As part of the ISSI initiative, we are pleased to invite you to the 2011 Intellectual Discourse Series with Dr. Hisham Hellyer, co-hosted with Islamic Outreach ABIM. The topic of discussion will be “Islam: Universality and Uniqueness”, and will be organized on Sunday 3rd July 2011 from 930am-1130am at the Seminar Room, Masjid Negara, Jalan Perdana, Kuala Lumpur.
H.A. Hellyer is Director of the policy research consortium, the Visionary Consultants Group (VCG) (with consultants in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, based out of Cairo), and Fellow at the Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations at the University of Warwick (UK). Formerly Ford Fellow of Centre for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution (USA), Dr Hellyer is a United Nations ‘Global Expert’ on the politics of the MENA region, Muslim world-West relations and Islam & modernity.
Nominated as Deputy Convenor of the UK Government’s Home Office working group on Muslim communities in the aftermath of the July 7th bombings in London, he was also Fellow at the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office. A contributor to Oxford Analytica, he is regularly invited to give advice and evidence to the Department of Communities and Local Government, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, the Home Office, the House of Commons (UK), the Department of Homeland Security, and the State Department (USA).
He has also served as a consultant to different British Council initiatives in Europe, North America and the Middle East, and was also appointed as Senior Outreach Manager and Senior Academic Advisor at Soliya, a UN Alliance of Civilisations implementation organisation that seeks to improve West – Muslim world relations through new media and university education. The consultancy he founded, the VCG, focuses on issues of relevance to development in the Middle East and broader MENA – West relations, with clients ranging from the UK Foreign Office to foundations in the Gulf, to private elite clientele. Dr Hellyer is a specialist on political transition and civil society in the Arab world, and is currently advising the new initiative ‘Tahrir Squared’ which is designed to promote civil society activity.
Educated at Hill House, London, and at international schools in the UK and in the Middle East, Dr Hellyer received a Law degree and a Masters degree in International Political Economy from the University of Sheffield. He received his PhD from the University of Warwick with a multidisciplinary degree relating to politics, sociology and law, and studied the Islamic intellectual tradition in Egypt, the UK and Malaysia. Previously Member of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies of the University of Oxford, Dr Hellyer was also Warwick University’s Senior Research Fellow (the equivalent of an Associate Professor), and visiting Professor of Law at the American University in Cairo. Member of the International Institute of Strategic Studies (London, Washington, Singapore) and Fellow of the Young Foundation (UK), Dr. Hellyer was previously Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS Malaysia). He is a widely sought after public speaker and commentator in the West and the Muslim world , and is currently writing two books on European and American security policy, and the Arab Spring.
We have decided not to ask for a registration fee, but it is important that we get an accurate idea of numbers and we would be most grateful if you would register accordingly by responding to our co-ordinator Aliff Basri, at +60340235664, or (especially to book attendance) at admin@issimalaysia.org.my. We look forward to seeing you on 3rd July 2011.
Azril Mohd. Amin
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