About

Dr. Viola Raheb was born in 1969 in Bethlehem, Palestine. She gained her Masters degree in Education and Evangelical Theology from the Ruprecht-Karls-University in Heidelberg/ Germany and her PhD in Advanced Theological Studies from the University of Vienna. Since June 2021 Dr. Raheb is responsible for communication and projects at the PRO ORIENTE Foundation, Vienna. From 1998 until 2002 Ms. Raheb headed the educational work of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and Palestine. From 2013-2021 Dr. Raheb was a researcher at the University of Vienna, Faculty of Protestant Theology, Department of the Studies of Religions.

She has extensive experience in teaching (e.g. at the Institute of Religious Studies/University of Graz, Dar Al Kalima University/Bethlehem, Department for Religious Studies-Facility of Catholic Theology/Goethe-University Frankfurt). Dr. Raheb is an independent consultant for various GOs and NGOs and curator of various programs and initiatives focusing on inter-cultural dialogue, integration and women, peace and security. She is a member of numerous organizations and committees on peace and dialogue. She is Member of the Austrian Society for Religious Studies and a co-founder of ADAM (Academy for Dialogue Appliance and Mediation).

Research Projects

• 2020-2021 "Global Contestations of Women's and Gender Rights" at Center for Interdisciplinary Research/Bielefeld University

• 2009 “Political awareness and political participation of Palestinian women”, a comparative study between three generations.

• 2005 “The Palestinian Community in Austria”

• 1995-1999 “Christian Theological Education in Muslim Societies”, member of the international research team coordinated through the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the on-Western World/ Faculty of Divinity, University of Edinburgh.