Keynote Speakers at the 2026 ALPA Annual Conference
2026 ALPA Annual Conference
October 2026 Issue
Distinguished Voices
Keynote Speakers
We are honored to welcome leading voices on Gender Apartheid and Regional Studies as Keynote Speakers at the 2026 ALPA Annual Conference
Heather Barr
Advancing Digital Higher Education for Afghan Women
Heather Barr is associate director of the Women's Rights Division at Human Rights Watch. She has researched human rights in countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, South Korea and the US on issues including child marriage, girls’ education, women's access to health care, domestic violence, online gender-based violence, so called "moral crimes", "honor violence" ... more
Mirwais Balkhi
President of Rumi House and Faculty at James Madison University
Dr. Mirwais Balkhi is an adjunct professor at James Madison University and president of Rumi House (Khane Mawlana), a cultural and educational institution in the Virginia, Maryland & Washington, D.C. area. He was a Fellow at the Wilson Center and an affiliate of the Afghanistan Policy Lab at Princeton University. From 2015 to 2020, he served as Afghanistan’s Minister of Education and minister counsellor at the embassy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in India...more
Main Conference Themes
Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan
The first theme of the Conference, Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan, focuses on the Taliban’s systematic exclusion of women from education, employment, public life, and social visibility. This theme allows the conference to examine gender oppression not as an accidental result of Taliban rule, but as a governing structure that shapes law, politics, society, and everyday life in Afghanistan.
Regimes at War Societies in Crisis
The second theme places Afghanistan within a wider regional context. It examines how wars, religious extremism, legitimacy crises, and the collapse of social trust reinforce one another across Afghanistan and neighboring regions. This theme invites scholars to move beyond isolated explanations and to study Afghanistan as part of broader patterns of conflict, authoritarian governance, and regional instability.
Join our international network of researchers, advocates, and institutions. Registration includes access to keynotes, plenary panels, and research exhibitions and presentations.
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