International Board of the EPIL Association

President:

Martina Heinrichs, MA, was born in West-Germany (1955). She studied Roman Catholic theology and Romanistics at the university of Bonn and at het Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris. She moved to the Netherlands to work at the Catholic University of Nijmegen together with prof. Catharina Halkes on a compulsary introduction programme of Feminist Theology in the Bachelor Studies. Later she worked as an adult educationer at two protestant academies in the Netherlands for the ecumenical and interreligious women’s movement on national and international level. Currently she is a programme director at the Dominican Priory in Huissen. In her voluntary work she is involved in several ecumenical and interreligious women’s networks throughout Europe and worldwide.

Vice President:

Dr. Sabiha Husić, Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina – a psychotherapist, Islamic theologian, interreligious peacebuilder, and director of Medica Zenica. She was a Woman PeaceMaker at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice at the University of San Diego in 2013. Earned the Active Citizens of Europe (ACE) award in 2009 and theWomen of the World Award in 2014, for her extraordinary leadership and unwavering commitment to helping women and children survivors of war and post-war violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Member of EPIL’s Academic Team since 2002, and presently a Board member.

Rev. Barbara Heyse-Schaefer, MA, Vienna, Austria – studied Protestant theology in Vienna, Tübingen and Berlin, with a focus on feminist theology and Jewish- Christian dialogue. She served as Protestant university pastor in Vienna and she has been director of the Protestant Women’s Agency of Austria. In this capacity she has been responsible for policy of women’s programmes of the church. She is currently pastor in a parish in Vienna and hospital Chaplain. She has been president of the EPIL Board  and is still board member.

Dr. Emel Topçu, Ankara, Turkey – Associate Professor at Siirt University in Turkey. Since 2002, she has been active in field of human rights, women rights, minority-majority relationship, integration of migrants into European societies, multiculturalism and gender mainstreaming. Having lived in Germany for 15 years, she worked on many international and EU projects. Prior to her moving to Europe she was a scholar in India and the USA. She has worked and resided in Turkey since 2008. Dr.Topcu has been part of EPIL since 2002, as a student, Academic Team member and Board member.