Josef Boehle - A Short Biographical Note
Dr
Josef Boehle is Research Fellow
in Globalisation, Religion and Politics at the Department of
Theology and Religion, University of Birmingham, U.K. and Coordinator of the UNESCO Chair in Interfaith Studies at the
University of Birmingham, UK.
His current research project is on Religions, Civil Society and International Institutions and he is a member of the research team that leads a UK Government (DFID) sponsored Research Consortium on Religions and Development. He also teaches a seminar on Religion in Contemporary Global Politics in 2007/08 at the University of Birmingham. He received a postgraduate degree in Theology from the University of Tuebingen, Germany and received his PhD from the University of Birmingham in 2001 for his thesis on Inter-religious Co-operation in a Global Age.
He helped to organise major conferences and
summits addressing inter-religious, inter-cultural and inter-civilisational
issues, including a Symposium at UNESCO headquarters in Paris on Unity in Diversity. Ethical and Spiritual
Visions for the World in November 2000.
He participated in the Millennium NGO Forum at the UN in May 2000, the
Millennium World Peace Summit at the UN in August 2000, the Conference on
Interfaith Cooperation for Peace in June 2005 at the UN, the High-level
Dialogue on Interreligious and Intercultural Understanding and Cooperation for
Peace of the UN General Assembly in October 2007, the first and second UN
Alliance of Civilizations Forum (in Madrid in January 2008 and in
Istanbul in April 2009) and the annual meetings of the Academic Council on the
United Nations System (ACUNS).
Amongst Dr
Boehle’s Papers, Symposia and Workshops are:
Earth
Community: Globalisation and Civilisations,
Seminar organised at UN
Association–UK, Oxford Branch, Oxford Union, 23 February 1999.
The UN System and Dialogue among Religions
and Civilisations,
Paper presented at Higher Education for
Peace Conference,
University of Tromsoe, Norway, 6 May 2000.
Inter-religious
Co-operation in an Age of Globalisation,
Paper presented at Centre UNESCO
de Catalunya,
World Trade Centre, Barcelona, 1 December
2000.
The
Growth of International Inter-religious Activity,
Paper presented at Transnational
Civil Society Seminar,
London School of Economics, 2 June 2001.
The Future of Interfaith Organisations, Graduate Seminar organised
at Graduate
Institute for Theology and Religion, University of
Birmingham, 29 April 2002.
Inter-religious Co-operation and
Global Change:
From a Clash of Civilisations to a Dialogue of Civilisations,
Paper presented at 2002 Annual Meeting of Academic Council on the United
Nations System,
Cascais, Portugal, 22 June 2002.
Religious Co-operation or
Confrontation?
Paper presented at ‘An Inter-faith Perspective on Globalisation 2002
Conference’, Plater College,
Oxford, 29 July 2002.
Inter-religious Cooperation and Global Change:
From a Clash of Civilisations to a Dialogue of Civilisations
Paper published in Pacifica Review: Peace, Security and Global Change,
Volume 14, Number 3, October 2002.
Inter-religious Co-operation in a Global
Age,
Paper
presented at North-South Roundtable, Cairo, Egypt, 28 November 2002.
Inter-religious Cooperation and Global
Change:
From a Clash of Civilisations to a Dialogue of Civilisations,
Paper presented at ‘An Inter-faith Perspective on Globalisation 2003
Conference’,
St Petersburg, Russia, 28 April 2003.
Inter-religious Cooperation and Global
Change:
From a Clash of Civilisations to a Dialogue of Civilisations,
Paper presented at International Student Forum, Rothermere American
Institute,
Oxford University, 21 May 2003.
Religions and International
Institutions,
Paper presented at UK Pre-parliament Event, preparing for the 2004
Parliament of the World's Religions,
Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha, Birmingham, UK, 13 October 2003.
Workshop on Globalisation, Moderator,
International Summit 'Towards a Culture of Harmony and Peace',
preparing for the 2004 Parliament of the World's Religions,
New Delhi, India, 9 December 2003.
Religions and Cooperation for the Common
Good,
Paper presented at ‘An Inter-faith
Perspective on Globalisation 2004 Conference’,
Dubai, UAE,
Symposium on ‘Religions and
International Institutions’, Moderator,
2004 Parliament of the World’s Religions, Barcelona,
Spain.
Globalisation and Religion,
Paper presented at One World Forum,
University of Warwick, 16 January 2005.
Religion, Civil Society and the UN
System,
Paper presented at UN Seminar Series,
Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies,
Graduate Centre, City University of New
York, New York, 30 March 2005.
Religions, Civil Society and the UN
System,
Paper presented at the Conference
on Interfaith Cooperation for Peace at United Nations Headquarters,
New York, 22 June 2005.
Religions and Globalisation: What is the
Outlook?,
Paper
presented at the Conference on ‘Religions and
Globalization: Disorder or Harmony’
organised
by the Institut Aspen France, Lyon, 1-2 July 2006.
The UN System and the World(s) of
Religions and Cultures,
Workshop organised at the 2007 Annual Conference
of the Academic Council on the United Nations System,
Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies,
City University of New York, New York, 8 June 2007.
Religions, Civil Society and the UN
System,
Paper published in Studies in Interreligious
Dialogue, Volume 17, Number 1, July 2007.
High-level Dialogue on Interreligious and
Intercultural Understanding and Cooperation for Peace
of the UN General Assembly,
Advisor and Respondent at the Interactive
Hearing with Civil Society of the High-level Dialogue,
United Nations Headquarters, New York, 4
October 2007.
Religion in Contemporary Global Politics, Paper presented to Commonwealth
Scholars and Fellows
at a weekend seminar at Cumberland Lodge, invited by
the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, 13 April 2008.
Religion in the Public Sphere, panelist in discussion at Launch of Commonwealth Scholarship Commission ‘Faith and Civil Society’ Network,
Birkbeck College, London, 17 January 2009.
Religion in a Global Age: Initiatives at
the United Nations, Plenary Speaker at
the 2nd International Conference on ‘Integrating
Spirituality and Organisational Leadership’, 10 February 2009, Pondicherry,
India, invited by the Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi.
Dr Boehle’s field of research
is inter-civilisational, inter-religious dialogue and co-operation in a global
age, focusing on international organisations and movements. He has worked with
international inter-religious organisations and
has a wide experience of transnational civil society and issues of
inter-religious co-operation.
Presently he researches inter-religious co-operation and international
institutions and works on publications on
Religion in a Global Age.
He seeks to develop new perspectives and models
that are needed to enable humane answers to the challenges of
globalisation, based on respect for the diversity of cultures and
religions in our world community.
E-mail: j.boehle@bham.ac.uk
