Volkan Scholarship
The Volkan Scholarship was created in 2016 to honor the work of Dr. Vamik Volkan, the founder and now President Emeritus of IDI. Through the Scholarship, we hope to link the IDI’s work to other important work on the psychological understanding of, and intervention with, societal conflict.
The Volkan Scholarship is offered annually to one or two candidates. It provides for expenses-paid participation in that year’s IDI meeting, access to the IDI network, project consultation with IDI members as well as recognition on the IDI website.
Volkan Scholars are nominated by IDI members and invited by the IDI Board to apply for the Scholarship. Application includes a CV and a letter describing the applicant’s work: how it relates to the work of IDI and how the appointment would contribute to the work of both. The IDI Board reviews applications and selects that year’s Scholar(s).
Volkan Scholars
2016
Stephan Alder, M.D.
Stephan Alder is a psychiatrist, neurologist, psychoanalyst and group analyst www.dr-alder-psychiatrie.de. He specializes in analytical work with patients who suffer from PTSD, autistoide and dissociative syndromes, schizophrenic disorders, depression, and anxieties. He has served as delegate of the medical chamber in Germany, in a number of special fields of interest: psychotherapy, psychiatry, and human rights. He is a member of Group Analytic Society international, the German society for Group Analysis, and the Berlin Institute for Group Analysis. He is also a past president of the German Society for Psychoanalysis and a member of the German Society for Analytical Psychology. He is the founder and organizer of the 1st and the 2nd Psycho-Historical Trialog Conferences between German, Russian and Ukrainian psychotherapists ( 2015, 2017) (www.trialog-conference.org). Born in Leipzig, Stephan lives in Potsdam with his wife and two children. He can be reached at st-alder@t-online.de.
Omar Shehabi, J.D.
Omar Yousef Shehabi is a legal officer with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), based in Gaza. He is a former legal advisor with the Palestinian Negotiations Support Unit, where he advised the Palestinian leadership on final-status negotiations with Israel and other foreign relations. Previously, Omar practiced labor law at firms in Los Angeles and Chicago, representing labor unions and employees. He is a graduate of George Washington University and the University of Notre Dame Law School, and is an LL.M. candidate at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Upcoming projects include an article on what happens politically and legally when the putative self-determination of a ‘people’ is transformed, perhaps irreversibly, by economic dependency and demographic changes brought on by an occupying power. Omar can be reached at oshebabi@gmail.com.
2017
Lydia Wilson, Ph.D.
Lydia Wilson is a Research Fellow at the Centre for the Resolution of Intractable Conflict, Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford, and holds affiliated research positions at the University of Cambridge, City University New York and Erbil International University. Current research involves extensive fieldwork in the Middle East exploring motivations and pathways to violence, interviewing a range of those involved in conflicts. Before coming to Oxford, Lydia was a Mellon Fellow at City University New York’s Graduate Center, collaborating on a project on the study of religion. Lydia holds a PhD in medieval Arabic philosophy, an MPhil in History and Philosophy of Science and a BA in Natural Sciences, all from the University of Cambridge. She edits the Cambridge Literary Review and writes journalism as well as academic articles. A book on ISIS, based on experiences in the field in Iraq, is in preparation. Lydia is currently working in Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq, providing the research basis for programmes in countering and preventing violent extremism. Lydia can be reached at: lydia.wilson@hmc.ox.ac.uk.
2018
Nimrod Goren, Ph.D.
Nimrod Goren is the Founder and Head of Mitvim – The Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies and a Teaching Fellow in Middle Eastern Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He holds a PhD in Middle Eastern Studies and Political Psychology from the Hebrew University, and his dissertation topic was “The role of external incentives in promoting peace: the cases of Israel and Turkey”. After completing his doctorate, Nimrod was selected to take part in Public Policy training at Syracuse University as the Israeli participant in the 2009-10 US State Department’s Fulbright Hubert Humphrey Fellowship Program. During part of his year in the US, he was also a visiting fellow at J Street. Nimrod is the former Executive Director of the Young Israeli Forum for Cooperation (YIFC), and in this capacity he was awarded the 2009 Victor J. Goldberg IIE Prize for Peace in the Middle East. In addition, Nimrod has worked at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, the Nehemia Levtzion Center for Islamic Studies, and the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace. He is also a Board Member at MALI – The Center for Enterprising Citizens, and his areas of expertise include the Middle East peace process, Israel’s foreign policy, and Turkish politics and foreign policy. Nimrod can be reached at: ngoren@mitvim.org.il
2019
Anna Zajenkowska, Ph.D.
Anna Zajenkowska, PhD, is adjunct professor and head of the Department of Social Psychology and Doctoral School of the Maria Grzegorzewska University in Warsaw. She has a PhD in Humanities from the Department of Psychology, University of Warsaw. She has also obtained her psychological expertise at the University of Vienna. She is a trained group analyst, board member of the IGAR (Institute of Group Analysis RASZTÓW) and a delegate to the group section of the European Federation for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (EFPP). In addition, she has a master’s degree in International Commerce from the University of Korea and has completed postgraduate studies in monetary policy at the Polish Academy of Sciences. She also has several years of international experience in business (Poland, Austria and Korea), which she uses while conducting intercultural training sessions. All her activities focus on working with groups and facilitating communication between different communities. She is one of the founders and main organizer of the Poland on the Couch Project, an initiative started by group analysts and aimed at building a safe space for conversation – the basis of social life, encompassing reflective citizens’ workshops and publications. Workshops in which representatives of diverse environments can have an opportunity to reflect on social processes have been held in different cities in Europe since 2014 and are ongoing. More information about Poland on the Couch can be found at:
http://apsycholab.pl/event-category/current/
http://instytut.rasztow.pl/s/aktualnosci/kat/6/Polska-na-kozetce
http://efpp.org/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/Polska-na-Kozetce-213210992206508/
Anna can be reached at: zajenkowska@gmail.com