2015

Doing good in tough places: working in human rights, peace building, humanitarian aid and development

The CGHR Practitioner series aims to allow students to listen and speak to a selection of high-level experts working in the various fields related to development and humanitarian aid, and address key issues and questions. The seminars are designed to equip students with an in-depth and critical look at what each area involves; the type of work carried out, contingent challenges and essential competencies.

Read more about the series.

27th January: James Savage, Amnesty International; Valdênia Paulino Lanfranchi, University of York; Mikdam Turkey, London South Bank University

James Savage is Director of the Human Rights Defenders Programme at Amnesty International UK. 

Valdênia Paulino Lanfranchi holds a Human Rights Defenders Fellowship at the Centre for Applied Human Rights at the University of York. She has spent her life defending the rights of vulnerable and excluded sectors of her community through a number of organisations in São Paolo and Paríba, as well as finding new ways to empower people by spreading knowledge of human rights.

Mikdam Turkey is a research associate in the Department of Engineering and Design at London South Bank University. He was a vocal human rights activist during the war in Iraq, helping the BBC cover events in his home country. He was forced to flee due to his association with ‘secular movements’. Having received political asylum in the UK, he was able to begin a Phd at Essex University through the help of the Council for at Risk Academics.

10th February, Tech Innovators in Human Rights: Tanya O'Carroll, Amnesty International, and Harlo Holmes, The Guardian Project and InformaCam

Tanya O'Carroll is an adviser in Amnesty International's Technology and Human Rights Team.

Harlo Holmes is a Research Fellow at The Guardian Project and the technical lead for InformaCam.

24th February: Selma James, Global Women's Strike

Selma James is the founder of Global Women’s Strike, whose manifesto to ‘invest in caring not killing’ is the basis for an international grassroots movement to reduce investment in military budgets and organise payment for all forms of care work. Selma is also the author of several influential books, including The Power of Women and the Subversion of the Community.

10th March: Freddie Carver, Head of Security and Justice Group, Stabilisation Unit, DFID 

Freddie Carver has been the Head of Security and Justice Group at the Stabilisation Unit since November 2012, and has spent much of the last decade working as a conflict and governance adviser for DFID and the British Government. He has worked in the Former Soviet Union, Latin America and Asia, but spent most time working on Sub-Saharan Africa. In particular he has worked on international engagement in South Sudan and the Horn of Africa since 2003, for both the British Government and Non-Governmental Organisations.