Patrick O’Callaghan, Professor of Law, University College Cork
Professor Patrick O’Callaghan teaches Jurisprudence and Tort Law at University College Cork (UCC). He is also Principal Investigator in the Law and the Inner Self Project (2022-2026), funded by a Research Ireland (Consolidator) Laureate Grant. Patrick joined UCC in 2014, having previously lectured at Newcastle University, UK (2007-2014). Before that, he was a researcher at the Centre for European Law and Politics (ZERP), Universität Bremen, Germany (2004-2007). Patrick’s background is in the legal protection of personality rights, as that field is conceptualised in the civilian private law tradition. This has led to an interest in theories of selfhood and questions about the role personality rights can play in safeguarding the opacity of the self. In this context, he has researched aspects of privacy law, the right to freedom of thought, the relationship between law and memory, including the right to be forgotten, the right to honour and reputation, and the historical development of personality rights. In contextualising his doctrinal research, Patrick draws on the methodologies of the field of law and humanities.
Bethany Shiner, Senior Lecturer in Law, Middlesex University
Bethany is Senior Lecturer in Law at Middlesex University, and has been teaching Public Law since 2015. She has taught English Legal System, Employment Law and Criminal Law. Bethany is completing her PhD at the University of Oxford on the right to freedom of thought under article 9(1) ECHR. Before joining academia, Bethany was a judicial review solicitor specialising in the Human Rights Act 1998. She was involved in the so-called ‘Iraq litigation’ which refers to hundreds of judicial review claims brought against the Secretary of Defence in regard to alleged human rights violations against Iraqi civilians and detainees during the Iraq war and occupation.
Ahmed Shaheed, Professor of International Human Rights Law, School of Law and Human Rights Centre, University of Essex; Former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief
Ahmed is Professor of International Human Rights Law in the School of Law and Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex. He directs the Human Rights Centre’s Religion and Equality Project, Project on Mobilising A Global Alliance to Counter islamophobia, and the Essex Summer School on Human Rights Research and Practice. He serves as an adviser on ‘hate speech’ to the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and is a member of the Panel of Experts on Freedom of Religion or Belief convened by the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief from 2016 to 2022 having previously served as the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran from 2011 to 2016. Hailing from the Maldives, Ahmed served as Foreign Minister of Maldives between 2005 and 2010, member of the Constitutional Assembly from 2004 to 2007, and led the government’s efforts to fast-track human rights and governance reforms between 2003 and 2007, which led to the transition to democracy in 2008. He is the founding chair of the Geneva-based think-tank, Universal Rights Group and is a Senior Fellow of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights in Montreal. Ahmed’s areas of research are human rights implementation, UN’s human rights mechanisms, freedom of religion or belief, ‘hate speech’, human rights and emerging technologies, the freedom of thought, and progressive Islam. His reports to the UN have covered the freedom of thought, combatting antisemitism and islamophobia, upholding gender equality while promoting religious freedom, mainstreaming religious freedom in the sustainable development agenda, defending religious freedom while countering terrorism, and promoting freedom of expression. Ahmed has received numerous prestigious awards including the UN Foundation’s Global Leadership Award in 2015 for his work in promoting human rights nationally and internationally and a Presidential Medal from Albania in 2010 for his contributions to peace in the west Balkans.
Lautaro Furfaro, Senior Legal Researcher, Columbia Global Freedom of Expression; Professor of International Human Rights Law and Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights, University of Buenos Aires
Lautaro Furfaro is a legal researcher at Columbia Global Freedom of Expression. He is an international lawyer specializing in International Human Rights Law and International Law. He holds a Master of Laws in International Legal Studies from New York University Law School (2022), where he received the convocation award “Public Interest Law Prize” for demonstrating a clear commitment to public service and significant causes of public interest. He is a lawyer (J.D.) who graduated with honors from the University of Buenos Aires School of Law, specializing in International Law. Lautaro is currently an Adjunct Professor at the University of Buenos Aires School of Law, where he teaches International Human Rights Law. He is also co-Professor in the course Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights in the Master of International Human Rights Law at the University of Buenos Aires. Furthermore, he is an Assistant Professor of International Law in the foreign relations program at the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella.
Hawley Johnson, Associate Director, Columbia Global Freedom of Expression
Dr. Hawley Johnson is the Associate Director of Columbia Global Freedom of Expression. Since 2014 she has managed the development of the Case Law Database which hosts analyses of seminal freedom of expression court rulings from more than 130 countries. Hawley has over twelve years of experience in international media development both academically and professionally, with a focus on Eastern Europe. From 2013-2014 she worked with the award-winning Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project to launch the Investigative Dashboard (ID), a joint effort with Google Ideas offering specialized databases and research tools for journalists in emerging democracies. Previously, as the Associate Director of the Media and Conflict Resolution Program at New York University, she oversaw the implementation of over eight US government sponsored media development programs in eleven countries. In 2012, she completed her Ph.D. in Communications at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Her dissertation – a study of the evolution of media development policies in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo and Macedonia – was grounded in extensive field research in the region. She has a M.A. from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a B.A. in International Affairs from the School of International Service at American University.
Felicitas Benziger, Post-doctoral researcher at University College Cork
Felicitas is a post-doctoral researcher at University College Cork (UCC) where she works on the Law and Inner Self research project, which is funded by an Irish Research Council (Consolidator) Laureate Grant (IRCLA/2022/2628) and led by Dr. Patrick O’Callaghan. Felicitas first studied law in Germany and completed the German First State Exam and a degree in German law with specialisation in public international and EU law at Freie Universität Berlin. She furthermore holds a LLM in international law from University College London and completed her PhD (Thesis: Self-Determination of Peoples in the Context of Supranational Governance) at Middlesex University London.
Brian Frenkel, Professor of the European and African Human Rights Systems at the Master’s Degree in International Human Rights Law, University of Buenos Aires
Lawyer graduated with honors from the Faculty of Law of the University of Buenos Aires, he completed a Master’s Degree in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights at L’Académie de droit international humanitaire et de droits humains à Genève, in Switzerland. He was Advisor on Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs at the Permanent Mission of Israel to the UN and other international organizations in Geneva. Previously, he served as advisor to the Ministry of Defense—National Directorate of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law—and to the Program for the Implementation of International Human Rights Treaties of the Office of the National Public Defender. He currently serves as an international consultant and legal researcher.
Sfiso Benard Nxumalo, Reading for a Doctor of Philosophy in Law, Faculty of Law, Oxford University
Sfiso Benard Nxumalo is reading for a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) in Law at the Faculty of Law at Oxford University. He holds a Bachelor of Civil Laws (BCL) from the University of Oxford and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of the Witwatersrand. His research for the DPhil concerns the philosophical purviews of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and African Legal Theory. He is an Ismail Mahomed Fellow, Chevening Scholar, FirstRand Foundation Scholar, Skye Foundation Fellow and Oppenheimer Memorial Trust Scholar. He is an admitted Advocate of the High Court of the Republic of South Africa. He teaches constitutional law and administrative law at Brasenose College as a stipendiary lecturer and contract law at Balliol College as a tutor. He is the President of the Oxford Law Black Alumni Network and a former Graduate Research Resident at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights. He was also awarded the Samuel Pisar Travelling Fellowship in Human Rights to intern at the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Prior to beginning his studies at Oxford, Sfiso served as a law clerk to Justice Sisi Khampepe and Justice Steven Majiedt at the Constitutional Court of the Republic of South Africa. He also worked as a candidate attorney at Bowmans, a leading law firm in Africa.
Caroline James, Editor, Columbia Global Freedom of Expression; Advocacy Coordinator, amaBhugane Center for Investigative Journalism
Caroline James is a South African freedom of expression lawyer. Since 2022 she has been the advocacy coordinator for the amaBhugane Center for Investigative Journalism. She completed her M.A. at Queen’s University in Canada has BA(Hons) and LLB degrees from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Her research interests are in constitutional and human rights law – particularly the way in which power is held to account. Caroline previously worked as the freedom of expression lawyer at the Southern Africa Litigation Centre in Johannesburg where she worked with lawyers and organizations in southern Africa litigating and advocating for the right to freedom of expression and association. Caroline has also worked as a judge’s clerk at the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg.
Nazila Ghanea, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief
Ms. Nazila Ghanea assumed her mandate as Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief on 1 August 2022. Ms. Ghanea is Professor of International Human Rights Law and Director of the MSc in International Human Rights Law at the University of Oxford. Prior to that, she was Senior Lecturer at the University of London (2000-2006), and she has also previously taught in the People’s Republic of China (1993-1994). She has researched and published widely in international human rights law and served as consultant to numerous agencies. Though her nearly 30-year career has been rooted in academia, Ms. Ghanea’s academic work has often connected with multilateral practice in international human rights law. She has contributed actively to networks interested in freedom of religion or belief and its interrelationship with other human rights, and advised states and other stakeholders. In her professional activities, she has taken every opportunity to support the promotion and application of principled understandings of human rights, including freedom of religion or belief. She has supervised well over 100 master’s dissertations and doctorates and served on doctoral panels internationally. She has also co-authored a 700-page publication by Oxford University Press that addresses freedom of religion or belief and is focused on the UN record.
