Board of Directors

Nahlah Ayed is an award-winning veteran of foreign reporting: first, in the Middle East where she spent nearly a decade covering the region's many conflicts. And later, while based in London, she covered many of the major stories of our time: Russia's annexation of Crimea, Europe's refugee crisis, the Brexit vote and its fallout.

A former parliamentary reporter for The Canadian Press, Nahlah is a graduate of Carleton University's Master of Journalism program. She also holds a Master's degree in interdisciplinary studies (Philosophy, English and Science) and a Bachelor of Science in genetics from the University of Manitoba.

Among her many awards and distinctions are: a Prix Italia she won in 2011, for a team-produced multi-media project, "Exile Without End", about a Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut. In 2012, her book, A Thousand Farewells, was shortlisted for a Governor General's Award. In 2016, Nahlah Ayed and her team won "Story of the Year" at the UK Foreign Press Association Awards for their documentary on child labour in India. In 2017, she won won a photojournalism award from the Canadian Association of Journalists for her story, "The Rescuers."

She also holds three honorary doctorates from the University of Manitoba (2008), Concordia University (2016) and the University of Alberta (2018).

Sabreena Delhon is the Executive Director of the Samara Centre for Democracy. She has over a decade of experience directing multi-stakeholder research and outreach initiatives that have made an impact across justice, academic, and non-profit sectors. Sabreena has appeared as an expert witness before Parliamentary committees on matters relating to political participation and frequently provides commentary about democratic engagement for various media outlets such as the Globe & Mail, CBC Radio, and the Toronto Star. She is the host of Humans of the House, a podcast that explores the lived experience of former Members of Parliament.

Sabreena previously held senior roles at the Law Society of Ontario and advised non-profit leaders on how to increase engagement with target audiences. She holds a BA in Sociology from the University of Alberta, an MA in Sociology from Dalhousie University and is a Senior Fellow at Massey College.

Nehal El-Hadi is a writer, researcher, and editor whose work explores the intersections between the body, place, and technology.

Nehal completed her PhD in Planning at the University of Toronto, where she examined the relationships between user-generated content and everyday public urban life. As a scholar, her hybrid digital/material research methods are informed by her training and experience as a science and environmental journalist. Her writing has appeared in academic journals, general scholarship publications, literary magazines, anthologies, and edited collections. She is currently the Science + Technology Editor at The Conversation Canada and Editor-in-Chief of Studio Magazine.

Ravi Jain, a Toronto-based stage director, is a multi-award-winning artist known for making politically bold and accessible theatrical experiences in both small indie productions and large theatres.

As the founding artistic director of Why Not Theatre, Ravi has established himself as an artistic leader for his inventive productions, international producing/collaborations and innovative producing models which are aimed to better support emerging artists to make money from their art.

Ravi was twice shortlisted for the 2016 and 2019 Siminovitch Prize and won the 2012 Pauline McGibbon Award for Emerging Director and the 2016 Canada Council John Hirsch Prize for direction. He is a graduate of the two-year program at École Jacques Lecoq. He was selected to be on the roster of clowns for Cirque du Soleil.

Currently, Sea Sick which he co-directed will be on at the National Theatre in London, his adaptation of The Indian epic Mahabarata will premier at the Shaw Festival, and What You Won’t Do For Love, starring David Suzuki will premier in Vancouver in 2021.

Greg Kelly is the Executive Producer of CBC Radio One IDEAS. Greg began his broadcasting career at CBC after earning his doctorate in English literature from Oxford University. His documentary work in radio and television has garnered national and international awards and distinctions. Prior to IDEAS, Greg created and oversaw programs based in the United States and the Netherlands.

Nasir Noormohamed, Treasurer of the Provocation Ideas Festival, is the Co-Founder of Drug Intelligence Inc., which provides syndicated and custom market data services to most of the larger, research based pharmaceutical companies in the areas of specialty and emerging therapies, with a focus in oncology.

Previously, Nasir provided management consulting services to numerous healthcare organizations. Nasir has served on the boards and executive committees of numerous national, provincial, and local organizations. He speaks multiple languages, and is fluent in English and French. Nasir is passionate about the arts, loves to travel, cook, and to sample others' cooking.

Devon is a culture worker with two decades of experience in creating projects that bridge sectors, cities, and neighbourhoods. Involving assemblages of organisations, collaborations include a mural and research project in Kingston Penitentiary, Arrivals Canada, the PanAmPath.com, and creating a levy on outdoor advertising that has raised over $100m for art in Toronto, Canada.

Greatest hits also include organising the first major exhibitions of Street Art at both the Royal Ontario Museum and Art Gallery of Ontario. Devon holds a Masters of Public Administration from the London School of Economics with Merit and an MA in Creative Curating from Goldsmiths College. Certificates include Non-profit and HR Management from Toronto Metropolitan University and Fine Arts from OCAD University. Devon has also taught Cultural Policy at the University of Toronto and Humber College. Volunteer work includes materials and market research with Makermask and the Energy and Aerosols Lab at the University of British Columbia. Devon is a co-founder of AccessArt.ca was the Visual Arts Producer for Provocation Ideas Festival 2022.

Emma Phillips is a partner at Goldblatt Partners LLP where she practices in the areas of labour and human rights law.

In addition to her litigation practice, Emma has extensive experience in assessing the systemic roots of workplace harassment, including acting as counsel on an external review on Sexual Misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces, to an independent UN inquiry on sexual abuse by peacekeepers in the Central African Republic, and on a public investigation into harassment in the RCMP. Emma regularly acts as an independent workplace investigator and teaches and speaks widely on issues of workplace law. 

Emma was called to the bar in 2006 after clerking at the Supreme Court of Canada. She received her law degree from the University of Toronto in 2005, where she also completed an MA in Criminology. She has a BA in Anthropology from Harvard University.

Mark Rosenfeld is the Founding Director and President of the Provocation Ideas Festival. Previously, he was Executive Director of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations, and Director of the Worldviews International Conferences on Media and Higher Education, and Worldviews Annual Lectures.

He has a Ph.D in labour history, has taught at the University of Toronto, University of Edinburgh and York University, and been a policy advisor in several Ontario government ministries.

Adrianne Xavier is an Onondaga(/Mohawk) woman from the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nations Territory. She is Acting Academic Director in the Indigenous Studies Program at McMaster University, and holds a Ph.D in Social Sciences from Royal Royal Roads University, MA in Intercultural and International Communication from Royal Roads, and a BA in Anthropology from McMaster University. 

Her doctoral thesis was an auto ethnographic account examining the implementation of a food security initiative, "Our Sustenance," at Six Nations. In addition to "Our Sustenance," she has been involved with community initiatives addressing water, addictions, and community health, and wellbeing. She has also pursued a lifelong education and is always learning from her community's ways of knowing and being. This has given her extensive training and experience in transcultural communication, and she is regularly invited to share her knowledge and experience with Indigenous and non-Indigenous academic audiences across Canada and internationally.