Professor Dr. Nasaruddin Umar is the founder of the Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

n interfaith organization Masyarakat Dialog antar Umat Beragama and is a director in the Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs (Departemen Agama). He is also a member of the UK-Indonesia Advisory Team, founded by UK prime minister Tony Blair

He is the author of 12 books, among them: Argumen Kesetaraan Gender Perspektif Al-Quran (Paramadina, 1999), which examines gender bias in the Quran.

Education

Nasaruddin Umar did his postgraduate studies at IAIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, resulting is a Magister degree (1992), and a doctorate (1998)..

During his doctorate studies, he was a visiting student for a PhD Program at McGill University

McGill University

Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...

, Montreal, Canada (1993–1994), and a visiting student for a PhD Program at Leiden University

Leiden University

Leiden University , located in the city of Leiden, is the oldest university in the Netherlands. The university was founded in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, leader of the Dutch Revolt in the Eighty Years' War. The royal Dutch House of Orange-Nassau and Leiden University still have a close...

, Netherlands (1994–1995).

After achieving his doctorate, he was a visiting scholar at Shopia University, Tokyo (2001), a visiting scholar at SAOS University of London

University of London

-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...

 (2001–2002), and a visiting Scholar at Georgetown University

Georgetown University

Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...

, Washington DC (2003–2004).