She studied History from Penn State University and was awarded PhD in Anthropology from The University of Chicago. Prior to moving to Perth, she taught at the University of Notre Dame (Indiana, USA). Since 1996, Debra has carried out intensive long-term fieldwork in the Solomon Islands. While her research has been focused geographically, it has ranged thematically over a many arenas of social and political life in this island society. She will be speaking about the Education as a Space for Building Harmony: Religion and Globalisation initiative as a case study