Far-right Populist Alliances in Post-Brexit Britain,” by Dr. Rafal Soborski (Professor of International Politics, The Department of Social Science at Richmond American University and Senior Research Fellow at the Global Diversities and Inequalities Research Centre at London Metropolitan University).
“Anwar Ibrahim’s Civilisational Populism: Between the Muslim World and Malaysia,” by Dr. Syaza Shukri (Assoc. Professor & Head of Department of Political Science, International Islamic University Malaysia).
DAY TWO – May 23, 2025
Adress: Biblioteki Uniwersyteckiej, Room: 308, University of Warsaw
Krakowskie Przedmiescie 26/28, 00-927.
Keynote Speech
(10:00 – 10:30
Dariusz Mazur (Deputy Minister of Justice of the Republic of Poland).
Panel 4
(10:30 – 12:00)
Impacts of Civilizational Populism on the Market and Globalization
Moderator
Antoine Godbert (Affiliate Professor of Law, Economics & Humanities at ESCP Business School, Paris, and Director of International Affairs at the Rectorat of Île-de-France – Paris).
Speakers
“On the Nature of Economics and the future of Globalization under Civilizational Populism,” by Dr. Ibrahim Ozturk (Professor of Economics, Duisburg-Essen University, Institute of East Asian Studies (IN-EAST), Germany, Senior Economic Researcher at the ECPS, Brussels).
“Populism as a Reaction to Neoliberal Technocratism,” by Dr. Krzysztof Jasiecki (Professor of Economic Sociology at the Centre for Europe, University of Warsaw).
“Far-Right Populism and the Making of the Exclusionary Neoliberal State,” by Dr. Valentina Ausserladscheider (Associate Professor, Department of Economic Sociology, University of Vienna and Research Affiliate, Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge).
Coffee Break
(12:00 – 12:20)
Panel 5
(12:20 – 14:20)
Religion and Identity Politics
Moderator
Dr. Ana-Maria Bliuc (Reader in Psychology, School of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Law at the University of Dundee).
Speaker
“Religion and Power in an Age of Identity Politics,” by Dr. Erin K. Wilson (Professor, Chair of Politics and Religion, the Faculty of Religion, Culture, and Society, University of Groningen).
Paper Presenters
“Civilizational Populism and the Making of Sexualized Cultural Christianity,” by Dr. Ludger Viefhues-Bailey (Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Gender, and Culture, Le Moyne University, NY).
“Imagine No More Small Boats in the Channel’: How Populist Parties and Their Leaders Normalize Polarization in Their Communication on Social Media Platforms, a Multimodal Discourse Analysis,” by Dr. Valeria Reggi (Post-doc Researcher at the University of Venice and Adjunct Professor and Tutor at the University of Bologna).
“Populism from a Double Perspective. Timo Soini and the Finnish Version of Populism,” by Dr. Jarosław Suchoples (Centre for Europe, University of Warsaw, Former Polish Ambassador to Finland).
Closing Remarks
(14:20 – 14:30)
Dr. Kamil Zajączkowski (Professor of International Relations, Director of the Centre for Europe, Warsaw University).
Lunch
(14:30 – 15:30)
Workshops
Populism in Regions
(15:30 – 17:00)
(Room 308)
Moderators/ Discussants
Dr. Guy Ben-Porat (Professor of International Relations and Politics, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev).
Dr. Rafal Soborski (Professor of International Politics, The Department of Social Science at Richmond American University and Senior Research Fellow at the Global Diversities and Inequalities Research Centre at London Metropolitan University).
Paper Presenters
“Civilizational Populism and Foreign Policy: Analyzing Italy-Tunisia Migration,” by Dr. Helen L. Murphey (Post-Doctoral Scholar at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies at the Ohio State University).
“Greater Than the Nation: Civilizational Discourse in Orbán’s Hungary,” by Dr. Tamas Dudlak (International Relations, the ELTE Eötvös Loránd University of Budapest, and researcher in the Contemporary Arab World Center, Budapest, Hungary).
“Civilizational Populism in Hybrid Regime: The Case of Serbia,” by Nikola Ilić (PhD Candidate in political science at the University of Belgrade).
“The Return of Kahanism to Israeli Politics – the 2022 Elections,” by Adam Sharon (Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Politics and International Relations
University of Oxford, Somerville College)
Selected Topics in Populism
(15:30 – 17:30)
(Room 106)
Moderators/ Discussants
Dr. Ludger Viefhues-Bailey (Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Gender, and Culture, Le Moyne University, NY).
Dr. Joanna Kulska (University Professor, Institute of Political Science and Administration, University of Opole)
Paper Presenters
“Turanism, the Great Kurultáj and ‘Eastern Opening’: An Alternative View of Eurasia and the ‘West,’” by Dr. Robert Imre (Associate Professor in Political Sciences at the University of the Faroe Islands).
“Sanitary Segregation Enforced by Big Brother: A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis of Grzegorz Braun’s Extreme Anti-Vaccine Rhetoric,” by Dr. Marcin Kosman (Assistant Prof., The University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw, Department of Social Sciences).
“State-led Civilizational Populism: A Comparison of Pakistan and Israel,” by Dr. Fizza Batool (SBAZIT University, Karachi, Pakistan).
“Populism and Traditional Catholicism in the United States: A Convergence of Religious Identity and Political Ideology,” by Tiffany Hunsinger (Ph.D. Candidate in Theology at the University of Dayton).
“The Role of Culture War in Shaping the Alliance Between Christian Conservative Movements and Chega Party,” by Francisco Batista (Ph.D. Candidate and Researcher, Political Science, Universidade Nova de Lisboa).
Brief Biographies
Dr. Azize Sargin
Dr. Azize Sargin is the Director of External and Institutional Relations at the European Center for Populism Studies (ECPS) and a political consultant. She holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of Kent. Her research interests include foreign policy and populism, EU politics, transnationalism, globalisation, migrant belonging and integration, diversity, and global cities. Dr. Sargin previously served for 15 years as a diplomat in the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, holding various positions and assignments in countries such as Romania, the United States, and Belgium. In her final diplomatic posting, she was Political Counsellor at the Permanent Delegation of Turkey to the EU, where she focused on Turkey-EU relations and EU politics. She currently coordinates large-scale academic research projects and organizes academic events. Dr. Sargin is also involved in the EU-funded Horizon Europe project ENCODE, which explores the intersection of politics and emotions.
Dr. Kamil Zajączkowski
Dr. Kamil Zajączkowski is Assistant Professor and Coordinator for Research and International Cooperation at the Centre for Europe, University of Warsaw; recipient of the prestigious Ministry of Science and Higher Education Scholarship for the Best Young Scholars (2013). Holds a PhD in political science and international relations. Vice-President of the Polish Association for European Community Studies; member of the Polish-African Association and the Polish Association for International Studies.
Dr. Zajączkowski’s main research interests include: the EU in international relations, EU foreign policy, EU policy toward non-European countries (especially Sub-Saharan Africa), development and humanitarian policy, and emerging markets. He is the author of numerous publications on these topics. He has edited two books: Introduction to European Studies: A New Approach to a Uniting Europe, Centre for Europe Publishing Program, University of Warsaw, Warsaw 2013 (co-editors: D. Milczarek and Artur Adamczyk); Poland in the European Union: Adaptation and Modernization. Lessons for Ukraine, Centre for Europe Publishing Program, University of Warsaw, Warsaw-Lviv 2012 (co-editor: A. Adamczyk).
Irina von Wiese
Irina von Wiese is the Honorary President of the European Center for Populism Studies (ECPS). Born in Germany to a family of Polish and Russian refugees, she studied law in Cologne, Geneva, and Munich before receiving a scholarship to pursue a Master in Public Administration at the Harvard Kennedy School. Her legal training took her to Berlin, Brussels, and Bangkok, where she first engaged with the struggles of refugees and human rights defenders worldwide.
From 1997 to 2019, Irina worked as a lawyer in both the private and public sectors in London, while actively volunteering for human rights organizations. She has long advocated for progressive migration policies and has hosted refugees in her home for many years. In 2019, she was elected as a Member of the European Parliament representing the UK Liberal Democrats. She served as Vice Chair of the Human Rights Subcommittee and was a member of the cross-party Working Group on Responsible Business Conduct, contributing to landmark legislation on mandatory human rights due diligence in global supply chains. She also served on the Executive Committee of the European Endowment for Democracy, supporting grassroots civil society in fragile democracies.
Following the UK’s exit from the EU and the loss of her parliamentary seat, Irina returned to the UK and was elected to Southwark Council, representing one of London’s most diverse boroughs. She continues her engagement with EU affairs through her advisory role at FGS Global, focusing on EU law and ESG policy. Additionally, she is an Affiliate Professor at ESCP Business School, where she teaches international law and politics, including the course Liberalism and Populism.
Dr. Małgorzata Bonikowska
Dr. Małgorzata Bonikowska, Advisory Board Member at ECPS, holds a PhD in humanities and is a specialist in international relations, with a particular focus on the European Union and communication within public institutions. An accomplished EU expert, government advisor, and academic, Dr. Bonikowska earned degrees in Italian studies from the University of Warsaw, in history and political science from the University of Paris-Sorbonne, and in cultural history from the State College of Theatre (PWST). She is an alumna of two doctoral programs—one at the Polish Academy of Sciences and another at the SSSS in Italy. Additionally, she completed a specialized course in international affairs at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) as a Fulbright Scholar. Dr. Bonikowska has authored over 150 publications and has supervised more than 100 BA, MA, and postgraduate theses.
Dr. Adam Bodnar
Dr. Adam Bodnar (Ph.D., habil.) is Poland’s Minister of Justice. He was born on January 6, 1977, in Trzebiatów. He received his PhD in law in 2006 and completed his habilitation in 2019. From 2006 to 2020, he lectured at the University of Warsaw’s Faculty of Law and Administration and served as a professor at the Polish-Japanese Academy of Information Technology (2019–2020). Since 2021, he has been the Dean of the Faculty of Law at SWPS University. He is also a visiting professor at the University of Cologne and a Senior Fellow at the Democracy Institute of Central European University.
In the late 1990s, Bodnar collaborated with the “Never Again” Association and worked at the law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges (1999–2004). He has served on the boards of the European Institute for Gender Equality, the UN Fund for Victims of Torture, and was an expert for the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights. He was actively involved in numerous NGOs, including the Panoptykon Foundation (as Program Board Chair) and the Association of Prof. Zbigniew Hołda (as co-founder and board member). From 2004 to 2015, he worked with the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, eventually becoming Vice President of its Management Board.
Bodnar served as Poland’s Ombudsman from 2015 to 2021 and has received numerous national and international awards for his defense of the rule of law and human rights. Notable recognitions include the Rafto Prize, the Badge of Honor of Gryf West Pomeranian, the Wincenty Witos Medal, and France’s Legion of Honor (Knight).
He is the founder of the “Congress of Civil Rights” Foundation and serves on advisory boards of organizations such as the World Justice Project, International IDEA, and the Civil Liberties Union for Europe. Elected to the Polish Senate in 2023, Bodnar represents Warsaw’s 44th district.
Dr. Alojzy Zbigniew Nowak
Prof. Alojzy Z. Nowak is a prominent Polish economist and academic. He holds a PhD and a habilitation in economics, and currently serves as Rector of the University of Warsaw. He specializes in international economic relations, banking, and financial risk management. Prof. Nowak has served as Dean of the Faculty of Management at the University of Warsaw (2006–2012, 2016–2020) and previously held roles at the University of Illinois, University of Exeter, and Freie Universität Berlin. He also worked at Kozminski University in Warsaw.
He has been a member of numerous supervisory boards, including PZU SA, Bank Millennium, JSW, and ZE PAK. He also served as an advisor to the CEO of PZU and chaired the Scientific Council of the National Bank of Poland. He is a member of President Andrzej Duda’s National Development Council and the Scientific Council of the Institute of New Structural Economics in Beijing.
Since 2018, he has been President of the Academic Sports Association (AZS), Poland’s largest student organization. Prof. Nowak has received numerous honors, including the Gold Cross of Merit (2002), a Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Physical Education in Wrocław (2022), and the Gold Medal for Merit to Polish Science Sapientia et Veritas (2023).
Dr. Jocelyne Cesari
Dr. Jocelyne Cesari holds the Chair of Religion and Politics at the University of Birmingham (UK) and is Senior Fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University. Since 2018, she is the T. J. Dermot Dunphy Visiting Professor of Religion, Violence, and Peacebuilding at Harvard Divinity School. President elect of the European Academy of Religion (2018-19), her work on religion and politics has garnered recognition and awards: 2020 Distinguished Scholar of the religion section of the International Studies Association, Distinguished Fellow of the Carnegie Council for Ethics and International Affairs and the Royal Society for Arts in the United Kingdom. Her new book: We God’s Nations: Political Christianity, Islam and Hinduism in the World of Nations, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2022 (https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/we-gods-people/314FFEF57671C91BBA7E169D2A7DA223) (Book Award of the Scientific Society for the Study of Religion). Other publications: What is Political Islam? (Rienner, 2018, Book Award 2019 of the religion section of the ISA); Islam, Gender and Democracy in a Comparative Perspective (OUP, 2017), The Awakening of Muslim Democracy: Religion, Modernity and the State (CUP, 2014). She is the academic advisor of www.euro-islam.info and Advisory Board Member of ECPS.
Dr. Erkan Toguslu
Dr. Erkan Toguslu is the Director of the Extremism and Radicalisation research program at ECPS. He holds an MA and PhD in sociology from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris. His research explores transnational Muslim networks in Europe, Islamic intellectual movements, interfaith dialogue, the public-private divide in Islam, and the intersection of religion and radicalization. Dr. Toguslu is co-editor of the Journal of Populism Studies (JPS) and editor or co-editor of several volumes, including Everyday Life Practices of Muslims in Europe, Europe’s New Multicultural Identities (with J. Leman and I. M. Sezgin), and Modern Islamic Thinking and Islamic Activism (with J. Leman), all published by Leuven University Press. His recent scholarly work focuses on violent extremism, including articles such as “Caliphate, hijrah, and martyrdom as a performative narrative in ISIS’ Dabiq magazine” (Politics, Religion and Ideology) and “Capitalizing on the Koran to fuel online violent radicalization: A taxonomy of Koranic references in ISIS’s Dabiq” (Telematics and Informatics, co-authored).
Dr. Radosław Markowski
Dr. Radosław Markowski is Professor of Political Science, Center for the Study of Democracy, Director, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw & Polish Academy of Sciences. He specializes in comparative politics and political sociology, with research interests in elections, voting behavior, democracy, and party systems. He also serves as the director of the Polish National Election Study (PGSW). He is a recurring visiting professor at Central European University in Budapest and has previously held visiting positions at Duke University, the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and Rutgers University.
Dr. Markowski has published extensively in leading journals such as Electoral Studies, Party Politics, Political Studies, and West European Politics. He is co-author of the widely cited book Post-Communist Party Systems (Cambridge University Press) and has edited or contributed to volumes published by Oxford University Press, Manchester University Press, Routledge, and Sage. He is also an expert contributor to research projects conducted by the Bertelsmann Foundation and the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) project.
Dr. Marietta van der Tol
Dr. Marietta van der Tol is a political theorist and legal historian whose research explores religion, nationalism, and democratic politics. She earned her PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2020 with a dissertation on Politics of Religious Diversity, analyzing toleration, religious freedom, and the visibility of religion in public life in France, Germany, and the Netherlands.
She was the inaugural Alfred Landecker Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Blavatnik School of Government and held a Junior Research Fellowship at New College, Oxford. In 2023, she taught Comparative Politics at St Peter’s College and was a full-time College Lecturer in Politics at Lincoln College (Oxford) during 2023–2024. She currently holds a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at Cambridge (2024–2025).
Dr. van der Tol leads interdisciplinary research networks including Religion, Ethnicity and Politics in German, Dutch and Anglo-American Contexts: Nationalism and the Future of Democracy (DAAD-Cambridge) and Protestant Political Thought: Religion, State, Nation (with Dr. Sophia Johnson). She co-edited special issues such as Rethinking the Sacred in Religion and Nationalism (Religion, State & Society) and Old Testament Imaginaries of the Nation (Journal of the Bible and Its Reception). She is also a convenor of the annual Political Theologies conference series.
Amna Ben Amara
Amna Ben Amara is a Ph.D candidate, researcher and consultant in intercultural management. She holds two master’s degrees: one in Intercultural Management from Slovenia and another in Cultural Studies from the Faculty of Arts and Humanities in Sousse, Tunisia, her home country. Currently, she is pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Tours, France, focusing on the geopolitical construction of the Middle East in American foreign policy discourse. Amna has authored several journal articles and presented her work at numerous national and international conferences. She has also completed various training programs through Erasmus+ and DAAD. Most recently, she served as a visiting researcher at the University of Paris-Est Créteil, France.
Dr. Erin Wilson
Dr. Erin Wilson is an associate professor of Politics and religion at the Faculty of Religion, Culture and Society . She studied Political Sciences and was awarded a PhD by the University of Queensland in 2008. Her research is at the interface of religious studies, international relations and philosophy. Wilson developed the ‘relational dialogism’ model, which provides new explanations for the roles and meaning of religion in terms of international relations. Her work is intended to be practical for politicians and policy-makers.
Dr. Matthew J. Belanger
Dr. Matthew J. Belanger is a Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Social Policy, and Criminology at University of Stirling, United Kingdom. He serves on the research advisory board at the Recovery Outcomes Institute and is on the board of directors at Recovery Scotland. He has a BSc in Kinesiology (2017) from the University of Massachusetts – Amherst, an MSc in Brain Sciences (2019) from the University of Glasgow, and a PhD in Addiction Psychology/Data Science (2024) from the University of Dundee, where he studied biopsychosocial factors influencing addiction recovery. Previously, he worked as a research scientist in the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at Universitaetsklinikum Carl Gustav Carus in Dresden Germany, undertaking research concerning environmental influences on behaviour. Beyond addiction recovery, Belanger’s interdisciplinary research also heavily involves the application of machine learning in sociological and political contexts.
Arkadiusz Myrcha
Arkadiusz Myrcha is a Polish politician of the Civic Platform and Deputy Minister of Justice in Poland. He has been a member of the Sejm since 2015. He was previously a city councillor of Toruń from 2010 to 2015.
Dr. Guy Ben Porat
Dr. Guy Ben Porat is a Distinguished Professor in political science and international relations, having earned his doctorate in political science and government from Johns Hopkins University. His doctoral dissertation, titled “Globalization, Peace, and Discontent: Israel and Northern Ireland,” laid the foundation for his book, Global Liberalism, Local Populism: Peace and Conflict in Israel/Palestine and Northern Ireland, which received the Ernst-Otto Czempiel award from the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt. His other areas of research include international relations, comparative politics, the relationship between religion and state and processes of secularization in Israel, and the relationship between the police and minorities in Israel and the global community. His research on the impact of economic and demographic changes on religious and secular identities in Israel won awards from the Association for Israel Studies and the Israeli Political Science Association. Dr. Porat is a full professor in the department of politics and government at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, where he served as department head from 2018 to 2022. In his work at the Mandel Center for Leadership in the Negev, Dr. Porat teaches topics in government, policy, and local government, with a focus on the Negev, and is involved in shaping the Mandel Program for Senior Executive Leadership in the Negev.
Dr. Ihsan Yilmaz
Dr. Ihsan Yilmaz is Deputy Director (Research Development) of the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation (ADI) at Deakin University, where he also serves as Chair in Islamic Studies and Research Professor of Political Science and International Relations. He previously held academic positions at the Universities of Oxford and London and has a strong track record of leading multi-site international research projects. His work at Deakin has been supported by major funding bodies, including the Australian Research Council (ARC), the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, the Victorian Government, and the Gerda Henkel Foundation.
Presently, he leads two ARC Discovery projects: “Civilisationist Mobilisation, Digital Technologies, and Social Cohesion: The Case of Turkish & Indian Diasporas in Australia” (in collaboration with Prof Greg Barton) and “Religious Populism, Emotions, and Political Mobilisation: Civilisationism in Turkey, Indonesia, and Pakistan.” Additionally, he co-leads a Gerda Henkel Foundation (Germany) project titled: “Smart Digital Technologies and the Future of Democracy in the Muslim World.”
He stands as one of Australia’s foremost scholars on religion & law & politics, authoritarianism, digital politics, populism, transnationalism, soft power, and sharp power, with a particular focus on Turkey, Indonesia, and Pakistan. His prolific authorship is evident through publications in leading political science and international relations journals across the globe.
Furthermore, he holds the position of a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at Oxford University’s Regent College and is associated with the Brussels-based think tank, the European Center for Populism Studies (ECPS). His advisory role extends to numerous government departments, policy makers, and bureaucrats in the UK, USA, EU, and Turkey. His contributions span renowned institutions such as the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), the Brookings and Hudson Institutes, as well as esteemed media outlets including CNN, BBC, the New York Times, ABC, Sydney Morning Herald, and The Australian.
Dr. Rafal Soborski
Dr. Rafal Soborski is Professor of International Politics at The Department of Social Science at Richmond American University and Senior Research Fellow at the Global Diversities and Inequalities Research Centre at London Metropolitan University. Dr Soborski holds a PhD in Political Science from University of Surrey. He has taught extensively in areas of ideology, global studies and development and published several peer-reviewed articles and chapters on globalization, ideology, social movements, Euroscepticism and green political thought. Dr Soborski is the author of two monographs: Ideology in a Global Age: Continuity and Change (Palgrave Macmillan 2013) and Ideology and the Future of Progressive Social Movements (Rowman & Littlefield 2018). He is the editor of The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Global Studies and chairs the Global Studies Research Network. He is also on the Committee of the Global Studies Association UK.
Dr. Syaza Shukri
Dr. Syaza Shukri is an associate professor at the Department of Political Science, Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences, International Islamic University Malaysia. Her area of specialization is in comparative politics, specifically in democratization and politics in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Her current research interests include populism, identity politics, inter-ethnic relations, political Islam, geopolitics, and gender studies, specifically in Muslim-majority contexts. Among Dr. Shukri’s recent works is “Populism and Muslim Democracies,” published in Asian Politics & Policy.
Adriana Porowska
Adriana Porowska is Minister for Civil Society of Poland, chairwoman of the Public Benefit Committee Minister for Civil Society, chairwoman of the Public Benefit Committee– Adriana Porowska. Porowska is a Polish social and political activist, specializing in civil society issues.
Porowska is an experienced social worker who has been committed for many years to helping marginalized individuals and refugees. She served as the president of the Camillian Mission for Social Assistance, where she managed a shelter and training apartments for people experiencing homelessness and war refugees from Ukraine.
For 19 years, she has been working actively with NGOs, local governments, and national administrations. Her roles include co-chairing the Expert Commission on Combating Homelessness under the Polish Ombudsman, serving as a member of the Ombudsman’s Social Council, and chairing the Sectoral Social Dialogue Commission on Homelessness under the Mayor of Warsaw.
Joanna Kos-Krauze
Joanna Kos-Krauze is a Polish film director and screenwriter, best known for her creative partnership with her late husband, Krzysztof Krauze. Together, they co-wrote and directed acclaimed films such as My Nikifor (2004), Plac Zbawiciela (2006), and Papusza (2013), a biopic of the Romani poet. Her most recent work, Birds Are Singing in Kigali(2017), explores themes of trauma and reconciliation.
Kamil Wyszkowski
Kamil Wyszkowski has been working for the United Nations. He currently serves as the Representative and Executive Director of the UN Global Compact Network Poland and as the Representative of UNOPS in Poland. He is an expert on UN and EU policies, particularly in areas intersecting business and public administration.
From 2002 to 2009, he worked at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), where he was responsible for international and multilateral cooperation and for developing programs across Europe and Asia. He has implemented development projects in dozens of countries, including Iraq, India, Thailand, and Romania, drawing on knowledge transfer from Poland. He has also worked at UNDP headquarters in New York and its regional center for Europe and the CIS in Bratislava. From 2009 to 2014, he was the Director of the UNDP Office in Poland. Since 2004, he has been the National Representative and Chair of the Board of the UN Global Compact Network Poland (GCNP), which coordinates cooperation between the UN and business, academia, cities, public administration, and NGOs in Poland. He has also led the Know How Hub (a UNDP Poland initiative, now under GCNP) since 2011.
He lectures at institutions including Central European University (Bucharest), Ukrainian Catholic University (Lviv), Warsaw School of Economics, Kozminski University, Collegium Civitas, SWPS University, the Paderewski Institute of Diplomacy, and the University of Warsaw.
Antoine Godbert
Antoine Godbert is Affiliate Professor of Law, Economics & Humanities at ESCP Business School, Paris, and Director of International Affairs at the Rectorat of Île-de-France – Paris.
A graduate of the École Normale Supérieure de Fontenay-Saint-Cloud and the École Nationale d’Administration, Godbert holds a postgraduate degree (DEA) in epistemology from Paris VII University and an agrégation in geography. He began his career as a lecturer and researcher in geopolitics at ESCP Business School before joining the General Secretariat for National Defense as a policy officer in an interministerial crisis management unit. He later served at the Directorate-General for Administration and the Civil Service as director of the “senior management and careers” mission.
His distinguished career in public service led him to serve as coordinator of the governance and East Paris hubs within the “Capital Region Mission” under the Secretary of State for Capital Region Development, and subsequently as diplomatic adviser to the Minister of National Education. In recognition of his merit and expertise, he was later appointed Director of the French National Erasmus+ Agency, Director General of the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud, and most recently, Project Director at the Defender of Rights office.
Dr. Ibrahim Ozturk
Dr. Ibrahim Ozturk is professor of economics and a visiting fellow at the University of Duisburg-Essen since 2017. He is studying developmental, institutional, and international economics. His research focuses on the Japanese, Turkish, and Chinese economies. Currently, he is working on emerging hybrid governance models and the rise of populism in the Emerging Market Economies. As a part of that interest, he studies the institutional quality of China’s Modern Silk Road Project /The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), its governance model, and implications for the global system. He also teaches courses on business and entrepreneurship in the Emerging Market Economies, such as BRICS/MINT countries. Ozturk’s Ph.D. thesis is on the rise and decline of Japan’s developmental institutions in the post-Second WWII era.
Dr. Ozturk has worked at different public and private universities as both a part-time and full-time lecturer/researcher between 1992-2016 in Istanbul, Turkey. In 1998, he worked as a visiting fellow at Keio University, in Tokyo, and again in 2003 at Tokyo University. He’s also been a visiting fellow at JETRO/AJIKEN (2004); at North American University, in Houston, Texas (2014-2015); and in Duisburg/Germany at the University of Duisburg-Essen (2017-2020).
Dr. Ozturk is one of the founders of the Istanbul Japan Research Association (2003-2013) and the Asian Studies Center of Bosporus University (2010-2013). He has served as a consultant to business associations and companies for many years. He has also been a columnist and TV-commentator.
Dr. Krzysztof Jasiecki
Dr. Krzysztof Jasiecki is a political scientist and economic sociologist, professor of social sciences, and long-time researcher at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences (1987–2017). He served as a member of the Scientific Council for the Discipline of Sociology at the University of Warsaw (2019–2020) and was awarded the University of Warsaw Rector’s Individual Third-Degree Award for Scientific Achievement (November 2020). He has been a member of the Jury for the Prof. Tadeusz Kotarbiński Award since 2021 and serves on the Scientific Council of the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
His research focuses on economic sociology, institutions of contemporary capitalism, the role of political and economic elites, interest groups and lobbying, the material and social dimensions of wealth, social and civic dialogue, Poland’s EU membership, and the political and economic dimensions of globalization, with special emphasis on Central and Eastern Europe.
He has contributed to numerous Polish and international journals and edited volumes. He serves on the advisory board of the Warsaw Forum of Economic Sociology (WFES) and reviews for journals including Polish Sociological Review and Studia Socjologiczne.
Prof. Jasiecki was a member of the Anti-Corruption Program Council at the Stefan Batory Foundation (2008–2013) and served as an expert for the Polish parliamentary special committee on lobbying legislation (2003–2005). He has also been part of the Poland 2025+ Club under the Polish Bank Association (ZBP) and its Ethics Committee. He was awarded the Nicolaus Copernicus Medal by ZBP and recognized by the Wokulski Foundation as “Positive Thinker of the Year” in 2012 for promoting entrepreneurship.
Dr. Valentina Ausserladscheider
Dr. Valentina Ausserladscheider is an Assistant Professor of Economic Sociology at the University of Vienna. Before joining the University of Vienna, she completed her PhD in Sociology at the University of Cambridge. Her research empirically investigates institutional change and continuity in times of crises. Currently, she explores climate-vulnerable industries´ responses to climate change. Her work has been published in Review of International Political Economy, New Political Economy, Cambridge Journal of Economy, Regions and Society, and the Journal of Cultural Economy.
Dr. Ana-Maria Bliuc
Dr. Ana-Maria Bliuc is an Associate Professor of Social and Political Psychology in the Psychology Department at the University of Dundee, where she has been a faculty member since 2019. Her research explores how social identities influence behavior across various contexts, including health, environmental issues (such as climate change), and socio-political domains (such as collective action and social change). Recently, her work has focused on online communities, investigating how collective identities and behaviors are shaped through digital interactions.
Dr. Ludger Viefhues-Bailey
Dr. Ludger Viefhues-Bailey is a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Gender, and Culture Chair at the Department of Philosophy at Le Moyne University, NY. Dr. Viefhues-Bailey is a scholar whose work bridges philosophy, gender studies, and cultural theory. His research explores the intersections of religion, secular democracy, and sexuality. He is the author of No Separation: Christians, Secular Democracy, and Sex (Columbia University Press, 2023), Between a Man and a Woman? Why Conservatives Oppose Same-Sex Marriage (Columbia University Press, 2010), and Beyond the Philosopher’s Fear: A Cavellian Reading of Gender, Origin, and Religion in Modern Skepticism (Ashgate, 2007). He serves on the editorial board of the journal Political Theology.
Dr. Valeria Reggi
Dr. Valeria Reggi is an Adjunct Professor Department of the Arts, Department of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures, and Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Bologna. Dr. Reggi is a discourse analyst and certified English–Italian translator. She holds a PhD from the Centre for Translation Studies (CenTraS) at University College London, a specialization in literary translation from the University of Venice, and a degree with honours in Modern Languages from the University of Bologna.
She collaborates with several institutions, including UCL, the University of Brescia, and the University of Turin, and currently serves as an adjunct professor and tutor at the University of Bologna. Until 2020, she was a subject expert and a member of the Scientific Committee of the international research hub WeTell Alma Idea, focused on storytelling and civic awareness.
Reggi is a member of the editorial board of New Explorations: Studies in Culture and Communication (University of Toronto), a journal dedicated to media ecology. Her work, with a particular emphasis on qualitative discourse analysis and multimodality, includes contributions to literary criticism, translation, and discourse analysis, published by John Benjamins, Routledge, Peter Lang, Stockholm University Press, and Tangram.
Dr. Jarosław Suchoples
Dr. Jarosław Suchoples holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of Helsinki (2000) and an M.A. from the University of Gdańsk (1993). His career includes roles as an analyst at the Polish Institute of International Affairs (2000–2001) and visiting researcher at the University of California, Berkeley (2001–2002). From 2003 to 2013, he taught at institutions in Poland and Germany, including the Willy Brandt Centre, Humboldt University, and Free University Berlin. He later served as Associate Professor at the National University of Malaysia (UKM) and, in 2017, returned to Finland as Poland’s Ambassador. Currently, he is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Jyväskylä, focusing on the history and memory of World War I, World War II, and the Cold War.
Dr. Helen L. Murphey
Dr. Helen L. Murphey is Post-Doctoral Scholar at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies at the Ohio State University. Murphey received her PhD from the University of St Andrews in 2023, where she was a Carnegie Ph.D. Scholar. She previously held a post as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Politics at Whitman College. Her research focuses on the role of identity and ideology in politics, with a specialization in religious political parties in North Africa, populism, conspiracy theories and polarization. Her work has been published in Mediterranean Politics, the Journal of North African Studies, Feminist Media Studies and Oxford Middle East Review, among others. She is a Research Associate at the Institute of Middle East, Central Asia and Caucasus Studies at the University of St Andrews.
Nikola Ilić
Nikola Ilić is a junior researcher at the University of Belgrade – Faculty of Political Sciences, where he is currently pursuing doctoral studies in political science. Professionally, Ilić has worked as a teaching associate in courses such as Contemporary Political Theory, Political Culture and Political Order, and Human Rights Culture and Politics. He is currently involved in the Horizon Europe project EMBRACing changE: Overcoming obstacles and advancing democracy in the European Neighbourhood as an assistant researcher.
Dr. Tamas Dudlak
Dr. Tamas Dudlak is a Doctor of International Relations based in Budapest, Hungary and affiliated with the ELTE Eötvös Loránd University of Budapest as a researcher in the Contemporary Arab World Center. He previously received degrees in History, Arabic, and Turkish and studied geopolitics. His main research interest lies in the Middle East; he analyses contemporary Turkish politics from a comparative perspective. He focuses on the similarities and differences betweenTurkey and Hungary in various fields, such as migration policies, the characteristics of the populist regimes, electoral strategies of the incumbents and the oppositions, and the role of religion and civilizational discourse as the underlying ideologies of the Hungarian and Turkish governments.
Adam Sharon
Adam Sharon is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford, Somerville College. Prior to his doctoral studies, he earned an M.A. in Politics and Philosophy from the University of Edinburgh, graduating with First Class Honours. He has served as a research assistant at Tel Aviv University, collaborating with Professor Uriya Shavit on his forthcoming book, The Jewish Civil War (2025), which explores the influence of religion on voting behavior in Israel. During his time at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), he also conducted research on Middle Eastern affairs and co-authored articles focusing on the foreign policies of Egypt and Jordan.
Dr. Joanna Kulska
Dr. Joanna Kulska is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Political Science of University of Opole where she also holds the post of the director of trinational Polish-German-French Europa Master Program and Erasmus program coordinator. She graduated from Warsaw University (International Relations) and University of Lodz (Knowledge of Culture). She received her Doctoral Degree from the Faculty of Journalism and Political Science of Warsaw University based on the doctoral thesis published in 2006 entitled The Holy See in International Cultural Relations from John XXIII to John Paul II. She was the fellow of John Paul II Foundation in Rome (2001) and The Kosciuszko Foundation in New York (2015) conducting her research at the University of Chicago. In 2017 she was the guest professor at the Institute of Political Science at University of Mainz within Polonikum Program. Her main area of interest are international cultural relations and more specifically the changing role of religious factor in international relations with the special focus on religious peacebuilding as well as the evolution of contemporary diplomacy.
Dr. Robert Imre
Dr. Robert Imre is an Associate Professor in Political Sciences at the University of the Faroe Islands. He holds university degrees from Queen´s University and University of Victoria in Canada and a PhD degree from the University of Queensland in Australia.
Dr. Imre has spent many years as a researcher and lecturer in several countries around the world. He has worked as an academic at the University of Victoria in Canada, Tampere University in Finland, the University of Regensburg in Germany, the University of Newcastle in Australia, the University of Notre Dame in Australia and other universities in Australia and Hungary.
Robert Imre’s current interest of research is the comparative politics of small states. He is concerned with security policies, environmental and green politics, and is working on comparative civil defence projects dealing with how small states might think about their own changing civil defence needs including food security, environmental and economic security. He is also interested in Arctic security, Nordic and Baltic states politics, and small states in East Central and South East Europe.
Dr. Marcin Kosman
Dr. Marcin Kosman is Assistant Professor at Department of Social Sciences of University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw. Dr. Kosman is a media scholar, discourse analyst, linguist, and psychologist. He holds a Ph.D. in the humanities and is an assistant professor at the University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw. He is a two-time recipient of the Polish Minister of Science and Higher Education scholarship for outstanding academic achievements. With funding from the National Science Centre, he is currently conducting a research project on media discourse surrounding the situation at the Polish-Belarusian border. His academic interests include mechanisms of political (de)legitimization, social communication, public discourse analysis, and political marketing.
Dr. Fizza Batool
Dr. Fizza Batool is an academic and policy researcher interested in Comparative Politics, Comparative Democratization, Peace Studies and Populism. She is a post-doctoral fellow at the Central European University (CEU) Democracy Institute in Budapest and an Assistant Professor (Social Sciences) at SZABIST University, Karachi. She has authored two books on populism in Pakistan, both published by Palgrave Macmillan. Her works have also been published in prestigious research journals like Third World Quarterly, South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, Pakistan Horizon etc. She also contributes to English dailies in Pakistan and international research magazines such as South Asian Voices. She was one of the 2020 SAV Visiting Fellows at Stimson Center, DC.
Tiffany Hunsinger
Tiffany Hunsinger is a PhD student in Theology at the University of Dayton specializing in traditional Catholicism and politics in the United States. She has written and presented papers on St. Oscar Romero and the Christian Democratic Party, theology of immigration, the political grammar of critical race theory, and the continuity of the political messages from papal encyclicals. Her current project is her dissertation which investigates the influence of the hagiography of G.K. Chesterton on traditional Catholic movements and education in the United States. She is involved in community initiatives relating to the environment, immigration, and women’s justice.
Francisco Batista
Francisco Batista is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at NOVA FCSH, specializing in Elite and Political Behaviors. His doctoral research, supervised by Professor Madalena Meyer Resende, focuses on “The Role of Culture War in Shaping the Alliance Between Christian Conservative Movements and the Chega Party.” His academic interests span Religion and Politics, Populism and the Radical Right, Political Philosophy, and Social Movements.
