Lectures 2025

Anna-Mária Bíró, Tom Lantos Institute

Anna-Mária Bíró is the director of the Tom Lantos Institute, a research and education institution in the human rights of minorities. She holds an M.Sc. in Public Administration and Public Policy from the London School of Economics and a PhD in political sciences from the Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Budapest, Hungary. She was an advisor on international relations to the President of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania and head of the Europe Office of Minority Rights Group International (MRG). She worked as the Advisor on Minority Affairs of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo. Prior to working at the Tom Lantos Institute, Anna-Mária Bíró was a senior consultant to the Managing Multiethnic Communities Programme, LGI/Open Society Foundations and director of the higher education, innovation course “Incorporating Ethno-cultural Diversity into the Teaching of Public Administration” at the Central European University in Budapest. While TLI director, Anna-Mária edited Populism, Memory and Minority Rights: Central and Eastern European Issues in Global Perspective (Brill/Nijhoff, 2018), and co-edited The Noble Banner of Human Rights, Essays in Memory of Tom Lantos (Brill/Nijhoff, 2018) as well as Minority Rights and Liberal Democratic Insecurities, The Challenge of Unstable Orders (Routledge, 2022).

Balázs Vizi, National University of Public Service

Balázs Vizi dr. jur., is associate professor at the Department of International Law, Faculty of International and European Studies of the University of Public Service (Budapest). He is also research professor at the Institute for Minority Studies, Centre for Social Sciences (Budapest). He graduated in law at the Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest) and holds a PhD in social sciences from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven). He has specialized in international human and minorityrights law. Among others, Balázs Vizi is co-editor of Research Handbook on Minority Politics in the European Union (Edward Elgar, 2022).

Corinne Lennox, Human Rights Consortium, School of Advanced Study, University of London

Dr Corinne Lennox is Co-Director of the Human Rights Consortium. She is a Senior Lecturer in Human Rights at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies and convenes the MA in Understanding and Securing Human Rights.

Her research focuses on issues of minority and indigenous rights protection, civil society mobilisation for human rights, and human rights and development. She has worked for many years as a human rights consultant and trainer, including at Minority Rights Group International, the UNDP and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Christian Reus-Smit, University of Melbourne

Christian Reus-Smit is Professor of International Relations in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne. He received his PhD from Cornell University and has been awarded fellowships and grants by the Macarthur Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Australian Research Council, the European University Institute in Florence, the Social Science Research Council in New York, and the British Academy. He is the author of International Relations: A Very Short Introduction(Oxford 2020), On Cultural Diversity (Cambridge 2018); Individual Rights and the Making of the International System (Cambridge 2013), American Power and World Order (Polity 2004), and The Moral Purpose of the State (Princeton 1999); co-author of Special Responsibilities in World Politics (Cambridge 2012); editor of The Politics of International Law (Cambridge 2004); and co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of History and International Relations (Oxford 2023), Culture and Order in World Politics (Cambridge: 2020), The Globalization of International Society (Oxford 2017), The Oxford Handbook of International Relations (Oxford 2008), and Between Sovereignty and Global Governance (Macmillan 1998). His articles have appeared in a wide range of journalsincluding International Organization, European Journal of International Relations, Review of International Studies, Ethics and International Affairs, International Affairs, and Millennium. And his work has been awarded the Northedge Prize (1992), the BISA Prize (2002), the Susan Strange Prize (2014), and the Choice Outstanding Academic Title Award in International Relations (2020). He has twice won the ISA Best Edited Book in International Theory Prize (2018 with Tim Dunne, and 2021 with Andrew Phillips), and twice been runner up for the ISA Joseph Fletcher Best Edited Book in Historical IR Award (2020 with Tim Dunne, and 2021 with Andrew Phillips). Professor Reus-Smit edits (with Evelyn Goh and Nicholas Wheeler) the Cambridge Studies in International Relations books series, is a General Editor (with Duncan Snidal) of a multi-volume series of Oxford Handbooks of International Relations, and was a Founding Editor of the journal International Theory (with Duncan Snidal and Alexander Wendt). Prior to joining the University of Melbourne, he was Professor at the University of Queensland, the European University Institute, and the Australian National University (where he was Head of the Department of International Relations from 2001 to 2010). Professor Reus-Smit was elected a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Science in Australia in 2008 and was Vice-President of the International Studies Association for 2013- 2014.

David Keane, Dublin City University

Dr. David Keane is Associate Professor in Law at the School of Law and Government, DCU. He has acted previously as Lecturer in Law at Brunel University, London, and Associate Professor in Law at Middlesex University, London. He holds a BCL (Law and French) from University College Cork, Ireland, and an LLM and PhD from the Irish Centre for Human Rights, NUI Galway, where he was awarded a Government of Ireland scholarship. Dr. Keane’s research is in international human rights law, with a particular focus on the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and related aspects of the UN human rights system. He has published 4 books and around 30 journal articles and book chapters, as well as book reviews, blogs and case commentaries. His book Caste- based Discrimination in International Human Rights Law (Routledge, 2007) was awarded the Hart-SLSA Book Prize for Early Career Academics and has been widely cited, including by the UK Supreme Court. His book 50 Years of the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (Manchester University Press, 2017) is the first edited collection on ICERD. His most recent work is on inter- State cases under ICERD, with current journal articles in this area in the The Law & Practice of International Courts and Tribunals and the Melbourne Journal of International Law. Dr Keane acts also as a visiting professor at the University of Bordeaux, France. He welcomes potential PhD students and research collaborations in international human rights law.

Nicolas Levrat,

UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues

Pr. Nicolas Levrat is the fourth Special Rapporteur on minority issues. He was appointed by the Human Rights Council on 13 October 2023 and took up his functions as Special Rapporteur on 1 November 2023. Levrat is a French speaking Swiss, born in 1964. As such, he is a member of a linguistic minority in Switzerland and has been dedicating his academic research and teaching focus on Peoples and minorities rights, Federalism, and on relationships between legal systems. Holding a PhD in International Law, Prof. Levrat has been a full Professor of International and European Law at the University of Geneva since 2001. At the University of Geneva, he was appointed Director of the European studies in 2007, which he reshaped into the Global Studies Institute in 2013; he was the Director of the International Law Department from 2016 to 2019; and he also launched the Human Rights Week, which has been in place since 2012. He started his professional career as a European civil servant at the Council of Europe (1991- 1994), and then joined the Université libre de Bruxelles, first as a Researcher on minorities issues in Belgium and then as a Junior Professor. In 2022, he was elected 2nd Vice-President of the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the protection of national minorities of the Council of Europe, position which he resigned when taking up his role as Special Rapporteur. Nicolas Levrat is the author of seven books, editor of another 20, and has published more than 150 scientific articles or book chapters and he has been advising numerous local, regional and national governments, as well as international organisations and NGOs for the past 30 years.

Rolla Moumné, UNESCO

Ms. Rolla Moumné is an expert in international law and right to education, holding a PhD from the University of Paris II (Panthéon-Assas), where she specialized in international law. She also holds a Master’s degree in Law, Political Science, and Human Rights, obtained jointly from the University of Paris II (Panthéon-Assas) and Paris V (René Descartes). Ms. Moumné currently leads the Right to Education Programme within the Education Policy Section at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. In her role, Ms. Moumné is responsible for a range of initiatives aimed at promoting and ensuring the right to education globally. Her work focuses on monitoring the implementation of the right to education at both international and national levels, assessing progress and challenges to inform evidence-based policy. She provides countries with technical support and guidance to help them develop and strengthen legal and policy frameworks, aligning them with international standards and commitments. Her contributions include offering policy advice, conducting research on emerging issues, and advancing capacity development initiatives that equip stakeholders with the tools and knowledge to promote the right to education effectively. Additionally, Ms. Moumné leads advocacy efforts to raise awareness of the importance of the right to education and works collaboratively with governments, civil society, and international organizations to advance this fundamental right worldwide.

Jamille Pinheiro Dias, School of Advanced Study, University of London

Jamille Pinheiro Dias is currently the director of the Centre of Latin American and Caribbean Studies at the Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies (ILSC) at the University of London’s School of Advanced Study, where she also works as a Lecturer. She was a Craig M. Cogut Visiting Professor at Brown University’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

In addition, she was a researcher affiliated with the Amazon Lab at the Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke University, where she was previously a von der Heyden Fellow, and the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to joining the University of London, she worked as a Research Associate at the University of Manchester as part of the project Cultures of Anti- Racism in Latin America, funded by the United Kingdom’s Arts and Humanities Research Council. Her studies involve environmental issues, Amazonian cultural production, Indigenous arts, and translation studies in Latin America, with a focus on Brazil. Prior to working in the UK, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Modern Languages at the University of São Paulo, where she also received a PhD in English. Furthermore, she was a visiting researcher at Stanford University and a teaching assistant at the Institute of Brazilian Studies at the University of São Paulo. Besides her engagement in teaching and research, her work as a translator led her to translate authors such as Ailton Krenak, Marilyn Strathern, Alfred Gell, Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, Judith Butler and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, among others.

Alexandra Xanthaki, UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights

Alexandra Xanthaki was appointed UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights in October 2021.

Alexandra Xanthaki is Professor of Laws at Brunel University London, United Kingdom. A leading expert on cultural rights, Alexandra has published on cultural rights of minorities and indigenous peoples, cultural diversity, cultural heritage, balancing cultural rights with other rights and interests, and multicultural aspects of international human rights law.

Alexandra is Greek and completed her law degree in Athens Law Faculty and qualified as a lawyer. She then moved to the United Kingdom and completed a Masters degree (LLM) in ‘Human Rights and Emergency Law’ at Queen’s University, Belfast. She pursued a doctorate at Keele University, UK, on the ‘Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the United Nations’ under the supervision of Patrick Thornberry. Her work on cultural rights of non-state actors is well-known and has been cited repeatedly in international documents. She has worked on issues relating to human rights with NGOs and civil society. Before taking up the mandate, Alexandra has worked closely with several mandates at the United Nations and has advised several States on human rights issues. She has also taught civil servants and lawyers in several parts of the world, including the Ukraine, Vietnam, South Africa and Malaysia.

Alexandra is a member of the Summer Human Rights Faculty in Oxford. In Brunel University London, she leads the Brunel side in an EU funded project of 13 partners on employing technology to push forward the integration of migrants. She has also worked with colleagues and NGOs to develop a prototype of an online game to advance the rights of children and their integration. Ms. Xanthaki is well known as the founder of the awarded Athens Refugee Project, where students have volunteered since early 2016 with refugee civil society organisations.

Fiona McConnell, University of Oxford

Fiona McConnell is Professor of Political Geography at the University of Oxford and Tutorial Fellow at St Catherine’s College, Oxford. She joined Oxford’s School of Geography and the Environment in 2013 and prior to this she was a lecturer in human geography at Newcastle University. Fiona has a BA in Geography from the University of Cambridge and PhD from Queen Mary, University of London. Working the fields of political, legal and historical geographies, Fiona’s research develops new areas of thinking regarding governance beyond the state, how political legitimacy is articulated by marginalised communities, and changing practices of diplomacy and mediation. Fiona was awarded a Philip Leverhulme Prize for Geography in 2019 and the Back Award from the Royal Geographical Society in 2022. She has published ‘Rehearsing the State: The Political Practices of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile’ (2016), edited volumes on geographies of peace and on diplomatic cultures, and papers in, amongst others, International Political Sociology, Political Geography, Antipode, and International Theory. Fiona sits on the Board of Directors of the Tibet Justice Center and the Advisory Board of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation.

Mercè Monje Cano, Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization

Mercè Monje Cano is a socio-cultural project manager and accomplished human rights advocate with over fifteen years of experience in advocacy, project management and strategic planning. Before her appointment as UNPO Secretary General, she had been serving as the Executive Director and Head of Programmes at the UNPO, where she also acted as the UN Representative. She has managed programmes, led numerous UN advocacy efforts, coordinate various human rights initiatives, and led trainings on advocacy techniques, showcasing her expertise in advancing the rights of minorities, indigenous peoples, and unrepresented groups.

Mohammad Shahabuddin, Birmingham Law School

Mohammad Shahabuddin is a Professor of International Law & Human Rights at Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham, UK. He specialises in histories and theories of international law and human rights, international law of minority protection, right to self-determination, and ethnicity, nationalism and ethnic conflicts. His teaching and research is informed by critical, postcolonial, and TWAIL (Third World Approaches to International Law) scholarship. He has published extensively in the areas of his research specialisation. Shahab is the author of Ethnicity and International Law: Histories, Politics and Practices (Cambridge University Press, 2016) and Minorities and the Making of Postcolonial States in International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2021). For the latter, he received the prestigious Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship (2018-2020). He is also the editor of Bangladesh and International Law (Routledge, 2021). In addition to academic research, Shahab also worked for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Bangladesh as its National Consultant in 2011/12 to conduct compliance studies on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). These reports have been published by the National Human Rights Commission, Bangladesh, and used for policy reform recommendations to the government.

Desalegn Amsalu, Addis Ababa University

Desalegn Amsalu has been a full-time staff member at Addis Ababa University since 2008, currently holding the position of associate professor. He serves as a researcher at the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, and as a course lecturer at the Department of Social Anthropology. He completed his PhD in Social Anthropology in 2016 and also has a background in Law. He has done extensive research fieldwork in Ethiopia since 2008, and has published on topics related to minorities and marginalized groups, identity and victimhood, conflict and peacebuilding, inter- ethnic relations, legal pluralism, and Ethiopia’s ethnic federalism at local level. He has served as head of research at the Institute of Ethiopian Studies (July 2018- February 2025), and since February 2025, serves as Head of Center for the Study of Indigenous Knowledge. He is a recipient of numerous research and teaching fellowships and grants in Europe and America such as with the University of Edinburgh, Boston University, Hamburg University, Bayreuth University, and University of Lyon.

Szilvia Rézműves, Citizen Foundation for Opportunities

Szilvia Rézműves holds a Master’s degree in Social Policy (Eötvös Loránd University) and is pursuing a postgraduate degree in International Human Rights in English (Eötvös Lóránd University). She is the development expert of Polgár Alapítvány az Esélyekért (“Citizen Foundation for Opportunities.”) She worked for 2 years as a research fellow at the Center for Policy Studies at the Central European University, where her main areas of interest are social inequalities and human rights. In her thesis, research and current work, among others, she focuses on educational inequalities and minority rights of Roma. For 4 years, she was a team leader in the former Ministry of Education and Culture, managing nationality tenders in the background institution. Between 2014-2017, she was a policy officer for the Council of Europe in Hungary, working on democratic governance and Roma community participation (deepening her understanding of different methodologies such as facilitation and mediation).

István Gábor Molnár, Rácz Gyöngyi Community Centre

István Gábor Molnár is the director of the Gyöngyi Rácz Community Centre, president of the Eötvös József Gypsy-Hungarian Pedagogical Society and the Gypsy Local Government of Újpest, cameraman, photographer and local history researcher. In 2014, he founded Hungary’s first Gypsy Local History Collection, which aims to publicise and thus acknowledge the past, cultural and community values of the gypsies in the settlements. It collects publications on Roma themes under the name of International Roma Library. In the Rácz Gyöngyi Centre, in addition to ongoing cultural and public programmes, he runs an afternoon school for subject-specific development tailored to individuals and groups.

Marcus Oda, Tom Lantos Institute

Marcus Oda joined the Tom Lantos Institute in 2018 as the Programme Manager for Human Rights of Minorities Programme. Originally from Honolulu, Hawaii, Marcus holds a Bachelor’s degree in French Literature from Yale University and a Juris Doctorate from New York University. While at NYU, Marcus’ studies focused on international human rights law, minority rights, and international criminal law. He also served on the editorial board of the Journal of International Law and Politics. Marcus began his career as an intern first at the Public Interest Law Network in Budapest, Hungary, and then at the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. He was awarded the Arthur Helton Global Human Rights Fellowship, which gave him the opportunity to conduct advocacy work and legal research at the Russian LGBT Network in St. Petersburg, Russia. Marcus continued to work in the post-Soviet Union region as a Program & Advocacy Officer at the Eurasian Coalition on Male Health in Tallinn, Estonia, where he was responsible for managing legal and advocacy programs aimed at protecting LGBT rights and ensuring access to health services in countries of the region. Marcus speaks English, French, Russian, Hungarian, and Italian.