Team

Anthony C_EDITED

Anthony J. Cernera, Ph.D.

Anthony is president and co-founder of Being the Blessing Foundation. He is also the co-founder and team leader of the Refugee and Migrant Education
Network, an international network of universities and NGO’s collaborating to expand opportunities for education of refugees and about human mobility. Anthony also serves as the president of the Center for Interreligious Understanding and on the board of directors of the World Refugees School. Anthony spent 35 years in higher education including senior administrative and teaching positions at Marist College as well as vice president of the International
Federation of Catholic Universities and president of Sacred Heart University. He has served on numerous boards of directors of social justice, education and civic organizations. Anthony holds a Ph.D in theology from Fordham Universities and has written and edited books on the Second Vatican Council as well as interreligious dialogue.

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Julia Devlin

Dr Julia Devlin

Julia is the Executive Director of the interdisciplinary Center for Flight and Migration at Catholic University Eichstaett-Ingolstadt, Germany. She is a historian with a focus on voluntary and forced migration with a particular interest in transgenerational transmission of trauma and the relevance of memory in diasporic communities. Julia studied Eastern European History, Modern History, History of Art and Slavistics at School of Slavonic and East European Studies London, Moskovskij Linguistic University Moscow and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich. Julia has taught a wide range of graduate courses at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich and Catholic University of Eichstaett. She is a regular author with Bayerischer Rundfunk, the Bavarian Broadcast Company.

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Drew-Profile (2)

Drew Edwards

Drew is the CEO and Co-Founder of Pangea Educational Development, a literacy focused NGO working in East Africa. He has broad international development experience across sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. He has spent his career working in education with children in post-conflict and crisis settings focused on early childhood literacy, inclusion and belonging, and the intersection of violence and education. Drew was a Learner’s Voice Fellow on refugee education with the Qatar Foundation, served as an Expert Reviewer for the LEGO Foundation, and holds a Master’s of Education in International Education Policy from Harvard University. He has written for UNESCO, spoken on NPR, and on stage at SXSWedu.

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Dr. Monika Hubbard

Monika studied agriculture and media consulting and has worked in communications management across a range of sectors, including non-profit. She worked as a research assistant at the University of Hohenheim, Germany, and holds a doctorate degree in social sciences. Monika worked as a Director of Communications for the London based human rights organization Hello World and, after relocating to Germany, as Head of Marketing & Communications and Deputy Chair for the international aid organization STELP. She taught Campaigning and Storytelling at Pforzheim University and later worked as Director and Team Lead Communications at a management consultancy. In 2023, she started her own consulting business for communications, culture, and transformation. Over the years, Monika has volunteered for and consulted numerous NGOs on how to optimise their communications and processes, sharpen their profile and increase awareness for their cause. She is currently engaged with Pangea Educational Development, serving as Advisory Director Communications.

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Rene_EDITED

Fr René Micallef, SJ

Fr Micallef is a Catholic priest and a Jesuit. He was born in Malta and now lives in Rome where he teaches Theological Ethics at the Pontifical Gregorian University, specializing in topics such as migration, conflict, human rights and the sources of moral reasoning. He holds degrees from the University of Malta, the University of London, the Facultés Jésuites de Paris, Comillas University (Madrid), and a doctorate in Sacred Theology from Boston College (2013). During his studies, Fr Micallef has collaborated with NGOs such as the Jesuit Refugee Service (Malta, Uganda) and Pueblos Unidos (Madrid) that promotes the integration of immigrants. In 2012, he participated in “La Jornada” and journeyed through Central America and Mexico, visiting and staying at migrant reception centres. Within the RME Network, Fr Micallef’s role is partly that of a consultant and partly that of a critic, given his international formation, his job as educator in an international academic context, and his training in ethics and migration studies.

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