The Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion is pleased to host a symposium on Religion and Global Politics across Disciplines and Publics at Notre Dame Rome. This gathering, which marks the capstone of the inaugural Global Fellows program, will showcase the global fellows’ scholarship following a year of faculty and peer critique and monograph development.
The event brings together three cohorts: the Ansari Institute’s global fellows; their mentors, who are senior scholars at the University of Notre Dame; and participants of the Rome Summer Seminars on Religion and Global Politics. The summer seminarians—a new generation of graduate students researching the intersection of religion and global politics—are hosted by John Cabot University with substantive support from the Ansari Institute. Together these three groups will cultivate a scholarly exchange and celebrate the global fellows' achievements.
The first day of the symposium will feature a keynote with scholar and author Dr. Erin K. Wilson, professor of politics and religion in the faculty of Religion, Culture, and Society at the University of Groningen and recipient of the 2026 Ansari Institute Book Prize. Wilson will offer commentary on the emerging field of religion and global politics, and reflect on the ways by which diplomats, civil servants, policymakers, journalists, and civil society practitioners might understand and incorporate religious literacy into their respective roles.
The second day of the symposium will include a full set of panels addressing themes relevant to the study of religion and global politics, including religion, post-colonialism, and new nations; religion, democracy, and state agendas; and religious networks, identity politics, and religio-political theory. Each session will feature the global fellow(s) who study one or more of these themes, their faculty mentors, and the chair of the session—a senior scholar who will also serve as a critical interlocutor with the panelists. The audience will participate in the discussion following the panelists’ presentations.
The final day of the symposium will be integrated into the European Academy of Religion’s Ninth Annual Conference with each session open to all conference participants. There will be panels on new directions in the study of religion and global politics, religion and international order, interreligious engagement, and managing pluralism. The sessions will feature recent Rome summer seminarians, current global fellows, and members of the Ansari Institute faculty including Interim Director Scott Appleby, Executive Director Mahan Mirza, and Senior Fellow Michael Driessen.
The symposium will end with an "Author Meets Critics" plenary held at the conference. Five scholars of religion and global politics will discuss Religion and World Politics: Connecting Theory with Practice. The panelists include the author, Erin Wilson, as well as Peter Mandaville (Georgetown and George Mason Universities), Kristina Stoeckl (LUISS University), Gregorio Bettiza (University of Bologna), and Scott Appleby (Notre Dame). The panel will be followed by a reception.
The Global Fellows Symposium is taking place in Rome to draw upon the religious and geopolitical resources of the Eternal City, and to bring together (for the first time in person) the global fellows, their mentors, the summer seminarians, and the scholars who gather at the European Academy of Religion. It is expected that this unique combination of place, time, and people will offer fruitful discussion about the emerging field of religion and global politics.