Abe Ata (2012 ISSRPL)

Abe W. Ata graduated in psychology at the American University and was soon nominated as a delegate to the United Nations’ World Youth Assembly in New York. He completed his doctorate at Melbourne University in 1980 and has since been teaching in several Australian, American, Jordanian, West Bank and Danish universities. He was an Honorary Fellow at the Australian Catholic University (2000-2010) and is currently at the Center for Citizenship and Globalization at Deakin University. His cross cultural training background, multidisciplinary and sensitivity in conducting and interpreting a wide ranging research projects are demonstrated in his publications of 15 books. These include: Bereavement and Health in Australia: gender, cross-cultural, religious and psychological issues( 1996); Christian and Muslim intermarriage in Australia (2005); and Us and Them: Christian-Muslim relations and social harmony in Australia (2009) – nominated for the Prime Minister’s Literary Book Awards in 2010 . He has also written 102 journal articles of which 17 are published in the Encyclopaedia of Australian People (2000), Encyclopaedia of Melbourne (2005), and Encyclopaedia of Religions (2009, Cambridge University Press). In 2011 Dr Ata was nominated as ‘Australian of the Year’.

Mersija Maglajlić (2004 ISSRPL)