Azza Karam, Ph.D.

Faculty Affiliate of the Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion
University of Notre Dame

With religion and faith playing a major role in several conflicts around the world today, Prof.  Azza Karam asks what are the prospects of inter-faith dialog in bringing peace on earth? How can religion and faith foster international cooperation and mutual understanding? How can we hold meaningful conversations about religious differences and the role faith must play in fostering peace? How can religion fulfill its promise of a non-violent world? Dr. Karam will try to answer these and other questions drawing from her decades of experience in actively promoting inter-faith discussions.

Dr. Karam is the President and CEO of Lead-Integrity, a global consultancy firm dedicated to serve the common good through leadership, competence and integrity inspired by faith with special emphasis on the role of women. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Parliament of World Religions, the Temple of Understanding, and International Alert.

Dr. Azza Karam serves on the United Nations Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Multilateralism where she co-founded and chaired the United Nations Interagency Task Force on Religion and Development. She also served as the Secretary General of Religions for Peace. For two decades at the UN’s UNDP and UNFPA, Dr. Karam served as the coordinator of the Arab Human Development Reports, as a Senior Advisor on Culture, and as the lead facilitator for the UN Strategic Learning Exchanges on Religion, Development and Diplomacy. During her time at the UN, she also co-founded the Multi-Faith Advisory Council of the task force on religions for peace.

Prof. Karam has worked globally since 1980s with the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IIDEA), and with the European Union, and has taught and lectured in many universities in Europe, in the U.S. including at the United States Military Academy, West Point, and in the Arab region. Her works in international political dynamics, democratization, human rights, religious engagement, peace and security and peacebuilding are published widely and translated into several languages. Dr. Karam holds a Ph.D. in Political Islam and was conferred an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by John Cabot University in Rome, Italy.

Dr. Karam holds a Professorship of Religion and Development at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Born in Egypt, she is a citizen of The Netherlands and now resides in New York.

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