Academic staff
Programme Director
Karl Hanson, who obtained his doctorate in Law from Ghent University, Belgium, is Professor in Public Law at the University of Geneva in Switzerland and the Deputy Director of the Centre for Children’s Rights Studies. His teaching and research activities are in the interdisciplinary field of children’s rights studies. He is an editor of the journal Childhood and chair of the Children’s Rights European Academic Network.
Programme Coordinator
Roberta Ruggiero holds a Master of Law and a PhD in Promotion and Protection of Children’s Rights from the University of Molise, Italy. She is Senior Research Associate at the Centre for Children's Rights Studies at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, where she works as coordinator of the Master and the Certificate of Advanced Studies in Children's Rights (MCR).
Programme lecturers
Archana Mehendale is an Adjunct Honorary Professor at Centre for Education, Innovation and Action Research, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai since 2015.
Jason Hart is a social anthropologist by training. He is a Senior Lecturer in the Anthropology of Development at the University of Bath and a Research Associate at the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford.
Nigel Cantwell is a Geneva-based international consultant on child protection policies who has been working in the field of the human rights of children for over 30 years. He has been awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK in June 2017.
Olga Nieuwenhuys a social anthropologist, was a senior research fellow at the Department of Geography, Planning and International Development Studies, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Virginia Morrow is a sociologist and has carried out various research studies with children and young people since 1988.
Yaw Ofosu-Kusi, is Senior Lecturer of social studies and economics at the Department of Social Studies, University of Education, Winneba, Ghana.
Steering Committee
Stoecklin, Daniel is Associate Professor in Sociology, at Centre for Children’s Rights Studies of the University of Geneva (Switzerland). His areas of research and teaching are the sociology of childhood, children’s rights, children in street situations, participation and the capability approach.
Karl Hanson, who obtained his doctorate in Law from Ghent University, Belgium, is Professor in Public Law at the University of Geneva in Switzerland and the Deputy Director of the Centre for Children’s Rights Studies. His teaching and research activities are in the interdisciplinary field of children’s rights studies. He is an editor of the journal Childhood and chair of the Children’s Rights European Academic Network.
Roberta Ruggiero holds a Master of Law and a PhD in Promotion and Protection of Children’s Rights from the University of Molise, Italy. She is Senior Research Associate at the Centre for Children's Rights Studies at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, where she works as coordinator of the Master and the Certificate of Advanced Studies in Children's Rights (MCR).
Simon Nehme is a scientific associate with the Center for Children’s Rights Studies where he assists in the coordination of the Children’s Rights Academy and the Master of Advanced Studies in Children’s Rights (MCR). He is an expert in child protection programming and system building, children’s rights in humanitarian settings and children in migration. He has a long working experience with UNICEF. He comes from a social work background and has a master’s in International Affairs and Political Science.
Scientific Advisory Board
Abdeljalil Akkari is professor in intercultural and international dimensions of education at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences and co-director of the PEGEI unit (Politics, Economics, Management and International Education).
Alan Kikuchi-White is the Geneva Representative of SOS Children's Villages International. Since opening the SOS office in Geneva in January 2008 the bulk of the work has related to the drafting and recognition of the UN Guidelines for Alternative Care of Children.
Elena Patrizi is research assistant of the Master of Advanced Studies in Children’s Rights (MCR) and Ph.D. candidate at the University of Geneva’s Centre for Children’s Rights Studies in Sion, Switzerland. Elena holds a law degree from the University of Urbino (2013) and an LLM in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights from the Geneva Academy (2016).
Maya Hertig Randall holds a Ph.D. from the University of Fribourg, a first class LL.M. degree from the University of Cambridge, UK, and was admitted to the Geneva bar in 2002.
Paola Riva Gapany is a lawyer graduated from the University of Neuchatel and holding a Master degree in international and comparative law (LL.M) from the George Washington University (Washington DC, USA).
Yvan Droz, a social anthropologist, is Lecturer at the Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland.
GUEST LECTURErS AND SPEAKERS
Along with the above mentioned staff members, lecturers, steering committee and scientific advisory board members, our guest lecturers and speakers guarantee the presence of a diversity of disciplinary and cultural viewpoints on children’s rights. Since its start in April 2003, the MCR Programme has been able to count on the participation of numerous distinguished academics and professional experts, of whom many will continue to offer their precious collaboration.
- Prof Dave Archard , Queens University Belfast, UK – Centre for Children’s Rights; Professor School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy
- Prof Leena Alanen , University of Jyväskylä, Finland – Professor Emerita in Early Childhood Education and in the Sociology of Childhood; Co-editor of the journal Childhood
- Prof Sarada Balagopalan , Rutgers University, Camden, USA – Associate Professor at the Department of Childhood Studies
- Ileana Bello , Defence for Children International (DCI) Geneva, Switzerland – Executive Director of DCI’s International Secretariat
- Prof Asher Ben-Arieh , The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel – Professor Paul Baerwald School of Social Work; Co-Chair of the International Society for Child Indicators (ISCI)
- Dr Joanna Bourke-Martignoni , Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, Switzerland – Research Fellow
- Christoph Braunschweig, Swiss Foundation of the International Social Service (ISS) Geneva, Switzerland – Transnational social worker
- Dr Clara Burbano Herrera , FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University, USA –Fulbright Postdoctoral Research Fellow / Ghent University, Belgium – Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Faculty of Law
- Prof Ferran Casas , University of Girona, Spain – Professor on Social Psychology; Coordinator of the Research Institute on Quality of Life
- Prof Philippe Chastonay , University of Geneva, Switzerland – Professor of Public Health at the Faculty of Medicine; Director Public Health School and Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine
- Prof Tom Cockburn , Edge Hill University, UK – Professor in Social Sciences; Head of Department of Social Sciences
- Prof Frédéric Darbellay , University of Geneva, Switzerland – Professor at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences; Head of the Inter- and Transdisciplinary Unit at the Centre for Children’s Rights Studies
- Amanda Flores , Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Geneva, Switzerland – Special Rapporteur/Special Procedures Branch
- Prof Mark Goodale , University of Lausanne, Switzerland – Professor of Cultural and Social Anthropology
- Prof Yves Haeck , Ghent University, Belgium – Professor in Human Rights and Constitutional Law
- Prof Anna Holzscheiter , Free University Berlin, Germany – Junior Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the Otto-Suhr-Institute for Political Science
- Prof Philip Jaffé , University of Geneva, Switzerland – Professor at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences; Director of the Centre for Children’s Rights Studies
- Mike Jempson , Director of MediaWise, UK
- Jyothi Kanics , University of Lucerne, Switzerland – PhD researcher at the Law Faculty on undocumented migrant children / Specialist on separated children programmes for Save the Children, the Irish Refugee Council and UNICEF
- Lilana Keith , Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM), Brussels, Belgium – Advocacy officer labour rights and children's rights
- Nekane Lavin , Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Geneva, Switzerland – Human Rights Officer, Mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography
- Dr Annika Lems , University of Bern, Switzerland – Postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Social Anthropology
- Prof Manfred Liebel , Free University Berlin, Germany – Director of the MA Childhood Studies and Children's Rights
- Prof Ton Liefaard , Leiden University, The Netherlands – Professor of Children's Rights at Leiden Law School; UNICEF Chair in Children’s Rights
- Prof Laura Lundy , Queens University, Belfast – Professor of Education Law and Children's Rights; Director of the Centre for Children’s Rights
- Benyam Dawit Mezmur , Chairperson of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and Vice-Chairperson of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child / Associate Professor of Law, University of the Western Cape, South Africa and the Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
- Christopher Mikton , World Health Organisation (WHO) Geneva, Switzerland – Technical Officer, Prevention of Violence
- Dr China Mills , The University of Sheffield, UK – Lecturer in Critical Educational Psychology at the School of Education
- Pia Oberoi , Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Geneva, Switzerland – Advisor on Migration and Human Rights
- Prof David Oswell , University of London, UK – Professor of Sociology and Head of the Department of Sociology at Goldsmiths
- Michele Poretti , University of Geneva, Switzerland – External collaborator at the Centre for Children’s Rights Studies
- José Maria Ramirez Machado , International Labour Office (ILO) Geneva, Switzerland – Senior Programme Officer at the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour
- Dr Didier Reynaert , University College Ghent, Belgium – Lecturer in social work, Faculty of Education, Health and Social Work
- Dr Urs Richle , University of Geneva, Switzerland – Senior lecturer at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences within the TECFA Education and Technology Unit
- Nikhil Roy , Penal Reform International (PRI) London, UK – Programme Development Director
- Iven Saadi , Free University Berlin, Germany – Lecturer in Childhood Studies MA Childhood Studies and Children’s Rights
- Prof Julia Sloth-Nielsen , University of the Western Cape, South Africa / Leiden University, The Netherlands – Professor in Children’s Rights Law
- Dr Markus Stahlhofer , World Health Organisation (WHO) Geneva, Switzerland – Technical Officer
- Prof Helen Stalford , University of Liverpool, UK – Professor of Law; Founding Director of the European Children’s Rights Unit
- Duco Tellegen , Dovana Films, The Netherlands – Independent film maker
- Prof Nigel Thomas , University of Central Lancashire, UK - Professor of Childhood and Youth Research; Co-Director of The Centre for Children and Young People’s Participation
- Prof Liz Todd , Newcastle University, UK – Professor of Educational Inclusion at the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences
- Prof Peter Van der Laan , VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Director of the Amsterdam Law and Behavior Institute (A-LAB); Senior researcher at the Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR)
- Dr Arne Vandaele , Portico Law firm, Brussels, Belgium – Independent lawyer specialised in constitutional and administrative law
- Prof Wouter Vandenhole , University of Antwerp, Belgium – Professor in Human Rights Law; UNICEF Chair in Children's Rights
- Dr Zana Vathi , Edge Hill University, UK – Reader in Social Sciences specialized in migration studies
- Prof Eugeen Verhellen , Ghent University, Belgium – Professor Emeritus in Social Work at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences; Former Director of Ghent University’s Children's Rights Centre
- Jacqueline Weekers , International Organization for Migration (IOM) Geneva, Switzerland – Senior Migration Health Policy Advisor
- Karen Whiting , United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Geneva, Switzerland – Senior Advisor (Child Protection), Division of International Protection
- Dr Annemieke Wolthuis , Verwey-Jonker Institute, The Netherlands – Independent senior researcher, trainer and mediator
- Dr h.c. Jean Zermatten , International Institute for the Rights of the Child (IDE) Sion, Switzerland – Founding Director of IDE; Former member and Chairperson of the Committee on the Rights of the Child