2022-2023 Cohort: Amplifying the Voices of Engaged Researchers Around the World

Talloires Network of Engaged Universities and Open Society University Network (OSUN) have awarded 24 grants to faculty and graduate students in 14 countries to support their engaged scholarship. Affiliated with OSUN and TN member institutions, the faculty and graduate students are working to develop long-term, sustainable community partnerships as a central part of their research, with a goal to develop shared knowledge about issues that align with OSUN and TN priorities. Engaged scholarship is important because it is a practice that facilitates the development of civic capacities – such as courage, humility, and empathy –  in university students, staff, faculty, and community partners.

This joint TN-OSUN effort, dubbed “Amplifying the Voices of Engaged Researchers Around the World,” seeks to create and support a growing community of practice for engaged researchers. When engaged scholars reflect on their civic experience, they acknowledge the political dimensions of complex challenges and actively deconstruct oppressive systems of power. In many instances, reflection on action awakens a desire to be in solidarity - to be an integral part of a group. A community of practice for engaged scholars is a third space, beyond the local community and the university, where durable relationships of common knowing and cause may be cultivated across geo-political boundaries. It is a space for movement-building.

This community of practice will meet regularly to share ideas and strategies for engaged scholarship across geo-political boundaries, create new and lasting ties among engaged researchers, and organize online workshops for engaged scholars around the world. They will also receive individual support and mentorship for their community-based projects as needed.

We invite you to learn more about the engaged researchers and their community-based research (below). You may learn more about their workshops on Engaged Research here.

William Ackah is Senior Lecturer in Black and Community Geographies in the Department of Geography and Programme Director for Community Development and Public Policy and Community Leadership. He is the current chair of the School Ethics Committee and Chair of the Decolonising the Academy Collective. He holds a PhD in Government from the University of Manchester and was 2016-17 Fulbright research scholar at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, where he conducted research on the impact of gentrification on African-American church congregations. He is the current chair of the Transatlantic Roundtable on Religion and Race, an international organization that brings together academics, community activists and church leaders with the aim of tackling injustices faced by people of African descent around the world. He is the co-editor with Jualynne Dodson and R. Drew Smith of Religion, Culture and Spirituality in Africa and the African Diaspora (New York: Routledge, 2017). His most recent work is ‘The Politics of Pan-Africanism’ in R. Rabaka ed (2020) The Routledge Handbook of Pan-Africanism.

Read more about William's project. 

Sooriya Arya is a graduate of International Comparative Politics from the American University of Central Asia and a current Masters's student in the Journalism and Mass Communication department. She has worked on several AUCA main projects as a volunteer from 2014 to 2019. She did five internships with national and international organizations during her studies. She worked for the Welfare Association for the Development of Afghanistan, UNESCO, the US Embassy Project in Kabul, and Azym Business Consultancy. She was the representative of youths in the C5+1 Youth council from Afghanistan as well as in UCA, and was part of the Career Ambassador project. Following her graduation in 2019, she worked as a specialist at the Independent Directorate of Local Governance Department (IDLG) in Presidential Decrees follow-up department. During her mandate as an analyst, she worked in different assignments that engaged in coordination and implementation related to governance projects, good governance, connecting  institutions,  zone development, and developing a culture map for Afghanistan. In addition to being a specialist, Sooriya worked as a coach and resource person training women's voices in digital literacy. She has notably been involved in the NITAR project in Afghanistan as a Coach and Resource Person since 2019 and is the co-founder of Capacity for Afghanistan (C4A), which is an organization focused on de-radicalization, peace, and conflict resolution as well youth empowerment & capacity building, with a network of 1500 master’s students and PhDs. She is interested in working with children and women. She has interests in issues related to social entrepreneurship, developing cultural corridors, developing e-learning systems for underprivileged students, and improving communication tools for women that will enable the world citizens to have a voice in this digital world.

Read more about Sooriya's project. 

Diana Ordoñez Castillo is a PhD candidate in Development Studies at Universidad de Los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia. She holds a BA in Industrial Design (2002), and an MSc in Social Studies of Science (2019). During her more than 15 years of professional practice, she led design teams in several museums and science centers. As a researcher, she studies the relationship between museology, memory, emotions, gender, and peacebuilding, from feminist and social studies of science perspectives. Her doctoral thesis “Community-based museums of memory in Colombia: perspectives from emotions, women and peacebuilding” is based on a participatory approach to studying two communitarian museums in the Colombian Caribbean. She has collaborated as a museographer, researcher and workshop leader with civil society and women's organizations such as the Communications Collective of Montes de María, the Popular Women's Organization, and is also part of the Colombian Alliance of Museums. Currently, she is ‘Museums for Peace’ Co-PI, a creation-research project between the Faculty of Arts and the Interdisciplinary Center for Development Studies of UniAndes. This project has designed an exhibition that travels through areas of the country affected by the armed conflict, and seeks to promote spaces for dialogue between academia and memory initiatives on the role of community museums as instruments of social change. Her research has received funding from the Colombo-German Institute for Peace CAPAZ, the Open Society University Network OSUN, and the Norwegian Programme for Capacity Development in Higher Education and Research for Development NORHED II.

Read more about Diana’s research project. 

Jelena Ćeriman is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory of the University of Belgrade, Serbia. Her research work focuses on comparative interdisciplinary studies on family practices, social assistance, and minority rights in Southeast Europe. Her work centers on the examination of how gender interacts with social background, with particular attention on policy application of research data.
The goal of her project is to research and compare the effectiveness of two national councils of national minorities (Hungarian and Albanian NMCs) in protecting minority rights in Serbia by analyzing relevant legal framework and conducting online and/or face-to-face interviews with Albanian and Hungarian NMCs representatives. The main question that leads the project is: What can we learn from the NMCs and minority representatives acting through it to improve the position of minorities in Serbia and their active political participation?

Read more about Jelena's project. 

Dr. Elaine Chan is a senior lecturer/researcher at the Institute of Research, Development and Innovations, International Medical University (IMU). She graduated from Monash University Malaysia with a PhD in Pharmacognosy. Her passion in digital science and its applications led her to develop her skills in programming and machine learning through online certification courses. Her desire to serve her community has also driven her to lead numerous community projects to translate research into community settings. Balancing numerous responsibilities in academic administration as well as research, she has published 24 papers in acclaimed scientific journals with over 600 citations and h-index of 10. Over the years, she has won numerous awards. Amongst these awards are Leaders in Innovation Fellowships Programme Royal Society of Engineering, UK (2021); IMU Core Value Award (2021); IMU Partnership Excellence in Community Service (2020) as well as the IMU Leadership in Community Service (2020). With her passion and keen interest in artificial intelligence (AI), she is currently involved in setting up the Malaysia diabetic cohort, developing new algorithm for computer vision in digital pathology, initiated for new policy and guidelines for digital pathology in Malaysia as well as creating new digital solution for healthcare digital transformation initiatives.

Read more about Elaine's project. 

Koching Chao is Assistant Professor at Si Wan College, National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU), Taiwan, where she teaches courses on European art and architectural, and contemporary arts and appreciation. She obtained her doctoral degree in the History of Art at the University of York, UK. Her research interest lies in Western art and architectural history, as well as viewers’ perception of visual arts. She has been NSYSU’s representative in OSUN’s Civic Engagement initiative since 2020. In 2021, she received OSUN’s Engaged Learning Course Development Grant. In 2022, she has been selected as Engaged Faculty Scholar Award (EFSA) with her research project “Participatory Art and Civic Identity in Post-industrial Kaohsiung, Taiwan.” By cooperating with Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, one of the most important national museums in Taiwan, this project aims to explore ways to empower undergraduate students’ aesthetic literacy and civic awareness through action-oriented art classes.

Read more about Koching's project. 

Alberto Fierro is an OSUN postdoctoral fellow at the Democracy Institute. His postdoc project focuses on alternative paths to knowledge production and asks how to explore and push the existing boundaries between scholarship and activism. Alberto holds a Ph.D. at the Doctoral School of Political Science, Public Policy and International Relations, Central European University. Since 2018, he has collaborated with the Brazilian social movement MTST – Movimento dos Trabalhadores sem Teto (Homeless Workers’ Movement). Alberto’s autoethnographic dissertation focuses on militant and participatory approaches to research. He has published in Millennium: Journal of International Studies and International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society.

Read more about Alberto’s research project. 

Alžbeta Brozmanová Gregorová is an associate professor at the Faculty of Education, Matej Bel University (MBU) in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia. Since 2017, she has been Vice-Dean for international cooperation, public relations, and third mission. She focuses primarily on volunteering, service-learning, the nonprofit sector in Slovak conditions, and participatory approaches in social work. She authorizes several publications, research studies, and articles in these areas. Since 2013, she has been the coordinator of the service-learning strategy at MBU. She is a recognized expert in academia but also in practice and within the decisive sphere. She has been actively working in advocacy and development of volunteering since 2002. Since 2011, she has been the Vice-President of the Platform of Volunteer Centers and Organizations and is currently president. She has coordinated several international and national projects. In practice, she also works as a trainer, consultant, and supervisor. She is a graduate of the Fulbright program, a member of the Government Council for Nongovernmental Organizations, a member of the Board of the Directors of the European Association on Service-learning in Higher Education, and a member of the Service-Learning Network for Central and Eastern Europe.

Read more about Alžbeta’s research project. 

Sameh Hallaq is an assistant professor in the economics program at Al-Quds Bard College, Al-Quds University. Dr. Hallaq is a Research Associate at Levy Economics Institute at Bard College, New York (USA). He obtained his Ph.D. in economics at the University of Wuppertal, Germany, in 2019. His research focuses on the effect of conflict on human capital accumulation and labor market outcomes. Sameh’s research project aims to examine the impact of climate change in the region on the agriculture sector in Palestine, particularly how climate change over the last two decades contributed to (1) sectoral labor reallocation (2) farmers' preference toward a specific type of crops, such as tobacco

Read more about Sameh’s research project. 

Rebekka Mirjam Hölzle has been involved in migrants’ rights activism in the UK, France, Germany, and Greece and currently works within community organising, engagement, and advocacy with migrant communities in London. Her PhD project at the Birkbeck psychosocial studies department makes use of participatory methodologies to explore how migrant women negotiate and resist the UK’s hostile environment’s policies in the everyday, using a critical feminist and decolonial framework. Rebekka’s project, in partnership with the South London Refugee Association (SLRA), studies the immigration policy, No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF). NRPF denies people access to statutory support based on their immigration status and disproportionately affects Black, female, single-carers.

Read more about Rebekka's project. 

Martina Jordaan is Head of Community Engagement and postgraduate students at the University of Pretoria, Mamelodi campus. She is a qualified teacher and was trained for the early childhood development phase and intermediate phases. She holds a Doctorate in History and a Master's degree in Development Studies. She started her career as a teacher a Laerskool Tuinrand. She was appointed as head of the senior phase at Laerskool Rietfontein-Noord and became a senior researcher at the Transvaal Education Department. She was also head of the Education Museum in Pretoria and, after that, responsible for developing pre-schools in informal settlements next to Pretoria and skills development of staff of various schools in Pretoria. After that, she developed and lectured a new module, the Community-based Project Module, for the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and IT at the University of Pretoria. Her research interest is in community engagement, service-learning, and e-community engagement. She is a co-author of published chapters in books and articles in accredited journals and has presented various papers at national and international conferences.

She received M1 merit while teaching at Laerskool Tuirand. She received the Gauteng Department of Education, District Tshwane South Director’s Award in 2001 and 2003. In 2006, she received an Education Innovation certificate from the University of Pretoria. In 2009, the JCP-module was a finalist for the MacJannet Prize for Global Citizenship and won the Marketing Advancement & Communication in Education (MACE) Excellence Award in the Category: Integrated campaigns/projects and Subcategory: Social responsibility Citizenship Development in 2014. She received the University of Pretoria Community Engagement Award in 2015. In 2016, she received the University Education for Transformative Leadership in Africa (UETLA) Grant and was shortlisted for the Global Engineers Deans Council Airbus Diversity Award in 2017. In 2018, she received a teaching and learning award from the Department of Informatics at the University of Pretoria and, in 2019, a special award for teaching and learning from the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology of the University of Pretoria.

Read more about Martina’s research project. 

Nidah Kaiser is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Politics and International Studies at SOAS, University of London. Her research centers on the modalities of anti-Muslim violence in India that accompany the emergence of an ethno-religious, majoritarian state. Her research engages with marginalised communities in India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, and is effectively a study of and by Muslims in India. Nidah also teaches Political Islam as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at King’s College, London, and is a Research Assistant on the project: ‘Muslims in India in a Time of Hindu Majoritarianism’ funded by the Universities of Sciences Po, Princeton and Columbia and the Henry Luce Foundation. She is also a qualified physiotherapist, with a Master's degree from King’s College London, and previous clinical experience in both Mumbai and London and has been a national level Basketball athlete in India.

Read more about Nidah's research project. 

Nurzhamal Karamoldoeva is Executive Director at the Center for Civic Engagement of the American University in Central Asia (AUCA CCE), and oversees different civic engagement projects initiated by students and faculty. Nurzhamal initiates and administers meaningful civic engagement interventions through collaborations with partners of CCE that include both state and non-governmental organisations as well as individual activists on various topics of SDGs. Being an award-winning documentary filmmaker, she teaches at two departments of AUCA: TV, Film and Media Arts (TCMA) and Journalism and Mass Communications (JMC).

Read more about Nurzhamal's research project. 

Dr. Peter Kirira is the acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Administration, Planning and Institutional Advancement at Mount Kenya University since 1^st August 2022. Professionally, he is a Pharmaceutical Chemist and holds an MSc in Organic Chemistry from Kenyatta University and a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Nagakaki University, Japan. In addition to his PhD, he undertook a 2-year post-doctorate fellowship programme in Synthetic Chemistry at Kyoto University, Japan.

Dr. Kirira is an accomplished researcher with interest in drug research with a focus on malaria and cancer projects. In addition, he has taken a leadership role in the implementation of individual and consortium projects on community engagement, entrepreneurship, innovation and graduate employability. For instance, since 2017, Dr. Kirira has implemented research projects in collaboration with Partners for Care (PFC), an NGO, in the area of safe drinking water handling, distribution and storage. He also carried out research to determine the relationship between quality of water and the recovery time of Malnourished Children Enrolled in a Nutritional Feeding (Plumpy'Nut®) Programme in Parkishon Region, Marsabit County, Kenya providing recommendations that informed policy and practice. Dr. Kirira has over 30 peer reviewed publications, holds three patents, and has won over 10 individual and consortium grants with the latest being the Engaged Faculty Scholar Research Grant 2022 by the Open Society University Network (OSUN) Civic Engagement Initiative and the Talloires Network of Engaged Universities. He was featured in the 2022 AD Scientific Index of the Kenya Top Scientists. In the course of his career, Dr. Kirira has successively supervised several postgraduate students. He is a peer reviewer with scientific journals as well as an external examiner of postgraduate students’ theses from various Universities in Kenya.

Peter carries out his research with students and this has helped to develop students’ passion in civic engagement even as they undertake their research. Some of his students have opted to undertake volunteerism for a year after graduation.

Read more about Peter’s research project. 

Carol Montealegre is an artist working in performance, installation, and video. She joins the program from Bogota, Colombia. Carol’s research interests include experimental film and performance art as mediums for human emancipation. She is the Artistic Director at Liminal Art Collective. Carol’s project consists of a compilation of stories from women who are part of the Asociación de Mujeres Huilense por la Paz (ASOMHUPAZ) Women Union from Huila for peace. Carol intends to create a video installation from their stories combined with images of their territories, creating a visual/social experiment inspired by psychogeography and their personal experiences.

Read more about Carol's project. 

Joseph Oloba is a Lecturer at the School of Business, LivingStone International University (LIU) in Budaka, Uganda. He holds an MBA [finance] graduate, whose focus is on financial literacy, recordkeeping, and data. Since 2021, he has facilitated the introduction of new recordkeeping systems at Harding Christian Academy, Jinja. He founded Fellows Analytics in 2020, a network of individuals that provide data & recordkeeping services to researchers, scholars, businesses, and other individuals. He has also introduced ikopaFARM, a vibrant force that envisions economic progress for every African farming community through VSLA Training, Loans, and Research. Since 2018, he has been the Treasurer for the LIU’s Research & Grants Committee and he has served as the Technical Advisor on Curriculum Design and Development since 2019. From 2018 to 2021, he consulted with Wise Choices for Life in recordkeeping and worked with CRDI in training community leaders on business planning and financial literacy. From 2016 to 2018, he served as the Assistant to the Quality Assurance Director and as the Academic Records Manager at LIU. He has assisted more than 50 Masters Graduates and more than 5 PhDs as a research Data Analyst. Over the years, he has also assisted Uganda Christian University and Soroti University with technical expertise in curriculum design, evaluation of teaching and learning, as well as the design of students’ transcripts for Trinity Biblical Institute. His vision is to witness financially successful farming communities in Africa.

Read more about Joseph’s research project. 

Fernando is an environmental epidemiologist and medical anthropologist with interests in systems theory and soft systems modeling, phenomenology, theology of the Powers, postcolonial theory, Bayesian methods, complex humanitarian emergencies and trauma-responsive spiritual-therapeutic interventions. His research interests are primarily with refugees, internally displaced populations, and asylum seekers who are survivors of torture. Fernando also works with ultra-poor populations living in informal settlements. Geographically, Fernando works in the Middle East, Southeast and South Asia, Southern and Western Africa, and among refugee and overseas worker populations in Europe and North America. At Tufts, Fernando supports the dual-degree PA/MPH and BA/MPH programs, and teaches in the Tufts University Prison Initiative at Tisch College. Fernando holds faculty affiliations with the Department of Anthropology, Community Health, Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, and Race, Colonialism and Diaspora Studies. He is currently a part-time psychotherapist with the Boston Center for Refugee Health and Human Rights at Boston Medical Center. Fernando is also a Dean's Fellow in the M.Div. Chaplaincy program at Boston University, School of Theology where he is pursuing a certificate in Religion and Conflict Transformation and in the process of seeking ordination. In Fall 2020, Fernando began his D.Min. as the Whitney M. Young, Jr. Fellow at Boston University School of Theology.

Read more about Fernando’s research project. 

Jazmín Puicón is an Assistant Professor of History at Bard Early College in Newark, NJ. She is a historian of modern Latin America with a specialization in Women’s and Gender History. Her research focuses on popular democracy, Afro-Colombian women, and working-class culture in urban Colombia. Her writing examines how the working class in Cali, Colombia sustained families and communities by embracing popular democracy despite increased local and national political violence. Dr. Puicón has received grants from OSUN, the Mellon Foundation, the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University, and the International Education Fund Grant (Union College-NY) to conduct research in Colombia on oral history and political violence, highlighting the voices of Afro-Colombian women in the Cauca Valley as they fought for peace and community throughout the 20th century. She has presented papers and her work at conferences in the United States and abroad, including the International Conference on Women’s History in Bogotá, Colombia and the inaugural ALARI Conference on Afro-Latin American Studies at Harvard University.

In February 2022, Dr. Puicón received recognition from the NAACP for centering the Black experience in her classroom and coursework. Dr. Puicón also received recognition for exemplary teaching from the State of New Jersey's Amistad Commission. In addition, Dr. Puicón also received the Mildred Barry Garvin Prize from the New Jersey Historical Commission, given annually to K-12 educators for outstanding teaching of African American history, or for outstanding performance in a related activity. In May 2022, Dr. Puicón received Rutgers University School of Graduate Studies’ Excellence in Outreach and Service Award. The Rutgers Award recognizes sustained, extraordinary commitment to service outside of Rutgers University; and effective collaboration with and meaningful connection to a service group, school, non-profit or other community organization. She was previously a teaching fellow at the Pulitzer Center and the Honors College at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. She is currently an OSUN CLASP fellow. You can follow Dr. Puicón on Instagram @professorpuicon.

Read more about Jazmín's project. 

Rouslan M. Rakhimov is Associate Professor of Anthropology, Technology and International Development program at the American University of Central Asia in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic. His research interests include pastoral societies of  Kyrgyzstan (history, nature, tourism); transnationalism; migration in Central Asia and Russia, gender and performance. He is a co-author of OSUN research 3-year on Rural Sustainability (CORUSUS) together with CEU, WITS and AUB. He is currently working on gender images in contemporary art (OSUN engaged research fund).

Read more about Rouslan's project. 

Bernadett Sebály is pursuing her Ph.D. in political science and public policy at the Central European University (CEU) in Austria. Her dissertation focuses on the relationship between movement structures and policy impact in the Hungarian housing movement, where she was a longtime organizer. Bernadett is dedicated to co-creating the history of organizing in Eastern Europe and shaping the self-representation of civil society in the region. She has led participatory action research with the European Community Organizing Network and the School of Public Life, where she holds regular trainings. She is a research affiliate at the CEU Democracy Institute, where she is building a resource bank of Hungarian protest events. She is currently a Visiting Graduate Scholar at the P3 Lab at SNF Agora at Johns Hopkins University.

In her research, she draws on a decade of activism and organizing. She is proud to have helped build the first community organizing program in Hungary, coordinated Civilizáció, a Hungarian network of CSOs during a period of repressive government measures, and co-founded and organized in The City Is For All, a cross-class housing group. She has a Master’s in public policy from CEU and cultural anthropology from the University of Miskolc, Hungary. She has published articles on housing, disability rights and organizing.

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Jarkyn Shadymanova is an Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology, American University of Central Asia. She holds a PhD degree in Sociology. Jarkyn teaching courses are kNOwVAWdata course, quantitative research methods, Sociology of ICT etc.. Her research interests include gender studies, qualitative and quantitative research methods, and sustainable consumption practices. Jarkyn was a research fellow of The Global Dialogues & Women’s Empowerment in Eurasian Contexts Feminist Mentoring (WEF) Fellowship Programme, IGS, LMH, Oxford University, 2018. She was a postdoctoral researcher at the Sociology Consumption and Household Group, Wageningen University and Department of Anthropology, University of Amsterdam. Jarkyn is an author and co-author of numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters on social issues.

Jarkyn received several fellowship grants such as ‘Gendering the Youth: Representations of Gender in Contemporary Kyrgyzstan Media’ Junior Fellowship Central Asia Research and Training Initiative, OSI, 2006– 2008; and “Building Academic and Teaching Excellence in the Discipline of Sociology in Central Asia”  ReSET, CARC, Almaty, Kazakhstan, HESP, OSI 2003-2006.

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Asifa Sultana is a child language researcher. She investigates Bangla-speaking children's language development and works towards developing an intervention framework for supporting children with language difficulties. She also works on exploring the mother tongue based education scenario among various communities in Bangladesh. She has published her research in reputed international journals, and with renowned publishing houses. She collaborates with researchers across the world that connects her research on Bangla to the global body of work in the areas. She has also been part of international research projects and won grants to carry out her research. She is currently working as Professor at the Department of English and Humanities, Brac University, Bangladesh.

Read about Asifa's research project. 

Olga Tarabashkina is a Lecturer at American University in Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan), where she teaches sociology and research methods subjects to undergraduate and graduate students. Her research interests lie in applied social psychology, particularly in sustainable behaviour and persuasive communication. Her current work focuses on social norms, message framing and the importance of social norms in fostering sustainable behaviour.

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Dr. Joseph John Viscomi is a historian and anthropologist who specializes in the Mediterranean region from the late 18th century until the present. Dr. Viscomi’s research and teaching focus on migration, environments, political change, and temporality. As a scholar raised in an Italian American enclave in the Philadelphia and South Jersey area (in the US), he is keen to study the history of migration from perspectives of departure, absence, and entropy. He joined Birkbeck College in 2018, where he is presently the Programme Director of the MA in European History and the Birkbeck Director of the Raphael Samuel History Centre. He is also a member of the executive committee for the Association for the Study of Modern Italy (ASMI) and serves on the convening committee for the Institute for Historical Research’s Modern Italian History Seminar.

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Dr. Inga Winkler is an Associate Professor in International Human Rights Law. She takes a socio-legal approach to her research, which focuses on socio-economic rights, gender justice and sustainable development. Her work bridges institutional protection and socio-cultural dimensions of human rights, global policy and grassroots movements, and critical reflection and practical application. Issues that are considered taboo, in particular sanitation and menstruation, have piqued her interest. Her policy experience has allowed her to follow discussions at various levels from global processes to local challenges which enables her to link research, advocacy and policy-influencing. Current research projects address menstruation through various angles, the human right to sanitation, and the UN Special Procedures. Her books include the first comprehensive monograph on the human right to water, the Handbook on Critical Menstruation Studies, and an edited volume on the Sustainable Development Goals. Her articles have appeared in the Journal of Human Rights, the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters, Feminist Formations, Culture, Health & Sexuality, among others. Inga is the founder and co-director of the Working Group on Menstrual Health & Gender Justice and the co-chair of the University Seminar on Menstruation & Society at Columbia University. She is affiliated faculty in the Economic and Social Rights Working Group at the Human Rights Institute at the University of Connecticut, and the Center on Law and Social Transformation at the University of Bergen, Norway. Previously, she was a lecturer at the Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University and a visiting scholar at the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU, at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, and at UC Berkeley. Inga served as the Legal Adviser to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque, who was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council. She has also consulted for various international organizations and NGOs including the European Parliament; the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; the United Nations Development Programme; the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions; WaterAid; the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ); and the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC). Inga holds a German law degree and a doctorate in international human rights law (summa cum laude).

Read more about Inga's project.