Marian Gh. Simion, Ph.D., is a political scientist and a religious historian with a wide array of expertise ranging from social sciences and humanities to policymaking and management. He holds a Ph.D. in international politics, policy, and law from Northeastern University in Boston (where he studied public policy and political leadership with Michael S. Dukakis, the former Governor of Massachusetts and 1988 Democratic Nominee for President of the United States) and completed postdoctoral research at Harvard University in religion and diplomacy.
Dr. Simion is a Cambridge University author and published several books including Research Methodology in Orthodox Peace Studies – University Textbook (Cluj–Napoca: Presa Universitară Clujeană, 2016); Religion and Public Policy: Human Rights, Conflict and Ethics (Co-Ed), (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015); Just Peace: Orthodox Perspectives, (Co-Ed), (Geneva: WCC Publications, 2012); Religion and Political Conflict: From Dialectics to Cross-Domain Charting (Montréal: Presses internationale polytechnique, 2011), and others. His teaching experience goes back for almost two decades both in the US and abroad. In the recent past, Dr. Simion taught courses on government at Harvard University, ethics at Boston College, religious studies at Hellenic College / Holy Cross, research methods at Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and economics and management at Fitchburg State University. He lectured around the world on international security, religious terrorism, conflict resolution, and religious diplomacy in Austria, China, Korea, Germany, Moldova, Romania, Syria, South Africa, the U.K., and others.
As a practitioner, Dr. Simion has experience in international conflict transformation, human rights, international public policy; working in countries such as China, Egypt, North Korea, South Korea, Moldova, Romania, Syria, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and others. Currently, he splits his time on three continents working as an Honorary Advisor on Foreign Policy at the Parliament of Romania, as Field Education Supervisor at Harvard Divinity School, and as Visiting Professor at Fitchburg State University, in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and as an Associate Fellow at the University of Pretoria, in South Africa.
In 2016, Dr. Simion was awarded the Romanian Congressional Medal of Freedom by the Legislative Committee on Ethics and Immunities of the Romanian Parliament in recognition of the entire activity developed to promote, consolidate, and respect the freedom of conscience and freedom of expression.
At CRDC Dr. Simion works on educational and strategic projects related to Orthodox Christianity, Eastern Europe, Eurasia, religion and violence, Russian-Ukrainian conflict, nationalism, and religion in Eastern Europe. He is also works in developing new connections and partnerships with pertinent European institutions.