When Beliefs Collide: Religion, Geopolitics and Power
Speakers
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Carne Ross founded and now runs Independent Diplomat, an award-winning international advisory group that advises democratic governments and political groups (such as the Syrian democratic opposition) on diplomatic strategy. An author of two books (most recently, “The Leaderless Revolution”), he is a frequent commentator on world affairs for the BBC, CNN, New York Times, Financial Times and other publications. He is the subject of the recent BBC4 documentary film, “Accidental Anarchist”. Carne is a former senior British diplomat and WMD expert who resigned after giving then-secret evidence to the first official inquiry into the Iraq war.
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Gemma is an award-winning social entrepreneur, thinker and practitioner in transformative, social change. She is currently incubating The New Constellation project which explores the ideas and initiatives we need to break through to new social, environmental and economic paradigms. She is Co-Founder and Vice-Chair of More In Common and a member of the Boards of Bite Back 2030 and The HALO Trust. She was previously Chief Global Officer at Change.org, the world’s largest platform for social change, and CEO of Crisis Action. She lives on Dartmoor which she loves exploring with her young family.
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Gidon Bromberg is the co-founder and 26-year Israeli Director of EcoPeace Middle East. EcoPeace is a unique regional organization that brings together Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli environmentalists to promote sustainable development and advance peace efforts in the Middle East.
Mr. Bromberg has written extensively on the relationship between water issues and Middle East peace and has presented before the UN Security Council, UN Climate Summit, US Congress, European Parliament and other international forums. Mr. Bromberg, an attorney by profession, is an alumnus of Monash University in Australia, Washington College of Law at American University and Yale University's World Fellows program.
EcoPeace Middle East received the Skoll Award in 2009
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Karen Tse, Skoll Awardee, founded International Bridges to Justice in 2000. An international human rights lawyer, ordained minister and former San Francisco public defender, Karen first developed her interest in the nexus of criminal law and human rights in 1986, after witnessing Southeast Asian refugees detained in a local prison without trial. In 1994, she moved to Cambodia to train the country’s first core group of public defenders and subsequently served as a United Nations Judicial Mentor. Karen formed IBJ after witnessing hundreds of prisoners of all ages being held without trials, usually after being tortured into making 'confessions’. IBJ is creating the conditions for a “new normal in justice” in which citizens will have access to justice and ending the use of torture as an investigative tool. IBJ now has a presence in 48 countries, with permanent country programs in 11 countries. Over 18 years, IBJ has supported more than 30,000 lawyers and defenders who have represented more than 220,000 detainees. IBJ has also reached over 25 million people through rights awareness campaigns around the world. Working globally both on the ground and online, IBJ has an active online presence through Criminal DefenseWiki pages for 100+ countries and 152 eLearning modules for over 20 countries, with over 15 million hits for both platforms combined since its creation.
Karen is a graduate of UCLA Law School and Harvard Divinity School. Among others, Karen is a recipient of the Skoll Award for Social Innovation, the American Bar Association Human Rights Award and named as one of America’s best leaders by the US News and World Report. To learn more about Karen’s work and International Bridges to Justice, please watch her TEDTalk (https://www.ted.com/talks/karen_tse_how_to_stop_torture).
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Director of Programmes, Tony Blair Faith Foundation
Matthew joined the Foundation in 2013 and is responsible for the delivery, assessment and funding of the Foundation’s programmes internationally. Additionally, Matthew is responsible for liaison and negotiation with governments, local partners and international bodies on replication and sustainability, as well as determining the Foundation’s strategy.
Most recently, Matthew’s particular focus has been on developing the Foundation’s work in several key areas including in Nigeria, Lebanon, Kenya, Indonesia and Palestine, and among Syrian refugee populations. He has also been involved with the establishing of the new Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund and launching the Foundation’s online resource on religion and conflict, Religion & Geopolitics.
Prior to joining the Foundation, Matthew spent 15 years in the Investment Banking industry - most recently as a Director at Deutsche Bank and J.P. Morgan Cazenove - advising UK and overseas companies on capital markets transactions and mergers and acquisitions, as well as on regulatory, stakeholder, communication and governance issues. He has had a long involvement with several education, health and faith based charities and initiatives.
