Overview

• Indigenous peoples’ rights 
• Human rights practice
• International human rights law
• International humanitarian law
• International criminal law
• Public international law
• Transitional and transformative justice

I have varied research interests within the broad field of human rights. Methodologically, I largely – though not exclusively and often experimentally – conduct Participatory Action Research (PAR), employing collaborative anthropological, ethnographic, and arts-based data collection, analysis and dissemination methods.

My three strands of research are:

Indigenous Peoples’ Rights

Currently I conduct collaborative research in the area of indigenous peoples’ rights.

Funded projects I am, or have been part of are:

1) Rethinking accountability from the bottom: Setting a research agenda on traditional grassroots justice mechanisms (TGJMs) – funded through the University of York’s internally distributed funding, this pilot project is co-developed with a Nasa Indigenous community in the northern Cauca Department (Colombia) in partnership with the regional Prosecutor's office in the Department’s capital, Popayán. The project seeks to challenge narrow views of accountability for human rights violations by drawing lessons the Nasa indigenous justice system.

2) Beyond Compliance Consortium (BCC) – as a contributing researcher to the BCC, I conduct collaborative research with the Nasa Indigenous Reserve of Huellas, Caloto, and the Association of Indigenous Councils of the northern Cauca Department (ACIN) on the impact of child recruitment by non-state armed groups (NSAGs) on indigenous communities in the Southwest of Colombia, as well as on the strategies employed by these communities to demand that such groups comply with international humanitarian law.

3) ‘Ritualising’ protection in conflict: A collaborative visual ethnography of the cultural and spiritual protection practices of the Nasa people in Colombia – funded by the Creating Safer Space Network Plus, this project was collaboratively developed with the Nasa Indigenous Reserve of Huellas, Caloto (Colombia). It sought to shed light on how ancestral spiritual and cultural practices protect indigenous communities in the midst of armed conflict and what coordination mechanisms could be put in place to ensure that these practices are effectively supported by the state. One of the outputs of this project is a three-part participatory documentary, which has been shown at the WOW Wales One World Film Festival in Aberystwyth.

Human Rights at the Local Level

I am interested in how cities and local state entities (mis-)use human rights. Funded projects I am, or have been, part of include:

1) Mapping Local Human Rights Practices in Triveneto – based at, and internally funded by the University of Padova (Italy), this pilot project is aimed at laying the foundations for a broader inquiry into local human rights commitment in the Northeast of Italy, and it constitutes the basis for an exchange between local civil servants in Italy and abroad. Specifically, it focuses on local human rights practices in four specific policy-areas: right to housing, gender-based violence, inclusion and non-discrimination of migrants and minorities, and initiatives to promote human rights education.

2) Shaping a Human Rights-Based Approach to COVID-19 in the City of York –working in partnership with the City of York Council and York Human Rights City, I have coordinated research on co-production practices between the Council and the charitable sector in decision-making and policy development across the city, as well as on existing framework for assessing the human rights impacts of Council’s policies and decisions. As part of the ongoing collaboration with the City of York Council, I have developed a human rights impact assessment tool that is currently being piloted by Council officers.

Human Rights Monitoring and Fact-Finding

I am interested in how human rights monitoring and fact-finding mechanisms could be used to promote compliance with human rights and international humanitarian law standards, and as a form of accountability for violations of such standards. In particular, my doctoral research focused on the impact and effectiveness of Human Rights Council-mandated human rights inquiries in Israel and Palestine. My doctoral dissertation proposes a novel conceptualisation of these mechanisms as socialisation tools. Currently, I am developing a book proposal partially based on my doctoral dissertation.