Berkley Center

Judd Birdsall is assistant professor of the practice in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Georgetown University, where he is also a senior fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and the project director of the Transatlantic Policy Network on Religion and Diplomacy (TPNRD). In addition, he is a senior advisor on the religion and peacebuilding team at the United States Institute of Peace. From 2011 to 2020 Birdsall was based at Cambridge University, where he earned his Ph.D., founded a research center on religion and international studies, and served as an affiliated lecturer in the Department of Politics and International Studies. Prior to his time at Cambridge, he served in the U.S. State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom and on the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff. Birdsall is the editor of Religion & Diplomacy, and his work has appeared in the Washington Post, Foreign Policy, Guardian, Huffington Post, Christianity Today, and Religion & Politics. He is also a senior editor and a frequent contributor at the Review of Faith & International Affairs.

Dr. Mohamed Elsanousi is the executive director of the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers, a global network that builds bridges between grassroots peacemakers and global players to work towards sustainable peace. He previously was the director of interfaith and government relations for the Islamic Society of North America.

Palwasha L. Kakar was the director of the Religion and Inclusive Societies program at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) and is a member of the Strategic Religious Engagement Hub Advisory Board, an initiative hosted by the Georgetown University Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. She has more than 15 years of experience advancing peacebuilding and inclusive governance in Afghanistan, the Middle East, and South Asia. At USIP, she led global initiatives that engage religious leaders, policymakers, and civil society to address conflict, strengthen resilience, and promote women’s participation in peace processes. Prior to joining USIP, she directed women’s empowerment and development programs for the Asia Foundation in Afghanistan and advised on governance and gender with the United Nations and other international organizations. Kakar brings academic training in religion, politics, and gender from Harvard Divinity School, along with deep field experience working with communities across diverse contexts. Fluent in English, Pashto, and Dari, she is widely recognized for bridging cultural and religious perspectives to foster dialogue, inclusion, and peaceful change.

Janette Yarwood is a cultural anthropologist and policy practitioner whose work examines governance, political life, and public institutions across Africa. She is director for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa in the Office of International Affairs at Yale University. Her policy experience includes serving as senior advisor to the U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs, staff director for the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, and chair of Africa area studies at the State Department’s National Foreign Affairs Training Center. She is a Fulbright Scholar whose research and writing have appeared in African Arguments, Africa is a Country, and Public Books (forthcoming), among other venues. She holds a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from the Graduate Center, City University of New York.