Nagwan Soliman
Nagwan Soliman

The Reves Center for International Studies and the Center for Comparative Legal Studies and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding at William & Mary Law School have announced that Nagwan Soliman, senior fellow at the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and Nonresidential Affiliate Scholar at Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security at Georgetown University, is the 2022 Kraemer Middle East Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence.

Soliman will deliver two lectures at the university, both of which are free and open to the public:              

  • Wednesday, March 9, 2022, 5 p.m.
    “Keep Faith in Democracy: Arab Spring Eleven Years On”
    Reves Room, Reves Center, 200 S. Boundary Street
    Presented by the Reves Center for International Studies
  • Thursday, March 10, 2022, 12:50 to 1:50 p.m.
    “Transitional Periods in Arab Spring Countries” 
    William & Mary Law School, 613 S. Henry Street, Room 133 
    Presented by the Center for Comparative Legal Studies and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding at William & Mary Law School

Soliman was previously, a scholar fellow at Radcliffe Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. She specializes in women and peace process, conflict transformation, sectarian tensions between Muslims and Christians in the Arab region, the radicalization of youth, democratization, and social movements and Islamist groups in the MENA region.

Soliman received her Ph.D. degree in social and political sciences from the European University Institute, Italy and her master’s in political science from Cairo University. She was a doctoral visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, a Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy, a doctoral fellow of the Middle East Directions Programme of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, and a visiting fellow at the Institute of International Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, Freie Universität Berlin, and the University of Amsterdam. Soliman was also a chairperson of the Regional Center for Mediation and Dialogue, in Egypt, and a project manager at the Institut Religioscope, in Fribourg, Switzerland.

Soliman is a regional trainer in conflict and peace studies. She has trained activists from Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Yemen, Sudan, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Oman, and Turkey. She has contributed to designing Early Warning and Rapid Response networks (EWRR) and dialogue processes in many counties in the MENA region.

Soliman has served as a consultant to some organizations, such as the Institut Religioscope, in Switzerland and shared her experiences in dealing with sectarian tensions and designing dialogue processes in a post-conflict era with the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).

The Kraemer Middle East Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence was established with a generous gift from Carole A. and Richard C. Kraemer ’65. It is offered yearly, and provides the opportunity for a scholar specializing in Islamic law and governance to spend a short period of time at William & Mary sharing his or her expertise with the university community. It is open to all geographical areas and sub-disciplines, provided the scholar’s background, interest and topical focus are on or clearly related to Islamic law and governance.

The Reves Center’s Global Engagement Team works closely with the Center for Comparative Legal Studies and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding at William & Mary School of Law to identify potential scholars and promote this initiative.