Scientific Symposium Keynote Speakers
HRH Princess Dana Firas
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
Biography
HRH Princess Dana Firas is a global advocate for heritage protection and preservation as a foundation for sustainable development, responsible tourism, political identity and peace.
Her Royal Highness was designated a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador in June 2017 in recognition of her commitment to heritage protection and preservation as pillars for sustainable development, and her contribution to responsible tourism and community participation.
Her Royal Highness currently serves as President the Jordan National Committee for the International Council on Monuments and Sites, which she established in 2019. She is the President of the Petra National Trust, Jordan’s oldest national nongovernmental organization for heritage protection and preservation, She is a founding member of the boards of The Mohammad and Mahera Abu Ghazaleh Foundation. Between 2016-2020 she served on the Board of the Fulbright Commission in Jordan.
Internationally, Princess Dana serves as Chair of the Board of the Petra National Foundation, a US-based 501(c)(3) organization established to support efforts to protect and preserve the World Heritage Site of Petra in Jordan. She is currently an invited expert to the Board of the International Council on Monuments and Sites in Paris, France, and since 2018 she has served as Patron of the Friends of Manar al-Athar. In 2021 she became an Ambassador for the UK-based International National Trusts Organization.
Since the early 1990s, HRH has worked to promote cultural heritage preservation, education and sustainable development in various capacities in the private, public and civil society sectors, both in Jordan and in the United States. She worked in the office of HM Queen Noor on projects that promote sustainable development, peace and human rights.
Princess Dana is the recipient of the Arab Heritage Person Award for 2018, the first woman and the first Jordanian to be selected for this award. She was recognized by the World Monuments Fund with the 2019 Watch Award for her lifelong work in cultural heritage and advocacy for preservation as a stimulus for economic development. In November 2019, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Coventry University.
In January 2022, His Majesty King Abdullah bestowed the order of the State Centennial on Princess Dana in recognition of her contributions to the field of cultural heritage in Jordan.
She is the author of a number of articles, including “From the Environment and Human Security to Sustainable Security and Development” in the Journal of Human Development (2003), in the State of the World Report (2007) and in Tourism and Archeological Heritage Management at Petra: Driver to Development or Destruction (2012). She has had a number of guest television appearances including Human Flow, a 2017 German documentary film and Lost Cities with Dr. Albert Lin on the National Geographic Channel.
Her Royal Highness holds a BA degree in economics and international relations from Boston University, an MSc in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science and an MPA from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, where she was a Fulbright Scholar.
She is married to HRH Prince Firas bin Raad and has two daughters and a son.
Dr June Oscar AO
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner
Biography
June Oscar AO is a proud Bunuba woman from the remote town of Fitzroy Crossing in Western Australia’s Kimberly region. She is a strong advocate for Indigenous Australian languages, social justice, women’s issues, and has worked tirelessly to reduce Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).
June has held a raft of influential positions including Deputy Director of the Kimberley Land Council, chair of the Kimberley Language Resource Centre and the Kimberley Interpreting Service and Chief Investigator with WA’s Lililwan Project addressing FASD .
She was appointed to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (1990) and was a winner of the 100 Women of Influence 2013 in the Social Enterprise and Not For Profit category. In 2015 June received the Menzies School of Health Research Medallion for her work with FASD.
June has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business from the University of Notre Dame, Broome, Western Australia, and is currently writing her PhD. June is a co-founder of the Yiramalay Wesley Studio School and is a Community member of the Fitzroy Valley Futures Governing Committee.
In February 2017, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from Edith Cowan University.
June began her five-year term as Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner on April 3, 2017.