Azza Karam
Born	Cairo, Egypt
Occupation(s)	Professor, chief executive officer, author
Known for	first woman executive director of Religions for Peace

Azza Karam is an Egyptian professor and author, who is known for being the first woman executive director of Religions for Peace.

Karam grew up in Egypt and India.^[1] She grew up in a conservative Egyptian Muslim family,^[2] but had an Hindu nanny while living in India. Karam has said that seeing both her parent's praying and nanny's puja from a young age sparked her interest in religion and religious collaboration.^[1] Her father was a diplomat, so Karam traveled frequently throughout her childhood.^[3]

Karam earned a B.A. from American University in Cairo^[3] in 1988.^[4] She earned an M.A. from the International Institute of Social Studies in 1990. She earned a Ph.D. in environmental sciences in 1996 from the University of Amsterdam.^[4]

From 2000 until 2004 Karam worked as the head of the Global Women of Faith Network at Religions for Peace.^[1] She was the both the first woman and the first Muslim to hold the position of Secretary General at Religions for Peace.^[2][5] During this period she spoke about the range of identities for Muslims in the United States in the period following the September 11 attacks,^[6] and the impact of war and conflict.^[7] After this time, she moved to the United Nations where she worked at the United Nations Population Fund serving as an advisor on culture. In 2010, she founded and chaired the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Faith Based Organizations and Sustainable Development. In 2018 Karam coordinated the establishment of the Multi-faith Advisory Council while provides guidance to the United Nations.^[1]

She resigned from her position at Religions for Peace in June 2023.^[5]

Karam taught at West Point University from 2002 until 2018.^[8] She became a Professor of Religion and Development at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in 2019, where has the position of Religion and Sustainable Development Chair for five years.^[9]

• Karam, A. (1997-12-08). Women, Islamisms and the State: Contemporary Feminisms in Egypt. Springer. ISBN 978-0-230-37159-0.^[10]
• Karam, Azza M. (1999). "Islamisms and the decivilising processes of globalisation". Anthropology, Development and Modernities. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780203450895-11/islamisms-decivilising-processes-globalisation-azza-karam (inactive 1 November 2024). ISBN 978-0-203-45089-5. Retrieved 2024-04-15.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)

• Karam, Azza (2004). Transnational Political Islam: Religion, Ideology and Power. London: Pluto Press. ISBN 978-0-7453-1625-3.^[11]

• Ballington, Julie; Karam, Azza M., eds. (2005). Women in parliament: beyond numbers. Handbook series (Revised ed.). Stockholm, Sweden: International IDEA. ISBN 978-91-85391-19-6. OCLC 71006907.^[12]

• Karam, Azza (2015-07-03). "Faith-Inspired Initiatives to Tackle the Social Determinants of Child Marriage". The Review of Faith & International Affairs. 13 (3): 59–68. doi:10.1080/15570274.2015.1075754. ISSN 1557-0274.

• Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from John Cabot University (Rome, Italy) in 2022.^[13]
• International Religious Liberty Award. Awarded by the International Religious Liberty Association, Washington DC, 2023.^[14]
• The Spirit of the United Nations Award (2015), Committee for Spirituality and Global Concerns at the United Nations.^[15]
• Distinguished Alumni Award (2009), American University in Cairo^[16]

• Marshall, Katherine (2021-10-04). "Azza Karam". In Goshen-Gottstein, Alon (ed.). Interreligious Heroes. Wipf & Stock Publishers. pp. 327–333. ISBN 9781666709605.