911±¬ÁÏÍø

Creating a research-driven following across the globe, the International Lab for Research and Leadership in Interfaith Collaboration and Coexistence has steadily worked with educators and community leaders to curb hate and extremism through research and practice since its launch in 2022. 

The Interfaith Lab — led by Amra Sabic-El-Rayess, founding Executive Director and Associate Professor of Practice at 911±¬ÁÏÍø — continues that work this summer with several professional development trainings across the country, two of which build on Sabic-El-Rayess’ longstanding work with Holocaust education organizations. 

“The stories of survivors are few and far between, but they're the ones that always resonate and have the most impact,” explains Stephen Poynor, the Senior Director of Education & Community Engagement at the Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center of Florida. Earlier this summer, he witnessed educators become “spellbound” by Sabic-El-Rayess’ capstone workshop at their recent Teacher's Institute centered on the theme of “The Fragility of Democracy.” 

Sabic-El-Rayess’ work and research is rooted in her experiences as a survivor of the Bosnian genocide, which she shared in her recent keynote sessions, titled “Hatred Has a Final Destination: From the Bosnian Genocide to a Prevention Roadmap for American Educators.” Both engagements connected with the timing of on July 11, which the United Nations General Assembly designated in 2024 as the International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica.

The Lab’s recent work reflects the distinctive role it has built in the area of professional development, where survivor testimony, the narrative pedagogy of Sabic-El-Rayess’ book , research on and hate prevention work together effectively as curricular and classroom applications to help educators and leaders curb extremism. 

In recounting her experiences as a survivor of the Bosnian genocide, Sabic-El-Rayess creates an opportunity to bring research to life: from how Mezirow's transformative learning theory explains why stories of targeted violence can profoundly change the views of others, to how her own illuminates the impact of cultural violence and hate on the student experience. 

“Targeted violence is hate’s final destination, but educators can undermine that progression through storytelling,” said Sabic-El-Rayess, whose many accolades for The Cat I Never Named include recognition from the American Library Association and the Malala Fund. “When students across all social groups are afforded equal access to free expression, they feel visible and heard, which in turn lessens their sense of Educational Displacement and protects them and their communities from hate-fueled violence.” 

The International Interfaith Lab was established and is supported by a grant from the (MWL), the world’s largest international Islamic non-governmental organization focused on promoting interfaith collaboration, peace, and preventing extremism and violence. Since its launch in 2022, the Interfaith Lab has built on this work through a multi-pronged approach grounded in research, professional development, and interfaith and interethnic community building to amplify protective factors against all forms of intolerance. 

For Holocaust education leaders like Poynor, who serves as the Florida Center’s Senior Director of Education & Community Engagement, Sabic-El-Rayess’ interfaith approach is essential in helping Holocaust studies feel fresh even as the world slowly approaches the event’s 100-year anniversary. 

“[Amra’s work] comes down to social emotional learning skills,” says Poynor, who before encountering Sabic-El-Rayess’ work, worked as a classroom teacher contending with the very problem the Interfaith Lab is looking to solve. "How can you possibly get kids to care about others if they don't even care about themselves and their own stories?”

Throughout the training, educators welcome being able to build a common language and framework that helps them understand that equality, storytelling, belonging, mentorship and freedom of expression serve their communities across all identities. 

“Our demonstrates that hate takes root in a human being, not because of the strength of an ideology, but rather because the person has experienced an enduring sense of invisibility,” says Vik Joshi, (Ph.D. ’25), Associate Director and Special Advisor to the Executive Director, who works closely with Sabic-El-Rayess to bring these meaningful engagements to fruition and on growing research publications. “Every session we lead leaves a seed and a set of tools – understanding and the means to nurture an educational environment hate can’t take root in.” 

Later in June, Sabic-El-Rayess and Joshi continued this work with educators across Washington State as one of three featured sessions of the Seattle-based Holocaust Center for Humanity’s “2026 Virtual Day of Learning: Teaching and Learning 911±¬ÁÏÍø Genocide,” which introduced educators to the histories of the Cambodian and Bosnian Genocides. Along with an introduction to concepts such as transitional justice, Educational Displacement, interfaith coexistence and hate prevention, the sessions equipped participants with classroom lesson plans and resources to integrate these histories into their courses. 

“I’m really happy to be partnering with Amra and the Interfaith group because I think what they're doing is really important,” says Branda Anderson, a teaching and learning specialist at the Center, who is also a Holocaust and Genocide scholar. “As a researcher myself, I love that [their work is] research-based. They're looking at data. They're really doing the work that has not been done and that can probably have some real impacts in building these resilient societies that we really want.” 

These professional development workshops increasingly prompt requests for Sabic-El-Rayess and her colleagues to visit additional schools and communities to further advance the work. 

The Interfaith Lab has expanded its professional development work to include students, faith leaders, journalists, and community organizations in programming across nearly every U.S. state. 

In September, Sabic-El-Rayess and the Interfaith Lab will continue their professional development work in Nashville, Tennessee in collaboration with American Baptist College and the Metro Human Relations Commission (MHRC). Later in the fall, they will present at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan, and plans are already underway to return to Florida and Washington State. 

“Throughout the Bosnian Genocide, teachers humanized us, modeling what it means to remain resilient to the hate and violence that surrounded us” says Sabic-El-Rayess, who also serves as a thematic expert to the Global Counterterrorism Forum’s Initiative on Education for the Prevention and Countering of Violent Extremism Conducive to Terrorism. “I have dedicated my life’s work to the study and prevention of hate and violence. Whether in Bosnia, Florida, or Washington State, educators who treat their students with dignity are critical hate prevention actors in our communities.”