Emre Celik

Originally from Sydney, Australia, he is currently the Executive Director of Peace Islands New York based in Manhattan. Previously he was president of Rumi Forum Washington DC (2009-2019). Since 2016 he has been the Chairman of the International Festival of Language and Culture- IFLC USA. He is also currently an advisor to North East Islamic Community Center and sits on the Scholars Council at Braver Angels. In 2021-2022 he was project coordinator for the first ever Holocaust Education Project for Muslim students. And in November 2024 he was appointed UTS Alumni Ambassador for New York.

In June 2024 he had an audience with Pope Frances at the Vatican and earlier in April, the Paulist Fathers honored Emre Celik with the Spirit of Isaac Hecker Award for his commitment to interfaith collaboration. In March 2020 the Interfaith Center of New York selected Emre as a Leadership Fellow. In 2016 and 2020 he received alumni awards from his alma mater UTS & CDU. In April 2018 Emre was part of a historic Baptist-Muslim dialogue retreat in Wisconsin. In October 2014 he organized the first ever Whitehouse Eid-ul Adha Event, attending the Whitehouse more than 30 times for events, workshops and meetings, and has engaged with three American presidents.

Emre sat on the Advisory Council for the Melbourne Parliament of World Religions. He was instrumental in establishing the academic Chair for Catholic-Muslim Understanding at Australian Catholic University. He has developed relations, engaged and collaborated with numerous American and global leaders among them evangelical multi-faith advocate Bob Roberts. Previously he was a member of the Religion Communicators Council.

He is pursuing a PhD in Islamic Studies & was a research associate at Georgetown University (2017-2019). He is a member of the Australian Assoc. of Islamic & Muslim Studies. He guest lectures at universities & has spoken at Harvard, Georgetown, American and George Washington universities among others. He has been interviewed by the NY Times, Washington Post and other media outlets. Previous to America, Emre worked in similar roles in Sydney, Brisbane & Melbourne including at Australian Intercultural Society. He has a BE (Computer Systems) & MEd (Teaching).

His interest areas include: multicultural & pluralism issues, diaspora Muslims, civil Islam, religious freedom & community activism in DC & NY.

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