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Meet the Women Studies Conference Committee Driving Innovation and Collaboration
Conference Chair

Prof. Dr. Diana J Fox
Professor and Chair
Anthropology Department
Bridgewater State University
USA
Diana J Fox, Professor of Anthropology and Department Chairperson, is a cultural and applied anthropologist, scholar-activist, and documentary film producer. Her work is based in Anglophone Caribbean and South Asia where she researches issues of gender and sexual diversity, women’s social movements, activism for ecological sustainability, women’s artivism, sexual and gender diversity, gender-based violence, self-determination of Indigenous peoples, transnational feminisms and activism. She serves on a number of boards and committees including the international advisory board of the Fondes Amandes Community Reforestation Project (FACRP) in Trinidad and Tobago. She is the founder and executive editor of the open access online Journal of International Women’s Studies. Prof Fox is the executive producer of two documentary films, “Earth, Water, Woman: Community and Sustainability in Trinidad and Tobago” and “Many Loves One Heart: Stories of Courage and Resilience” about the LGBTQ movement in Jamaica. She is the recipient of four Fulbright awards and has published a number of books and articles. As with most feminists, her passions emerged from her lived experiences and her passion for equity and human rights for all.
Steering Committee

Prof. Darlene Miller
Assoc. Professor
Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affair
The University of South Africa (UNISA)
South Africa
Darlene Miller is an Associate Professor at the Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affairs. She has a herstory of Scholar-Activism and ethnographic research in Africa. Her doctorate was on African Labour in Post-Apartheid Southern Africa and SA Food Retail Multinationals (Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, US). She was the Director of the Institute for African Alternatives, Senior Advisor to the President of the International Science Council in Paris and Cape Town and CEO of Human Sciences Research Council, the Bloomberg Fellow for the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch in New York and the National Educator for the South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (SACCAWU). Her current research focuses on Indigenous Matriarchal Leadership, Krotoa, and Food Partnerships.

Dr. Shazia Malik
Centre for Women’s Studies and Research
University of Kashmir
India
Dr. Shazia Malik is a committed scholar and educator specializing in gender theory, women’s studies, intersectionality, and social justice. She holds a Ph.D. in Women’s Studies (2013) from the Advanced Centre for Women’s Studies, Aligarh Muslim University, where she also earned her M.A. in Sociology and a Postgraduate Diploma in Women’s Studies. Her academic journey began with a B.Sc. from the University of Kashmir.
Dr. Malik has published numerous scholarly articles, contributed to edited volumes, and delivered several invited talks, actively shaping academic and public discourse on gender and marginalized communities. Her research has been recognized with multiple national awards, including the Papiya Ghosh Memorial Prize (2011) and both the Prof. Partha Sarahti Gupta and Prof. J.C. Jha Memorial Prizes (2010) for her work presented at the Indian History Congress. In addition to her research and teaching, Dr. Malik has served as a CBCS Academic Counselor since 2017 and has led student-centered initiatives, including an educational tour of six universities across Northern India. Her work reflects a deep commitment to education, advocacy, and social transformation.

Dr. Dalea Bean
Head of the Mona Unit
Institute of Gender and Development Studies
Regional Coordinating Office
The University of the West Indies
Jamaica
Dr. Dalea Bean is a Senior Lecturer and Graduate Coordinator at the Institute for Gender and Development Studies, Regional Coordinating Office at The University of the West Indies. Before working with the IGDS, she taught in the Department of History at The UWI in the areas of women’s history and Caribbean history. She pursued a Bachelor of Arts at The UWI in African and Caribbean History and Political Science and graduated with first-class honours in 2002. She then completed her Ph.D. in History on the topic “Jamaican Women and World Wars I and II”. She has been the recipient of awards for scholastic achievements, including the Inaugural Robert Marley Scholarship and Walter Rodney Prize for African History.
Her areas of teaching include Feminist Theorising, Gender and Political Activism and Mobilisation, Gender and Conflict Situations among others. Her general research interests include women and gender justice in Caribbean history, women in conflict situations, and gender relations in the Caribbean hotel industry and Caribbean masculinities. She has written books, book chapters, journal articles, and has presented numerous lectures internationally on these and other topics. She has also conducted gender equity and gender mainstreaming training regionally and has been engaged in research with the IGDS that facilitates gender mainstreaming in education, history writing, and masculinity studies. Her first single-authored book: “Jamaican Women and the World Wars: On the Front Lines of Change” was published by Palgrave MacMillan in 2017. She has also written “Jamaican Women of Distinction: Holding up more than Half the Sky” commissioned and published by the RJR Gleaner Communications Group.
Dr. Bean serves on the Editorial Board of The Caribbean Journal of Strategic and Security Studies and Identity Papers: A Journal of British and Irish Studies and is also the reviews editor for Jamaican Historic Review. She is also Assistant Chief Examiner for CSEC History. She is also A Distinguished President of the Kiwanis Club of Young Professionals Jamaica, which allows her critical engagement in youth advocacy and service to children and vulnerable communities in Jamaica. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, singing, travelling, and spending time with friends and family.
Reviewers
Dr. Adelfa Silor
Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology, Philippines
Prof. Darlene Ajeet Miller
The University of South Africa (UNISA), South Africa
Dr. Kirandeep Kaur
National Law School of India University, India
Dr. S. Sharmila
Shrimathi Devkunvar Nanalal Bhatt Vaishnav College for Women, India
Dr. Gayatri Baruah
Krishna Kanta Hanidiqui State Open University, India
Prof. Dr. Sevinc Serpil Aytac
Bursa Uludag University, Turkey
Dr. Ruqqia Hashmi
Anjuman Arts, Science, Commerce College, India
Rev. Dr. Simbarashe Munamati
Reformed Church University, Zimbabwe
Dr. Sarani Ghosal Mondal
National Institute of Technology, India
Prof. Dr Najma Iqbal Malik
University of Sargodha, Pakistan
Dr. Oria Ramatsui
Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University, South Africa
Dr. Mabebe Mary Kgole
University of South Africa, South Africa
Dr. Chayadevi Golconda
University of Hyderabad, India
Dr. Oladapo Osituyo
NHS England, United Kingdom
Dr. Liz Mukai
Daystar University, Kenya
Dr. Rahat Zubair Malik
Quaid-i-Azam University, Pakistan
Dr. Anesu Mironga
Africa University, Zimbabwe
Assoc. Prof. Samantha Govender
University of Zululand, South Africa
Dr. S. Poulpunitha
Alagappa University, India
Asst. Prof. Sumi Daa-dhora
Mahapurusha Srimanta Sankaradeva Viswavidyalaya, India
Dr. Geeta Kusbad
Shri Vile Parle Kelvani Mandals Pravin Gandhi College of Law Vile Parle, India
Dr. Ramesh Singisala
Guru Nanak Institutions Technical Campus, India
Dr. Naresh Prajapati
Central University of Punjab, India
Dr. Nancy Q Echavez
MSU-IIT, Philippines
Asst. Prof. Sharifah Nurul Huda Alkaff
Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Brunei
Prof. Jyoti Niswade
Matru Sewa Sangh Institute of Social Work, India
Prof. U. H. Ruhina Jesmin
Khulna University, Bangladesh
Asst. Prof. Momina Zahan
Banasthali Vidyapith, India
Dr. Dominique Eugene
Institute for Social Innovation Fellow at Fielding Graduate University, USADr Dr. Vibha Sharma, Independent Researcher, India
Dr. Bhavana Raj
Institute of Public Enterprise, India
Dr. S P Srimathi
NMKRV College, India
Dr. Torfa Al Naimi
Family Counseling Center (WIFAQ), Qatar
Dr. Bhushan Sharma
Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, India
Prof. Pramod Kumar Gupta
University of Lucknow, India
Asst. Prof. Zineb El Andaloussi
National School of Commerce and Management of Tangier, Morocco
ِDr. Shabnam Omidvar
Babol University of Medical Sciences, Iran
Dr. Tharindra Vishwanthi Pathiratne
PGIM - University of Colombo, Sri Lanka
Prof. Marilyn Naidoo
University of South Africa, South Africa
Dr. Zintle Ntshongwana
University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
Dr. Momina Zahan
Faculty of Law, Banasthali Vidyapith, India
Prof. Eleanor Hendricks
North-West University, South Africa
Dr. Sresha Yadav nee Ghosh
IIIT-Naya Raipur, India
Assist. Prof. Dr. Onur Yamaner
Fenerbahçe University, Turkey
Dr. Uttam Boruah
Sibsagar University, India
Dr. Dominique Eugene
NYUAD, Stellenbosch University; Fielding Graduate University, United States
Dr. Gondwe Colious
Kwame Nkrumah University, Zambia
Dr. Nimfa L. Bracamonte
Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology, Philippines
Dr. Ronel Davids
Univesity of the Western Cape, South Africa
Dr. Kasturi Bharadwaj
Kasturi BharadwajJagat Taran Girls' Degree College, A Constituent College of Central University of Allahabad, India
Dr. Lumwanga Augustine S.
Kwame Nkrumah University, Zambia
Prof. Marco Stefan B. Lagman
Central Bicol State University of Agriculture, Philippines
Dr. Abgirl Muleya
University Of South Africa, South Africa
Dr. Hatice Altun
Pamukkale University, Turkey
Dr. Moksha Singh
National Institute of Technology Raipur, India
Dr. Nyamat Sekhon
Chandigarh University, India
Prof. M. Laura Corradi
DISPES - UNIVERSITA' DELLA CALABRIA, Italy
Dr. Pritha Sarkar
XIM University, India
Dr. Elymar A. Pascual
Department of Education, Nagcarlan Sub-Office, Philippines
Dr. Ana Lucia Santos
Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal
Dr. Halimah A.F. DeShong
The University of the West Indies, Jamaica
Dr. Asfana Wahab
Center for Woman and Xhild Development, Bangladesh
Asst. Prof. Phyllis Marie S. Teanco
Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology, Philippines
Dr. Aynah Khadijah Molok Salic
Mindanao State University Marawi, Philippines
Dr. Peeja Rajan
The Gender Park, India
Dr. K. Divya
The Gender Park, India