World Refugee Day with H.M. Queen Máxima (2021)
I organised and produced a live, bilingual broadcast to Al Jazeera Mubasher of SPARK’s 10,000 scholarships virtual celebration with H.M. Queen Máxima of the Netherlands and H.H. Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, founder of Education Above All.
IGNITE Conference, Amsterdam (annually 2016-2022)
I co-organise an annual, international conference on higher education and employment for youth in fragile states on behalf of SPARK. The IGNITE conference, held in Amsterdam, hosts over 400+ high level experts from around the world.
Speakers have included:
H.M. Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, Raouf Mazou (UNHCR's Assistant High Commissioner for Operations), Sigrid Kaag (Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade & Development Cooperation), Prof. Alexander Betts (Refugee Research Centre at the University of Oxford), Raed Al Saleh (Director of Syrian White Helmets), among others.
Sponsors have included:
Islamic Development Bank, Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Qatar Fund for Development, IKEA Foundation, International Finance Corporation, City of Amsterdam, DIHAD Foundation.
2022
2019
2018
2017
2016
Bridging the Gap conference, Beirut (2018)
In 2018, in partnership with the European Union and the American University of Beirut, I organised an international conference the next steps for Syrian refugee graduates in the Middle East. The focus was on employment opportunities in a region with high rates of youth unemployment, skilling for the future reconstruction of Syria and Iraq, and the potential benefits to hosting nation’s economies.
Speakers included:
Johannes Hahn (EU Commissioner), Marwen Hamedéh (Lebanese Minister of Education and Higher Education)
