Kutaiba Alhosen

_{Director of the OLIve Association}

_{Kutaiba’s connection with OLIve began in 2016 when he participated as a student in the first OLIve weekend program launched in Budapest. In 2017, Kutaiba enrolled in OLIve University Preparatory Program, enabling him to complete his LL.M in international business law at Central European University. Since then, he has been actively involved in OLIve, serving in various roles such as administrative assistant, mentor, and coordinator. Kutaiba is a co-author of a chapter titled “Our Voice” in the book “OPENING UP THE UNIVERSITY: Teaching and Learning with Refugees.” He also participates in several conferences, discussing solidarity and access to higher education for refugees. In addition to his volunteer work with OLIve, Kutaiba currently holds a position as a regulatory expert at OPL gunnercooke.}

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Ian M. Cook

_{Former Director of Studies (2019-2023)}

_{Dr. Ian M. Cook loves working with fellow scholars and students in making their podcast dreams a reality. By training, he is an anthropologist whose work focus includes urban India, scholarly podcasting, open education, and environmental (in)justice. Ian has co-created numerous scholarly podcasts, including for research projects and initiatives, and has taught podcasting workshops for researchers, students, teachers, NGO workers, activists and journalists across Europe. He interviewed 101 scholars who podcast for his book Scholarly Podcasting: Why, What, How? and explored how podcasting can be peer reviewed scholarship in the co-written book Podcast or Perish: Peer Review and Knowledge Creation for the 21st Century (with Lori Beckstead and Hannah McGregor). Ian was Director of the Open Learning Initiative (OLIve) at CEU in Budapest from 2019-2023 and produced the related edited volume Opening Up the University: Teaching and Learning with Refugees (with Céline Cantat and Prem Kumar Rajaram). He is currently Editor and Chief at the multimodal anthropology publishing platform Allegra Lab.}

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Prem Kumar Rajaram

_{Co-Founder of OLIve}

Prem Kumar Rajaram was one of the founders of OLIve in 2016 and remains a volunteer in the programme. He works at Central European University, teaching and researching issues of marginalisation, migration and colonialism.  

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Júlia Angyalka Füredi

_{Education Co-Lead}

Julia Coordinates the OLIve Weekend Program at Open Education.

Julia joined OLIve as an English teacher in February 2016 and became Academic Lead of OLIve-UP in 2023. Following OLIve’s transition to an independent association, she continued coordinating with key team members and assumed the role of Academic Co-Lead alongside Cornelious Qamar in 2025. With a background in History, Aesthetics, and a TESOL Master’s, Julia has taught across various international contexts. She values OLIve’s vibrant and supportive community, believing motivated, curious, and open-minded students enable her both to support their academic success and to learn from them. She considers it an honor to be part of their educational journey.

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Cornelious Qamar

_{Education Co-Lead}

Cornelious Coordinates the OLIve Weekend Program at Open Education and Co-teaches Career Skills.

“I first joined OLIve as a student in 2021, where I gained invaluable knowledge through meaningful discussions. After transitioning into a mentor role, I now serve as a Project Education Coordinator/Co-Academic Lead. I am deeply committed to empowering displaced and minority groups. My time at OLIve has shown me that consistent, daily effort leads to long-term success, and I am delighted to now be in a position to support others on their educational journey”

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Tom Popper 

_{Teaches English Communication}

_{A journalist and the son of a refugee, Tom teaches the English Communication class. His career has mostly involved work in editing and journalism, but he has found teaching to be rewarding and educational.}

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Cornelious Qamar

“I first joined OLIve as a student in 2021, where I gained invaluable knowledge through meaningful discussions. After transitioning into a mentor role, I now serve as a Project Education Coordinator/Co-Academic Lead. I am deeply committed to empowering displaced and minority groups. My time at OLIve has shown me that consistent, daily effort leads to long-term success, and I am delighted to now be in a position to support others on their educational journey”

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Halyna Koshulap

Co-teaches Introduction to Literary Studies: Power, Surveillance, and the Politics through Sci-Fi 

Halyna holds a degree in Romance and Germanic Languages and Literature, along with a Diploma as an English Teacher and Translator from Ivan Franko National University in Lviv, Ukraine. She began her journey at OLIve as a student and was later invited to join the teaching team. Co‑teaching the science‑fiction course with Rahmeh Abdin became a particularly meaningful experience, allowing her to explore new pedagogical approaches. She has taught senior‑grade students, developing engaging lessons, integrating American Literature Studies, and applying innovative motivational techniques. Her pedagogical training includes participation in the Teaching Excellence Award Program at Montana State University, U.S.A. In addition to her teaching background, Halyna worked for many years as a Lead Interpreter and Translator with the International Republican Institute in Kyiv, coordinating programs that supported women’s political participation and contributing to gender election‑monitoring initiatives and policy‑focused publications. Outside of her professional work, she enjoys translating poetry and singing in a church choir.

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Rahmeh Abdin

Co-teaches Introduction to Literary Studies: Power, Surveillance, and the Politics through Sci-Fi 

Rahmeh is an educator and researcher with a background in literature, cultural studies, and academic communication. She is a PhD candidate in American Studies at Eötvös Loránd University, where her research examines identity formation in U.S. literary suburbia through spatial studies and postcolonial approaches. She has taught courses on the Gothic, science fiction, and digital culture, and currently teaches with the Open Learning Initiative (OLIve). Her interests include spatial studies, digital culture, media literacy, and critical theory. She is committed to creating accessible, collaborative, and intellectually engaging learning environments for students from diverse backgrounds.

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Maria Nasr

Co-teaches Imaginary of the Other

Maria Nasr is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work centres on community, storytelling, and the emotional landscapes that emerge when people are given space to speak openly and safely. She founded SceneScape (Hungary) as an artistic initiative to create opportunities for migrants and refugees to express themselves through community theatre. Over time, the initiative evolved into a platform where migrants and Hungarians could meet, collaborate, and create together.
Beginning with a collective storytelling event in a refugee community centre, she later developed the concept of bringing performances into private homes. This led to two seasons of HOME THEATRE, presented as part of the PLACCC Festival and supported by the Szendvicsbár Community hub.
She later joined OLIve as an art facilitator, where she led workshops such as Introduction to Community Theatre and Art as Protest/Solidarity. She continues to teach Art as Protest/Solidarity in collaboration with Eszter Szabó.
Alongside her facilitation and mentoring work, she has developed solo performances reflecting on her experience as a refugee from Egypt living in Hungary. Where the Knife Fell draws on personal journals as both a reflective tool and an artistic practice, and was presented at Performance Now! (3rd edition, 2025) and the Feminist Festival (2026).
Her ongoing multidisciplinary performance, The Princess Who Cried Sand (premiere: August 2025), created in collaboration with Napsugár Trömböczky, transforms her life story into a contemporary fairy tale. The piece explores themes of domestic violence and the realities of living as a refugee in Hungary.

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Mansour Forouzesh 

_{Teaches Transforming the Ordinary into Cinematic Vision: Introduction to Documentary Filmmaking}

Mansour Forouzesh is an Iranian filmmaker, photographer, and interdisciplinary artist whose work spans fiction, documentary, and visual arts. Active since 2005, he has directed numerous short films, documentaries, and experimental works that have been screened at more than 70 international film festivals, including the Fajr and Cork International Film Festivals. His documentary Lost Whispers in the Distance was recognized among the top ten Iranian documentaries of 2021, while When I Killed the Cat was produced in collaboration with Mythberg Films and Bart Films (UK). He is currently completing The Elephant’s Tango, a Mongolian-language short film exploring the relationship between reality and fiction, and developing his debut feature film, JACKSTONES.
Alongside his filmmaking practice, Mansour is a doctoral researcher at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts, where his research investigates metaphor, perception, and meaning-making in visual storytelling. His artistic research extends into photography and exhibition-making, with projects presented internationally through exhibitions, publications, and festivals.
As an educator, he has delivered guest lectures, workshops, and masterclasses in Iran, Hungary, and the United Kingdom, including at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts and dBs Institute Bristol. His teaching focuses on filmmaking, visual storytelling, documentary practice, and artistic research. He is currently developing a filmmaking and photography workshop that explores ordinary events and everyday experiences as artistic testimonial material, examining how personal encounters, overlooked moments, and lived realities can be transformed into meaningful cinematic and photographic narratives. He has also served as a jury member at several international film festivals and regularly contributes to discussions on contemporary visual culture, realism, and creative practice.

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Kata Amon

Teaches Why is Housing So Expensive, and How to Make it Affordable? Introduction to Housing Studies

Kata Amon is a researcher at the ELTE Center for Social Sciences interested in grassroots civic engagement, housing, public policy, and social solidarity. She has a PhD in Political Science with a specialization in Public Policy and an MA in Gender Studies from the Central European University. She has taught several courses in public policy, political economy, research methods, and housing at various Hungarian universities, including ELTE and the International Business School. She also has experience in housing activism and community organizing, together with people affected by housing poverty.

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Shaima Zahoor

Teaches English 1

Shaima is an English language educator whose work focuses on inclusive education, intercultural learning, and accessible language teaching for diverse communities.
Originally from Pakistan and raised in Saudi Arabia, she has been living in Hungary for several years, an experience that has given her a deep understanding of the linguistic and cultural challenges faced by migrants and displaced individuals. With a grounded, empathetic, and practical teaching approach, she focuses on creating supportive learning environments for diverse learners.
She has experience working with children and adult learners from diverse backgrounds and has collaborated with several educational and community-based organisations in Hungary. Her work is centred on creating engaging, supportive, and confidence-building learning environments, with a particular focus on early childhood education and communicative English.
She is especially committed to inclusive, community-oriented education that supports integration and personal development through language learning.
She is currently working with OLIve, and continues to develop her practice in supportive and community-based educational settings.

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