Rupen Das

Rupen Das is Research Professor at Tyndale University College and Seminary in Toronto and the National Director of the Canadian Bible Society (CBS).

Previously he had been on secondment from the Canadian Baptist Ministries (CBM) to the European Baptist Federation (EBF) and to the International Baptist Theological Study Centre (IBTSC) in Amsterdam. Prior to their assignment in Amsterdam, also with CBM, he had been the Program Director for the Master of Religion (MRel) in Middle Eastern and North African Studies at the Institute for Middle East Studies, Beirut, Lebanon and the director of the Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development’s (LSESD) Community Development and Relief programs. He set up LSESD’s humanitarian response to the Syrian refugees.

Rupen was professor and Program Coordinator of International Project Management at Humber College in Toronto. He has extensive experience in humanitarian assistance and development, having been the Director for Emergency Response and Disaster Mitigation at World Vision Canada. Prior to that he was WV’s Field Director for the South Pacific based in Papua New Guinea, and Project Manager in Russia (a USAID project) and in Belarus (Chernobyl project). He has been involved in emergency responses in Kosovo, East Timor, India, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, among others. He was part of the Canadian team that did the pre-war assessment of the potential impact of war on the civilian population of Iraq in 2003. Early in his career he had been the Dean at Kodaikanal International School in India and on staff with the Navigators in North America and in Asia.

As a consultant he has worked on projects for (what was formerly known as) the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA – now part of Global Affairs Canada), the Canadian CIMIC and DART, Pearson Peacekeeping Center, Plan Canada, Focus Humanitarian (part of the Aga Khan Network), World Vision International, International December2017-3Development Support Services (IDSS Australia), among others. He was adjunct faculty at Eastern University in the US. As an analyst he contributed to Oxford Analytica on humanitarian issues.

Rupen’s undergraduate and graduate degrees are both from Syracuse University in the US, and doctoral degree (DMin) from Acadia Divinity College, Acadia University, Canada. At present, he is a Ph.D. candidate at the Vrije University in Amsterdam. In addition he holds certificates in Disaster Management from the University of Wisconsin, in Refugee Studies from York University, and in Evaluating and Managing Evaluations of Humanitarian Action from ALNAP, UK. Rupen has twice been a 21st Century Fellow in the UK, an Ashoka Fellow 1986 (page 77), and a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University’s School of Education.

Rupen is an ordained minister.