Our students

Who are our students?

Our students come from every continent and work in a variety of settings: in private practice, with the United Nations and other international organizations, non-governmental organizations, with the armed forces, in universities, the media, medicine and other related fields.

Student profiles

Below is a selection of profiles from our past and present students.

Heather Adams (Australia/USA)
2008/9 cohort

I am currently a Human Rights Research Fellow at the FXB Center at Harvard University. I primarily work with Harvard’s Scholars at Risk programme (SAR) whilst simultaneously researching the persecution of the disabled during the Nazi era.  It was my interest in disability, in particular the mentally disabled that drew me to the field of human rights and this course.

Leonardo SC Castilho (Brazil)
2008/9 cohort

I began my university studies in law at the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) and obtained my Masters degree in International Development at l’Institut d’études politiques de Paris (Sciences-Po Paris). I have been working in the human rights field since 2001, at first with NGOs in Brazil and for over six years with international organizations, mainly with the United Nations in several countries in Latin America, and at headquarters. I currently work as a Human Rights Advisor for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Chile, at the Regional Office for South America. Studying at Oxford provided me with a great opportunity to further develop my main areas of interest: economic, social and cultural rights, and the right to development.

Jason Wright (USA)
2008/9 cohort

I have served as a judge advocate in the US Army since 2005, and currently serve as a trial defence lawyer in Germany. My prior field experience includes a fifteen month deployment to Iraq where I served as international humanitarian law advisor, and later, as a commanding general's aide-de-camp. I graduated cum laude form George Mason University School of Law in 2004. From 2004 to 2005 I clerked at the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. I believe in the inviolability of fundamental freedoms and that every human being deserves respect and dignity. I chose the Master's programme to study these issues and to learn how to become an effective advocate in the field.

Click here to read a recent interview with Jason Wright as part of the Department for Continuing Education's Spotlights on Students series.

Ann Carney (USA)
2007 cohort

As Executive Director of PACDA, Peace and Community Development Alliance, human rights issues have been at the forefront of my work over the past 6 years. I founded PACDA to help meet the needs of small NGOs in developing countries; often countries that are experiencing or have recently experienced conflict and ethnic tension.  The reality of abuse and exploitation of minority groups, particularly women and children, and my desire to do something about it, has caused me to start a legal practice in international human rights law. I received a Juris Doctorate degree in 1978 and am a licensed lawyer in California and Illinois.

Lilly Ching (Costa Rica)
2007 cohort

I am a Human Rights Specialist at the Inter-American Commission on HHRR (IACHR), part of the Organization of American States.  My job is to provide legal support to desk officers as well as to litigate cases before the Inter-American Court of HHRR, the international tribunal of the OAS.  Before assuming this role in 2003, I studied International Relations and pursued my legal studies at the University of Costa Rica.  I later served as a Legal Assistant at the Court (1998-2000) and a fellow at the IACHR (2000-2001).  From 2001 to 2003, I returned to the Court as a Staff Attorney, which helped strengthening my educational and professional development and experience in both bodies of the Inter-American HHRR system.

Charles Gould (USA)
2007 cohort

I serve as president and chief executive officer of Volunteers of America, one of the United States’ largest non-profit organizations, which assists and advocates for the most neglected individuals:  homeless men, women, and children; individuals in or returning from prison; people with developmental disabilities; and seniors.  Before this, I practiced law in Washington, D.C., with Arnold & Porter.

Lejla Hadžimešić (Bosnia-Herzegovina)
2007 cohort

I am currently working with a Swiss NGO called TRIAL that helps victims of international crimes (genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture, enforced disappearances) access the European Court of Human Rights and the UN Human Rights or Torture Committees to obtain justice and redress, by providing free legal assistance to the victims. Before that, I worked for nine years with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Mission to BiH as the Human Rights Department Officer in charge of national minorities.During that time, I was also the President of the BiH branch office of an international NGO called the International Committee for Human Rights (ICHR). Apart from my mother tongue, I am also fluent in English, French and Spanish.

Katrina Inkusa (Latvia)
2007 cohort

I obtained a BA degree from the Law Faculty of the University of Latvia in the summer of 2003.  After that, to build on my knowledge, in June 2005 I attended a summer programme of General and Specialized Courses on Human Rights Law at the European University Institute, Academy of European Law in Florence.  In this year I have also completed a part time MSt degree in International Human Rights Law at the University of Oxford and will formally receive my degree on 18 July 2009. Since February 2008 I have been working as a Legal Officer at the Office of the Latvian Government’s Representative before International Human Rights Organisations. My main responsibilities include drafting the government’s observations in cases against Latvia before the European Court of Human Rights, drafting government’s comments and reports for the United Nations organisations, participation in the national Permanent Working Group on the Amendment of the Latvian Criminal Law, carrying out researches into international human rights standards and the compatibility of domestic legislation with such standards.

Yervand Shirinyan (Armenia)
2007 cohort

I work as Deputy Director of the Human Rights and Governance Grants Program at the Open Society Institute-Budapest. Most of our activities focus on providing support to human rights NGOs, primarily for conducting systematic human rights monitoring, documentation and legal advocacy, with a specific focus on international protection mechanisms. I believe this course will be an excellent opportunity to deepen my knowledge in international human rights law, particularly since I envision pursuing a career in the area of human rights. Before moving to Budapest I have been working at the American University of Armenia. I have an MBA from Case Western Reserve University, Weatherhead School of Management in association with the Central European University Graduate School of Business, Budapest.

Danielle Bell (Canada)
2006 cohort

I have worked in Timor-Leste and Afghanistan as a Human Rights Officer with the United Nations for the past six years. My work involves monitoring compliance with international human rights law (IHRL) and investigation of human rights violations. My professional background also includes several years with the Provincial Government of British Columbia and one year in India working for UNIFEM. My interest in human rights developed through extensive travel and academic research throughout Southeast Asia and a range of volunteer human rights activities during my studies at the University of Victoria, where I completed a BA and MA in Asian studies. I am taking this course to improve my ability to interpret and apply international human rights law.

Gerrit Jan Pulles (Netherlands)
2006 cohort

I studied Dutch and International Law in Utrecht and Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The first years of my legal career were spent as a trial lawyer in Amsterdam. I've combined this with journalistic writing and with voluntary work in Africa and for Amnesty International. In 2004 I became legal adviser at the department of international humanitarian law of the Netherlands Red Cross and a year later legal adviser of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Geneva. After returning to Amsterdam in 2006 I started lecturing at the University of Amsterdam, teaching public international law and European law. If my family allows (or joins) me, I also like to pass time in the theatre. Both as an enthusiastic consumer and (occasional) performer.

Eugenia Benigni (Italy)
2005 cohort

I have worked on human rights for nearly 10 years, first for the European Commission (EC) Delegation in Russia, subsequently for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). I have focused on issues such as judicial reform, human rights in Chechnya, freedom of expression, torture, gender, freedom of assembly, tolerance and non-discrimination. The dissertation of my first graduate degree (in Foreign Languages and Literature, Russian and English), The Russification of non-Russian Nationalities of the ex-USSR, represented my first attempt to analyse a human rights issue - the right of peoples to use their language. During my work with the EC (2000-2004), I felt the urge to deepen my knowledge of human rights law, in order to enhance my professionalism and career opportunities.In my university years, I was a member of two NGOs, on raising awareness of the Rwandan genocide and on environmental problems in Italy respectively.

Zarko Petrovic (Serbia)
2005 cohort

I am a human rights lawyer who has dealt with human rights all my professional life. Initially I worked as a human rights lawyer in Serbia, and then I moved to Central Asia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, working on Freedom House's human rights projects. In Serbia I conducted advocacy campaigns and litigated cases of human rights violation, for a local NGO, while in Central Asia I had a taste of international NGO work, which aimed at building skills of local Human Rights Defenders to successfully advocate for human rights in their own countries. My work prompted me to write my dissertation on Human Rights Defenders, in an attempt to promote their role, work and their protection on the world stage.