Visiting Scholars & Practitioners
The Roberta Buffett Institute’s visiting scholars and practitioners come from around the world to collaborate with the Buffett and University communities.
Learn about past Buffett Visiting Scholars, and see below to learn about current visiting scholars.
Buffett Distinguished Visiting Practitioners
Kathy Im
Distinguished Practitioner in Residence
Kathy Im is the Director of Journalism and Media at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation where she manages a global portfolio investing in nonprofit journalism, documentary storytelling, and civic media. Kathy is a recognized leader in philanthropy and media and the author of several editorials and essays about press freedom, media diversity, and the connection between media and democracy. She is currently the Chair of the Advisory Board for the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, a member of the Harris Council of the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy Studies, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Steering Committee of the European Journalism Funders Forum, and the Advisory Board for the Media Forward Fund based in Germany. She was previously a Board Member of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Media Impact Funders, the Center for Asian American Media, and Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy. Kathy earned her Master’s degree in Public Policy from the University of Chicago and her Bachelor’s degree in Government Studies from Smith College.
Buffett Visiting Scholars
Zahra Khoshk Jan
Visiting Assistant Professor in Religious Studies and Buffett Visiting Scholar
Zahra Khoshk Jan is a political sociologist and researcher specializing in the sociology of religion who will be in residence with the Department of Religious Studies and the Roberta Buffett Institute from September 2026 until June 30, 2027. Zahra’s research primarily focuses on “the political sociology of religion,” an interdisciplinary field examining the mutual influences between religion and politics, including political religion and emerging forms of implicit religion in the modern era. She has published multiple papers in Persian and English on the interaction of politics and religion. As a social constructionist, Zahra is skilled in qualitative research methods, including discourse analysis, critical discourse analysis, phenomenology, content analysis, and grounded theory. With more than 12 years of teaching experience, she has taught courses in political sociology and sociology of religion at the University of Chicago, DePaul University, and, currently, Northwestern University.
Roberto Mazza
Keyman Modern Turkish Studies Program Visiting Scholar
Roberto Mazza is a historian specializing in the modern Middle East who will be in residence with the Keyman Modern Turkish Studies Program from July 1, 2026 until May 31, 2027. Mazza has made contributions to the field of urban history and the study of Jerusalem during the late Ottoman and British Mandate periods and hosts the popular Jerusalem Unplugged podcast, which explores various aspects of Jerusalem's rich history and contemporary issues. He also serves as a regular host for the New Books Network, where he interviews authors of recent publications in his areas of expertise. Mazza authored two books focusing on Jerusalem during the First World War period: Jerusalem: From the Ottomans to the British (2009) and Jerusalem in World War I: The Palestine Diary of a European Diplomat (2011). He is currently teaching a course on the global history of conspiracy theories.
Salvatore Simarmata
Buffett-EDGS Visiting Scholar
Salvatore Simarmata will be in residence from October 1–31, 2026 and is hosted by Erik Nisbet, Owen L. Coon Endowed Professor in Policy Analysis & Communication. Simarmata is a Senior Lecturer in Communication at Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia and Director of the Atma Jaya Institute of Public Policy, a research institute dedicated to advancing evidence-based policymaking for a sustainable future. His research focuses on political communication, particularly how digital platforms, automation, and the hybrid media system reshape strategies of attack politics, drive the circulation of disinformation, and influence democratic competition. In addition, his work examines how political actors and institutions as well as the media shape policymaking processes and narratives, and the decline of the deliberative public sphere in Indonesia.
Roberson Alphonse is a visiting lecturer at the Medill School of Journalism in residence from January 2025 to June 30, 2026. Roberson is a Haitian media professional and serves as the head of national news at Le Nouvelliste, the newsroom director at Magik 9 and the producer of the Dèyè Kay program. He reports on sensitive subjects and challenges facing the country, including corruption, human rights, and socio-political crises in Haiti. In addition to his investigative journalism, Roberson works to train the next generation of journalists in Haiti and is working on his first book, an anthology retracing his 20 years of journalism.
Bronwyn Rae is in residence through July 15, 2027 and is hosted by Deborah Cohen, Director of the Roberta Buffett Institute. Rae received her medical degree from Sydney University and her MPH from Northwestern University, where she specialized in pediatric anesthesiology. She has a long-standing interest in anesthesia in under-resourced environments and has worked in the Solomon Islands, Pakistan, and Inner Mongolia with local anesthesia providers. Since 2013, she has worked closely with anesthesia faculty in Tanzania to improve anesthesia training there. She was honored for this work with an award for services to pediatric anesthesia at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society of Anesthesiologists in Tanzania.
Feyza Burak-Adli is a cultural anthropologist of religion exploring the intersections of Islam, gender, class, and feminist politics in contemporary Muslim societies. She is currently a Visiting Scholar at Northwestern University's Buffett Institute for Global Affairs.
Bringing together ethnography, historical analysis, Sufi theology, and critical social theory, she examines how Muslims inhabit multiple and sometimes competing ethical and epistemic worlds, generating alternative forms of religious authority, gendered subjectivity, and political belonging. Her book manuscript, Other Muslim Women: Toward an Epistemithical Plurality in Religion and Gender (University of North Carolina Press), draws on long-term fieldwork with a gender-mixed Turkish Sufi order led by a female shaykha and explores alternative forms of Muslim womanhood beyond conventional binaries of piety and feminism.
Her work has appeared in the International Journal of Middle East Studies Culture and Religion, and The Oxford Handbook of Religion in Turkey. In 2024, she received the Best Paper Prize from the Society for the Study of Muslim Ethics. Prior to her appointment at Buffett, Burak-Adli taught at Northwestern University, the University of Virginia, Boston University, Brandeis University, Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, and Yeditepe University in Istanbul.
Maria Lipman served as the Roberta Buffett Visiting Professor in International Studies in winter 2026. Lipman is a political analyst and commentator whose work focuses on state‑society relations, media, and the politics of history in Russia. Her recent publications in Foreign Affairs include co‑authored articles such as “The Limits of Putin’s Balancing Act: What the Kremlin Will Sacrifice in Pursuit of Victory in Ukraine” and “Exiles Cannot Save Russia: But the West Can Learn From—and Should Support—Those Who Fled Putin” as well as “Forever Putinism: The Russian Autocrat’s Answer to the Problem of Succession.” Lipman has served as editor or deputy editor of various Russian‑ and English‑language publications over the past three decades. From 2003 to 2014, she was an associate at the Carnegie Moscow Center, where she edited the journal Pro et Contra. She is a frequent commentator in international broadcast media and has written extensively on Russian affairs for both Russian and U.S. outlets, including The Washington Post (2001–2011) and The New Yorker online (2012–2017). Lipman taught courses on contemporary Russia at Indiana University (Bloomington) and Grinnell College (Iowa) from 2017–2019.Catherine Panter-Brick is a medical anthropologist whose research integrates health, conflict, and intergenerational peace. Panter-Brick also collaborates on evaluating the responsible use of artificial intelligence tools in humanitarian settings, particularly for healthcare delivery for children and families. These initiatives build on two decades of research with Afghan and Syrian families, including evidence that the epigenetic marks of war trauma extend across generations. At the Roberta Buffett Institute, Catherine looks forward to engaging with colleagues interested in systems approaches to global challenges, intergenerational policy, social movements, and institutional reform. She is on sabbatical from Yale University, where she is the Bruce A. and Davi-Ellen Chabner Professor of Anthropology, Health, and Global Affairs.
Can Candan
Buffett Distinguished Artist in Residence and Buffett-Keyman Visiting Scholar
Can Candan is an independent filmmaker in Istanbul, Turkey. He is a founding member of docIstanbul Center for Documentary Studies, which hosted the 2010 Visible Evidence conference at Boğaziçi University, where he was a faculty member. He has taught documentary history, theory, and criticism; documentary cinema in Turkey; and mentored film-related theses and projects. His feature documentaries—Duvarlar-Mauern-Walls (2000), 3 Hours (2008), and My Child (2013)—are in international distribution. He is developing a new feature documentary, Nuclear alla Turca, on Turkey’s nuclear history and stories. He participated in the Boğaziçi University resistance in defence of academic freedom, institutional autonomy, and democratic values. As a result, he was unjustly and unlawfully dismissed, reinstated twice by court rulings, only to be dismissed a third time in 2023. He continues to seek legal remedies for these dismissals and awaits reinstatement at Boğaziçi University. He advocates for peace, conflict resolution, human rights, freedom of speech and expression, and environmental protection.
Tati Lathipatud Durriyah (Tati D Wardi) is Associate Professor and Head of the MA in Education Program at the Faculty of Education, Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia (UIII). Her research centers on sociocultural theories of learning, digital literacy, and the integration of artificial intelligence in educational contexts, with particular attention to teacher agency in Global South settings. Her current work extends an ecological framework of teacher agency, grounded in Biesta and Priestley's theorization, into questions of how educators in Indonesia engage with generative AI tools. During her Buffett-EDGS Visiting Scholar appointment, Durriyah will engage with the Learning Sciences Program, collaboratively inquiring with faculty on the intersections of sociocultural learning theory, AI integration, and educational equity.
Jongyun Ra
Visiting Scholar
Salomé Lamas is a Portuguese filmmaker, visual artist, and educator. She has been developing an artistic practice that explores the embedded relation between representation and the narrative power of social reality while proposing something different. The multidisciplinary ethos underpinning her artistic endeavour continually challenges the boundaries of visual narrative to foster critical dialogues that prompt audiences to confront the intricacies of the human experience and broader societal dynamics, focused on migration, mostcolonialism, and a critique of capitalism. This research-based practice perpetuates a legacy of intellectual inquiry and artistic innovation and critically examines the social and economic roles of media production in the stages of development, production, exhibition, distribution, and archive. Its outcomes range from films to audiovisual installations and publications.
Keyman Modern Turkish Studies Postdoctoral Fellows
Find more information on Keyman Postdoctoral Fellows.Önder Eren Akgül is the 2024–2026 Keyman Modern Turkish Studies Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University. Akgül is a historian of capitalism, political economy and the environment in the Ottoman Empire and the Eastern Mediterranean. He is currently working on his first book manuscript, A Global Hinterland: Crisis and the Order of Accumulation in Late Ottoman Greater Izmir, an intertwined history of global capitalism, Ottoman political economy, and local labor and ecology. Akgül is concurrently developing two new research projects—the first exploring the history of extractivism in the Ottoman mountains and the second focusing on the global history of the left in Turkey during the long 1960s. Akgül is a regular producer for the Ottoman History Podcast. Before coming to Northwestern, Akgül taught classes on the history of Modern Turkey and global capitalism at Kadir Has University in Istanbul, and International Studies at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
Mert Koçak is the 2025–2027 Keyman Modern Turkish Studies Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University. They are an anthropologist of law and bureaucracy specializing in transnational migration, migration industries, and queer migration. Their dissertation examined how Turkey has become a pivotal transnational zone for governing queer migration, where local NGOs—funded by the Global North—mediate between Turkey’s restrictive refugee regime and international narratives of sexual orientation and gender identity. Their current book project, The Continuum of Queer Migration: Exploring Deservingness in the Afterlife of Resettlement, builds on this research to investigate queer refugees’ post-resettlement lives in the EU and Canada.
